JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister says it will be impossible to hold peace talks if the Palestinians go through with a new reconciliation deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has chosen to “abandon the way of peace” by reaching a power-sharing deal with the Hamas militant group.
Israel and the Palestinians last month held their first peace talks in more than a year. Without any breakthroughs, Abbas has not decided whether to continue those talks.
Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group. In a statement Monday, Netanyahu said: “It is either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can’t have them both.”
The reconciliation deal aims to end a rift that has left the Palestinians with rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza since 2007.
