Hamas leader: UN vote on Israel 'not enough' for Palestinians

Khaled Meshaal praises UN Security Council motion on settlements, but calls for more steps against Israel.

By ADAM RASGON
Updated: DECEMBER 26, 2016 23:47
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal speaks during a news conference in Doha, Qatar (photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal speaks during a news conference in Doha, Qatar
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Meshaal on Sunday night praised UN Security Council Resolution 2334 that condemned settlements, but he added that it “is not enough.”
“This resolution has given the world an indication of the danger of settlements, which are stealing our land,” Meshaal told a group of Turkish students in Istanbul.
“Thus, we consider this Security Council resolution an important, influential step in the right direction… and a correction of some American and international policy errors, but that is not enough.”
The resolution said settlements “have no legal validity,” constitute a major violation of international law and are an obstacle to peace.
Meshaal said Palestinians now expect the international community to take more steps in support of the Palestinian cause.
“The Palestinian people is looking to the Islamic world and international community in its just battle to do away with the occupation,” he said.
“We want our land without occupation and settlements. We want our land without hostility or raids. We want Jerusalem... We want the world to stand with our just resistance.”
Hamas has tacitly supported the Palestinian leadership’s strategy to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while it has simultaneously backed armed resistance.
Meshaal’s statements come two days after Hamas issued an official statement in support of the Security Council resolution.
“We welcome this important transformation and development in international positions supporting Palestinian rights in international forums… as we call for more of these positions backing the justice of the Palestinian issue,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on the group’s website Friday.
In addition to Hamas, the various factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Islamic Jihad have welcomed the resolution.
Nabil Abu Rudeinah, spokesman of the Palestinian Authority presidency, told the official PA news site Wafa, that the resolution is “a major blow to Israeli policy, a unanimous international condemnation of settlements, and strong support for the two-state solution.”
The exact implications of the Security Council resolution remain unclear, but some Palestinian officials have said it will give steam to the ICC’s preliminary investigation into settlements.