GAZA, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Seeking international recognition for a de facto Palestinian state is a waste of time, a Hamas leader said Monday.
Salah Bardweel, a spokesman for the Gaza militant group, rejected moves by the Palestinian Authority to garner international support for a unilaterally declared state, saying it wouldn't accomplish anything toward real independence for the region's Arabs, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Noting that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat also made unilateral declaration of statehood in 1988, Bardweel asked, "Why not declare a Palestinian state from the sea (Mediterranean) to the river (of Jordan)" rather than in the West Bank and Gaza only.
"This move is not a meaningful declaration," Haaretz quoted Bardweel as saying. "It simply aims at escaping the benefits of resistance against the occupation. Instead of threatening to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state to be established in the air, we should work on liberating the occupied territories and end the current internal (Palestinian) division."
Hamas' rejection comes after Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that Palestinians are frustrated and are turning to the U.N. Security Council for recognition after 18 years of negotiations with Israel, the newspaper said.
