Mahmoud al-Zahar says US president’s plan for Mideast peace similar to that of George Bush, Ynet News reports.
The difference in tone between US President Barack Obama’s two policy speeches on Mideast peace sparked outrage among Palestinian leaders Monday.
Hamas spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahar responded by saying, “Clearly Obama’s plan is no different, aside from a few small details, from that of George Bush. Now he refers to the 1967 borders as sacred, but who says we accept them, and that we won’t speak of the ‘48 lines?” he told al-Emarat al-Youm.
He added that Obama was trying to pull wool over the Palestinian people’s eyes and thus doing them harm. “Obama wants to place us within 22% of the area of Palestine,” he said, referring to the entire State of Israel.
“He speaks of land exchanges, but the issue of exchanging territory takes away from Jerusalem. He wants to give Jerusalem to the Israelis and give us just 5% of historical Palestine, which was originally our land, and this is just a trick.”
Read more at ynetnews.com.