The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has repudiated the US state department’s decision to put head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya on its list of global terrorists.
In a press release on Thursday PLO secretary-general Saeb Erekat said that the organization rejects and condemns the American decision against Haneyya.
Erekat called for the rift between Fatah and Hamas to be healed in order to achieve the national unity preserve the Palestinian national project and confront the schemes aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause.
Haneyya 54 was elected to be the group’s political chief in May 2017 replacing Khaled Mishaal.
Born in a refugee camp in Gaza the leader has long been seen as pragmatic and flexible in his political positions.
Hamas which governs the beleaguered Gaza Strip was founded in 1987 on a strategy of armed struggle against the Israeli occupation and has a military wing known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
