Hamas called on Thursday for Arab States to withdraw a 2002 peace initiative that offers Israel full diplomatic relations if it withdraws to its 1967 borders, arguing that Israel has responded to the offer only with more violence.
Israel responded to the Arab Peace Initiative with "tanks and airplanes, beginning with invading the West Bank killing hundreds, expelling Palestinians from Jerusalem expanding settlement, and building the Wall, concluding with the latest massacre of the civilians and children of Gaza," said Hamas Spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum in a statement.
These remarks came a day after the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that moderate Arab states were drafting a revised version of the plan that would cancel the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.
"In the light of the Israeli statements by [Prime Minister] Netanyahu and [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman in which they said ‘peace comes only through war not negotiations," Barhoum said, "it is useless to continue talking about the Arab Initiative."
He said talk of the peace plan is "like begging to return to negotiating track, and normalizing with the Israeli occupation on the account of the dignity, freedom and rights of the Palestinians".
Barhoum instead called on the Arab States to form a united front to mount greater pressure on Israel.
Separately, Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid Al-Muallem, told reporters on Thursday that there is no need to revise the peace plan to make it more palatable to Israel.