Hamas slams Abbas over criticism of rocket attacks on Israel

The Islamic resistance group Hamas slammed on Wednesday Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas over his criticism of Palestinian militants rocket attacks on Israel.

"I don't want to talk about whether firing these rockets is important or not, but I wanted to talk about the destructive consequences. No one of us could forget last week's tragedy when a father and his son were killed by a rocket," Abbas said in a speech at the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Gaza City Tuesday.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said that Abbas hurt the Palestinian armed resistance, adding he forgot to say that these rockets were the main reason for ending the occupation of the gaza Strip.

"Abbas didn't refer at all to the fact that the armed resistance is a major reason for ending the occupation, and had just given an example of one mistake, but didn't mention how painful these rockets were to the occupation," said Abu Zuhri.

He added that it is the first time ever in Palestinian history that armed resistance managed to force the occupier to withdraw from occupied territories, repeating the success of the Hezbollah guerrilla group in evicting Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in 2000.

"Occupation is ended only by resistance and not by negotiations. This is what the experience had proved. The occupation forces had unilaterally said that it wanted to withdraw instead of negotiations," said Abu Zuhri.

In his speech, Abbas urged the Palestinians to show the world they deserved their independence by ensuring a peaceful Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank starting on Aug. 15.

He reiterated appeals for resistance factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad to refrain from firing rockets during and after the pullout.

Source: Xinhua