Hamas condemns Palestinian Authority over statehood bid rejection

Palestinian leaders on Wednesday scrambled to react to news that the United Nations Security Council had rejected a resolution setting a 2017 deadline for an end to the Israeli occupation.

A Hamas spokesman, meanwhile, condemned the Palestinian Authority for the resolution bid in the first place, reiterating its opposition to the "choice of compromise" that the resolution represented.

Sami Abu Zuhri urged the Fatah-led PA in a statement to "stop playing with national destiny and to stop bringing Palestinian national rights down to this dangerous level."

"We expect the PA to carry out what they have threatened to do, in addition to end security coordination with the occupation."

Hamas officials have repeatedly condemned the bid as a meaningless stunt, lambasting President Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to take Israel to the International Criminal Court and instead pursuing UN resolutions to support the Palestinian cause.

"Failure to get the UN Security Council to vote in favor of the PA draft resolution is another failure added to the choice of compromise," the Hamas spokesman said. 

Hamas has long insisted that the Israeli occupation of Palestine must be responded to with resistance, and has criticized the Fatah-led PA in the West Bank for cooperating with Israeli authorities and giving up the armed struggle even as Israeli colonization of the West Bank has become more extensive over the last 20 years.

Criticism grew after Israel's summer assault on Hamas in the West Bank -- which left more than 700 members in jail -- as well as the bloody offensive against Gaza, which killed around 2,200 Palestinians.

Since then, many Palestinians have called for the PA to go to the international court in the Hague to seek international intervention against Israel, and the UN resolution's failure will undoubtedly spur further support for that move.

PA leadership, meanwhile, planned to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday evening to discuss possible futures moves in light of the resolutions' failure.

"We strongly believe that diplomacy which guarantees access to international treaties and organizations is a right for the Palestinian people," chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement, adding that the meeting on Wednesday would come up with "immediate future steps."

Erekat said that the PA had decided to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council in order to obtain help from the international community in efforts to keep peace and security. 

The resolution, he added, was completely in line with the international law and it recalled several previous resolutions adopted by the UN. 

"A majority of member states of the Security Council have voted in favor of the Palestinian resolution, but a certain state is still giving immunity to the Israeli occupation and its violations of the international law through not voting in favor of this resolution," he said, referring to the United States. 

The international community, added Erekat, should stop treating Israel as a state "above the law." 

This state has been systematically violating the international law and the UN resolutions, he added, and publicly impeding the international efforts to make negotiations success.

"There is a need now to put an end to the culture of immunity and lack of sanctions for Israel so as to achieve a just and comprehensive peace."