Mahmoud al-Zahar
Mahmoud al-ZaharIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Hamas, the terrorist group which rules Gaza, on Monday rejected the renewed peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

The movement said the talks were "futile," repeating its previous rejection of the negotiations that are due to resume this week.

"We renew our rejection of these futile talks, and consider them purely a means for the occupation (Israel) to look good to the international community," senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar told a news conference in Gaza, according to AFP.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his negotiating team "have no legitimacy" to represent the “Palestinian people” in talks, Zahar said.

"We call on the Palestinian people to unite in confronting the crime that is the peace talks," he added.

The movement last month rejected a return to Israeli-PA peace talks, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced a resumption of negotiations.

A spokesman for the Hamas government said at the time that "whoever negotiates on the part of the people who is not chosen by them, represents only himself. The Palestinian people will not accept this."

Abbas’s term as PA Chairman officially ended more than four years ago, but he continues in his role despite no one having given him the mandate to do so. The PA parliament which was elected for a four-year term in 2005 has yet to be dissolved, despite the fact that nearly two terms have already passed since its election.