The campaign consisted of attacks against Israelis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel in which, according to a Hamas declaration in early September, "all options are open".

[6] Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar was reported by CBS News as saying that Muslims have a moral and religious duty to liberate the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, and that armed resistance is the way to achieve this.

[7] Al-Zahar has urged Mahmoud Abbas to immediately pull out of peace talks with Israel, asserting that "armed struggle was the only way to deal with the Jewish state.

[9] Khaled Mashal has said the "resistance" will continue if Israel doesn't withdraw to the 1967 borders and that Hamas will resume to "kill illegal settlers on our land.

"[10] According to Jonathan Fighel, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, the campaign constitutes a decision by Hamas to begin a new wave of terrorism aimed at Israeli settlers.

He said "it's a strategic, political decision from the Hamas leadership in Damascus to express their dismay and rejection of the peace talks taking place in Washington...

[14] In an interview in October 2010, the Palestinian reformist Zainab Rashid criticized Syria and Iran, which she says deliberately attempted to derail the peace process in order to divert attention from their own domestic problems and suppress initiatives of democratization.

[15] In a drive-by shooting attack near Hebron West Bank on 14 June, Israeli police officer Yehoshua Sofer was killed and three others were wounded.

[22] Ma'an News Agency reported that an Israeli security official said that this was one of a series of “terrorist attacks” designed to foil the 2010 peace talks.

[23] Khaled al-Batsh, a leader of Islamic Jihad, endorsed the Hamas killings, asserting that "“negotiations can only be stopped by a barrage of bullets.

"[25] United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated the day after the incident that "this attack must be recognized for what it is: a cynical and blatant attempt to undermine the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations starting tomorrow.

[27] Rabbi Moshe and Shira Morano, an Israeli couple in their 30s from Ma'ale Efraim in the Jordan Rift Valley, were shot in their car by Palestinian gunmen while driving on Highway 60 between the Rimonim Junction and the Jewish community of Kochav Hashachar.

Nine-month pregnant Israeli woman Neta Schoker and her husband Sharon, both 35, were in their vehicle when gunmen in a passing Palestinian car opened fire on them.

On September 14, senior Hamas operative Ahmed Jaabari threatened to increase attacks against Israel to derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.