Hamas on Thursday claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in which two Israelis were wounded, one of them seriously, in the occupied West Bank. Wednesday's roadside attack occurred on the eve of face-to-face “peace negotiations” between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
 
"The attack was a message to those who pledged to the Zionist enemy that there would be no more attacks," said Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida, referring to Abbas's U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority administration. 
 
Hamas resistance fighters killed four settlers in a similar attack on Tuesday and had vowed more resistance to derail the talks.
 
In an interview with Haaretz, the head of the Yesha Council of Settlements Danny Dayan said that when the attack occurred, “we called on the prime minister to return home. In my eyes, it is unfitting for Netanyahu to attend ceremonies and festive dinners as the four victims of the terrorist attack are being buried,” Dayan said. “Unfortunately, the prime minister did not follow our suggestion, just as he did not follow other suggestions given to him recently and the ceremonies continue.”
 
Dayan, who went to Washington at the same time as Netanyahu to monitor developments at the talks, intends to make sure that amid the Israeli gestures there is no further blow to building in the settlements.
 
“The Palestinian Authority leadership is fully party to the murder and is not a partner for peace. They continue the incitement, continue to praise vile terrorists. Even the condemnation issued by the Palestinian Authority after the terrorist attack was completely propagandist and did not contain a single word of grief. Therefore, I think that it is utterly incorrect for the prime minister of Israel to partake in festive meals with this group”, he indicated.
 
“We have been very worried about what Netanyahu is not saying for a very long time now: For over a year Netanyahu has not said that Jerusalem will not be divided. For over a year, he has not said that Israel will not return to the 1967 lines, for over a year he has not said that there will not be uprooting of settlements that were established legally by the government of Israel. These are very worrisome things. The same cabinet ministers who demanded that Olmert not conduct negotiations over Jerusalem must now demand the same today of Netanyahu also,” the head of the Yesha Council of Settlements said.
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