Hamas movement on Tuesday withdrew its authorization for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to negotiate with Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, Xinhua reported.
"The authorization that Abbas got in the National Agreement Document is no longer existed and we will not recognize it," Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas leader, said during a demonstration in Gaza City against what Hamas called concessions by the PLO.
The demonstration was caused by the classified documents that the Al-Jazeera news channel revealed recently. The documents say that Palestinian negotiators were ready to let Israel annex Jewish settlements and neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
The National Agreement Document authorizes Abbas and the PLO to negotiate and go back to the Palestinian people for referendum when any peace deal is reached with Israel. Hamas and other Palestinian factions all signed the document, which was drafted by Palestinian leaders in Israeli prisons in 2006.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA)'s claim that it negotiated with Israel in the name of the Palestinian people "is bull and calumnies," al-Hayya said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Abbas dismissed what he called Al-Jazeera's campaign, vowing that the Palestinian leadership will never give up national principles.
"We say it very loudly: the first of these principles that we are ready to die for, is Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine," Abbas said.