The Islamic Hamas movement on Wednesday accused the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of accepting the facts Israel imposes on the ground and legitimatising the settlements in the West Bank.

Hamas made the accusation after Palestinian peace negotiator, Ahmed Qurei, said he opposes any presence of Jews settlers on the Palestinian territories but does not mind letting them live as Jewish citizens in the future Palestinian statehood.

"Qurei's statements are dangerous. They give the settlement a legitimate cover to steal the Palestinian people's land," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman.

"This move aims at getting Israel out of its crisis especially after the world consensually stressed an end to the settlement issue on the Palestinian land," Barhoum added.

"The settlement is a sort of aggression that must be resisted," Barhoum said.

There are more than 280,000 Israeli settlers currently living in the occupied West Bank and some 200,000 living in settlements in annexed East Jerusalem, according to the Peace Now statistics.

Israel continues building settlements and expanding the existing blocs in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the two territories which would be a future Palestinian statehood.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2009)