The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell accused Israel on Friday evening of having “
created
” and “
financed
” the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in power in Gaza and behind the unprecedented attack on October 7 on Israeli soil. .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed in recent days his opposition to the creation of a viable Palestinian state, thus attracting criticism from his American ally who says he is pleading for the “two-state solution”, i.e. a State of Palestine. alongside Israel.
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“
We believe that a two-state solution must be imposed from the outside to bring peace.
Even if, and I insist, Israel reaffirms its refusal (of this solution) and, to prevent it, it went so far as to create Hamas itself
, declared Mr. Borrell.
Hamas was financed by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Fatah Palestinian Authority.
But if we do not intervene firmly, the spiral of hatred and violence will continue from generation to generation, from funeral to funeral.
»
Read alsoHamas-Israel War: Benjamin Netanyahu takes a hard line despite pressure from his allies
Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu
Hamas was created in December 1987 shortly after the start of the first Intifada, a Palestinian uprising in the Occupied Territories, by a group of Islamist militants claiming to be from the Muslim Brotherhood, including the influential Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.
An acronym in Arabic for "
Islamic Resistance Movement
", Hamas was founded in particular to counter Islamic Jihad and compete with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a mainly secular movement led by Yasser Arafat.
Twenty years later, in June 2007, following a quasi-civil war against Fatah, a movement at the heart of the Palestinian Authority (PA) of Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's successor, Hamas took control from the Gaza Strip.
In recent years, the Gaza Strip, under Hamas control and Israeli blockade, has received aid of several million dollars from Qatar, which has drawn criticism from Benjamin Netanyahu, accused by detractors of having favored financing of this movement which he denies.