(JNS.org) Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief negotiator in its now-defunct peace talks with Israel, said he believes Hamas is not a terrorist organization. In an Arabic-language interview with Sky News Arabic, Erekat said Hamas “is not and will never be a terrorist organization to us.”

The Israeli government called off negotiations with the PA over the unity deal between Hamas and PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.

“Instead of choosing peace, Abu Mazen (Abbas) formed an alliance with a murderous terrorist organization (Hamas) that calls for the destruction of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, April 24. “Hamas has fired more than 10,000 missiles and rockets at Israeli territory and has not halted terrorist actions against Israel even for a minute,” Netanyahu added.