The two rival Palestinian factions Hamas ana Fatah showed unusual unity on Thursday, along with an Arab Israeli MK, in a joint press conference aimed at attacking the planned Israeli extension of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Senior Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub attacked the Israeli plan, saying, "We will use all the necessary tools in order to reach national unity." He added that "we and Hamas have had a cordial dialog and we have reached a point in which we want all factions to collaborate together to further our national goals." He vowed to "continue fighting as part of our struggle for a sovereign state."
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The Trump administration's newly unveiled Vision for Peace stipulates that Washington will endorse an Israeli decision to apply sovereignty to about 30% of Judea and Samaria as long as Israel commits to holding good-faith negotiations with the Palestinians and avoid construction in certain areas that could become part of a Palestinian state. That state will only be established four years after negotiations begin and only if the Palestinians fully renounce terrorism and carry out major reforms, and only if they are no longer considered a threat to Israel.
Appearing via video feed from Beirut, Hamas deputy political leader Saleh Arouri focused on Israel, saying: "If they manage to implement the annexation plan in the West Bank this will whet their appetite for annexation of other areas; after annexing, Israel will have to deal with the Palestinian issue in the West Bank, and it has already used expulsion and uprooting before. Israel sees the West Bank as the Promised Land, and they are ready to carry out dangerous maneuvers there."
He added that "we will not let this slide," and warned that "we will prepare a whole host of steps to counter this initiative. We are telling Israel this will not stand, it will not succeed in passing this annexation."
