Hamas No. 2 Rejects Gaza Arms Halt

Gaza’s ruling Hamas will not stop arming itself because only a strong arsenal, not negotiations, can extract concessions from Israel, the No. 2 in the Islamic militant group told The Associated Press in an interview today

The comments by Moussa Abu Marzouk, just three days after the worst bout of Israel-Hamas fighting in four years, signaled trouble ahead for Egyptian-brokered talks between the hostile neighbors on a new border deal.

Abu Marzouk said today that the group would not disarm, arguing that recent Palestinian history has shown that negotiations with Israel lead nowhere unless backed by force.

“There is no way to relinquish weapons,” Abu Marzouk said in his office on the outskirts of Cairo. “These weapons protected us and there is no way to stop obtaining and manufacturing them.”

Read more: POLITICO

{Matzav.com Newscenter}