Hamas rejects US invitation to secret meeting: Haniyeh

GAZA - Anadolu Agency

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has rejected an invitation by the U.S. for a secret meeting between the two parties, its political chief said on March 3.

Hamas rejected the call because the U.S. is trying to spread the rumor that its recent Middle East peace plan was revealed following secret meetings with Palestinian groups, including Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh told Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV.

On Jan. 28, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled the so-called “Deal of the Century” to end one of the longest-running disputes in the Middle East.

Under the plan, Trump proposed a patchwork Palestinian state boxed in by illegal Israeli settlements as well as recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and Jerusalem as Israel's "undivided capital."

The so-called peace plan unilaterally annuls previous UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue and suggests giving Israel almost everything it has demanded.

Turkey has slammed it as an effort to "justify Israeli occupation and annexation of Jerusalem and the West Bank."