Jibral Rajoub. Photo: Wikimedia commons.

In an interview with i24 News, Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said that if Israel doesn’t reach a  peace agreement with the Palestinians it should be “removed” from the region.

“Peace is not a Palestinian interest, it’s an international interest, and the interest of the world is to put an end to this struggle. I think it’s also an Israeli interest – Israelis should decide whether they are part of the Middle East or an alien body. If Israel is an alien body it should be removed,” he said.

Rajoub also criticized political rival Hamas, which Fatah has been in a bitter dispute with since the terrorist organization kicked it out of Gaza in 2007, for its recalcitrance and miscalculations.

“Hamas has to take a long hard looks at itself, they are responsible for the crisis they are going through, they lost their compass. They have placed to great a weight on their relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood: they should work on untying that connection. They should act from the vantage point of being a Palestinian liberation movement,” he said.

Rajoub, who in the past was the head of the Preventive Security Force in the West Bank, and now heads the Palestinian Football Federation and the Palestine Olympic Committee, also said that the “Arab Spring” is “An Israeli-American spring par excellence.” He also claimed that it brings about “the destruction of the Arab region, the destruction of Arab capabilities, it’s a destruction of the Arab armies and the Arab will in the Middle East.”

A new round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority commenced in July, kickstarted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Recent comments emanating from the Palestinian Authority camp have put the talks into doubt however.