Israel financed Hamas to weaken the Palestinian Authority, Josep Borrell claims

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has accused Israel of financing Hamas to "weaken the Palestinian Authority of Fatah."
The diplomat, who has prepared a 10-point roadmap for a potential peace process, did not provide concrete evidence to support his claim.

In scathing comments made during a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, Borrell also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "personally" derailing any attempt to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The bad news is that Israel, in particular its government, is completely refusing – and yesterday Netanyahu said it again as if he was anticipating my words today – to accept a (two-state) solution that he has personally been boycotting for the past 30 years," Borrell said.

His plain-spoken words came just a day after Netanyahu rebuked calls made by Washington to establish a Palestinian state after the war and scale back Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

"We believe that a two-state solution should be imposed from the outside to bring peace," Borrell explained.

"But I insist, Israel, by continuing to reject this solution, has gone as far as to create Hamas themselves. Yes, Hamas has been financed by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah," he added.