They call it a “declaration of war,” brushing aside the fact that they have been at war with Israel since they were established in the late 1980s. From the New Duranty Times, aka the New York Times:
TEL AVIV, April 10 “” Israel’s decision to boycott the new Hamas-led Palestinian government was sharply condemned on Monday by Hamas, which called the decision a “declaration of war.”
“It is a failed attempt to make divisions among Palestinians,” a Hamas statement said. “It is part of a continuous siege on the Palestinian people.”
The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Israel is not explicitly ending ties, also rejected the new policy, saying it violated international law and existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
The statement from the militant group Hamas suggested that the Israeli government was trying to punish the Palestinian people for voting the group into office in parliamentary elections in January, when Mr. Abbas’s Fatah organization was ousted as the ruling party. Mr. Abbas retains his post, however.
In the first act of its new policy, Israel closed a joint security coordination office near the West Bank town of Jericho. It was among the last offices run together by Israeli soldiers and Palestinian security officials.
The Israeli government has repeatedly said it would not deal with Hamas until the group recognized Israel’s right to exist, renounced terrorism and abided by previous agreements between the sides.
“If you are outside the international community and you act like a pariah, you cannot complain that people treat you like a pariah,” said Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, responding to the Hamas statement.