Hamas has praised Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a “step in the right direction.” 

“This step needs to be part of a general policy and a joint national program,” Hamas said in a statement, according to the Gaza-based Daily Sabah.

Hamas also called for the various Palestinian Arab terror groups to meet and devise a plan for halting all bilateral negotiations and security coordination with Israel on a permanent basis – as well as lifting the “Israeli blockade” on Gaza, reconstruction, and solving domestic issues between Hamas and rival Fatah. 

Hamas’s embrace of the ICC bid oddly contrasts with its utter rejection of the PA’s UN draft resolution to boot Israel out of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, which it said in multiple statements did not ‘represent the Palestinian people. 

Hamas’s spokesman said last week the resolution “doesn’t represent [the] consensus of the Palestinian people,” and Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar added that the draft resolution in favor of Palestinian statehood was “disastrous,” and that it has “no future in the land of Palestine.” 

Zahar explained that Hamas would not accept the resolution because of its focus on the pre-1967 borders, and not on all of Israeli territory which Hamas considers to be “historic Palestine”.

He further added that the movement refuses to consider allowing to be Jerusalem a capital for both Palestinian and Israeli states.

On Tuesday – hours before the UN Security Council vote – another Hamas spokesman, Mushir al-Masri, yet again blasted the move as “giving in” to Israel.

According to Masri, adhering to the draft resolution would be walking through pointless negotiations of a political settlement, without a clear national strategy and adherence to the basic principles of the Palestinian people, in his words.