Hamas urged the Palestinian Authority to halt all security coordination with Israel following Wednesday's clash between settlers and residents of the West Bank village of Khirbat Safa, near the Bat Ayin settlement.
The violent riot saw 16 Palestinian suffer various injuries with one of the wounded said to be in critical condition.
Hamas spokesman Fauzi Barhoum told Ynet that the clash was "the result of the dangerous coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which leaves the resistance enchained by the Ramallah authorities that takes away the fighters' weapons."
Israel's security ties with the Palestinian Authority, he stressed, "allowed gangs of Zionist settlers to act merciless towards our people in Hebron, Jerusalem and the (Palestinian village of) Silwan and escalate their attacks."
Barhoum further expressed his astonishment as to the ongoing security ties, conducted "in the shadow of a radical government which has already announced it will not abide by (previous) agreements and said it believed peace can be achieved only through war and not through negotiations."
The Islamic Jihad also issued a statement following the riot, calling on the Palestinians to stage mass solidarity rallies in the Gaza Strip. The group also urged the Palestinian Authority "to free the West Bank resistance so it would be able to protect the villages and cities against the settlers' rioting."
The organization also said the various settlers' riots were meant to empty the Palestinian communities from their inhabitants in an effort to Judaize the area.
Front Page Features