Khaled Mashaal
Khaled MashaalReuters

Hamas leader Khaled Mashal on Monday praised the UN Security Council's latest anti-Israel resolution but said it "was not enough." He also said he expects the UN and the international community to do more to support the "Palestinian cause."

Speaking to a group of students in Istanbul, Mashal said, "This resolution has given the world an indication of the danger of settlements, which are stealing our land…We consider this Security Council resolution an important, influential step in the right direction…and a correction of some American and international policy errors, but that is not enough.

"The Palestinian people are looking to the Islamic world and international community in its just battle to do away with the occupation... We want our land without occupation and settlements. We want our land without hostility or raids.

"We want Jerusalem. We want the world to stand with our just resistance," Mashal concluded.

On Friday,Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said, "We welcome this important transformation and development in international positions supporting Palestinian rights in international forums... We call for more of these positions backing the justice of the Palestinian issue."

Islam expert Dr. Ephraim Herrera said, "Abbas said a long time ago that he would never recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state... The process of arousing international pressure to the point that not a single country defended the right of the State of Israel to even part of Judea and Samaria, is for them a primary way of pursuing their goal. They’re now calling for using this resolution as leverage to help reach their final goal."

Friday's UN resolution, similar to but more extreme than October's resolution denying any Jewish connection to the Western Wall and Temple Mount, claims Judea, Samaria, and east Jerusalem are all "occupied territory", making all Israeli homes in Judea and Samaria illegal, possibly rendering their residents international criminals.

Effectively, it also destroys Israel's ability to negotiate..