Source: Jerusalem Post, 17-7-2007
"President Bush is leading a new crusade against the Palestinians," Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami el-Zuhri, said on Monday night, adding that the group would "neither recognize the occupation nor give up the armed struggle."
Speaking in response to the US president`s speech about peace prospects for the Middle East, Zuhri told Al Jazeera that Bush`s declarations about the establishment of a Palestinian state were "empty declarations aimed at dividing the Palestinians."
Bush sought to reinvigorate the "Israeli"-Palestinian peace process with Monday`s address at the White House calling for an international meeting in the fall and additional aid to the Palestinians.
He also said "Israel" would need to take steps to help bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, including ending settlement expansion and developing the Negev and Galilee, "not in continuing occupation of the West Bank."
The speech looked to give a boost to the "political horizon," or contours of a final-status agreement, the administration has long been discussing.
Bush mentioned the need for a "secure" "Israel" and a "viable and contiguous" Palestinian state. Additionally, he said negotiations must "lead to a territorial settlement, with mutually agreed borders reflecting previous lines and current realities, and mutually agreed adjustments."
The conference, to be hosted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would include the "Israelis", Palestinians and "their neighbors in the region," according to the president.