The terrorist group Hamas could wrest the West Bank from the western-backed rule of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, just as it did in the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, January 1, Agence France Presse reported. “It could happen after an (Israeli-Palestinian peace) agreement, it could happen before an agreement, like it happened in Gaza,” Netanyahu said, three weeks before a general election. “Therefore, as opposed to the voices that I have heard recently urging me to run forward, make concessions, withdraw, I think that the diplomatic process must be managed responsibly and sagaciously and not in undue haste,” he added. Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since September 2010, with the Palestinians insisting on a settlement freeze before returning to the negotiating table and the Israelis insisting on no preconditions.