Hamas slams 'absurd' Paris peace conference

GAZA CITY: Islamist movement Hamas rejected Monday the outcome of a Paris conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace, labelling the summit "absurd."
"The Paris conference is a return to the absurd negotiation approach, which lost the rights of the Palestinian people and gave legitimacy to the Zionist entity on Palestinian land," Fawzy Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement.
Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Authority led by president Mahmud Abbas controls the West Bank and is the partner for peace negotiations with Israel and the West.
Barhoum called for the various Palestinian factions to unite on a "national strategy" around the "resistance in defence of our people."
Around 70 countries attending Sunday's talks in Paris agreed a joint statement supporting an independent Palestinian state as part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.
The statement warned Israel and the Palestinians against "unilateral steps" that could threaten a two-state solution, but included no serious enforcement mechanisms.
Abbas ally Saeb Erekat welcomed the conference as creating "momentum" towards ending Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. — AFP