Gaza, Aug 19 (Xinhua) The Palestinian Hamas movement Wednesday rejected US President Barack Obama's call for strengthening Arab relations with Israel in exchange for halting Jewish settlement projects in the West Bank.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri urged the Arab states 'to reject normalisation of relations with Israel'.

This is 'a dangerous prelude to a complete political Arab collapse', he said in a statement.

Obama's administration in an effort to push forward the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, encouraged moderate Arab states to take confidence-building measures with Israel to enhance chances of better negotiation process.

'These calls prove the US administration carries no change in its Middle East policies and it still adopts old policies,' Abu Zuhri said.

He reiterated the Arab peace initiative of 2000, which called for diplomatic ties between the Arabs and Israel only when the Jewish state ends its occupation of the Palestinian territories and endorses an independent Palestinian statehood.