Hamas slammed on Thursday U.S. President Barack Obama for neglecting the Islamic movement during his planned visit to Israel and the West Bank.

Obama will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to the West Bank, which will "deepen the Palestinian division," said Salah Al-Bardaweel, Hamas' leading figure.

By meeting Abbas, who heads the rival Fatah movement, Bardaweel said Obama "appears in the form of a friend to a Palestinian side at the expense of the other side."

Hamas, which took over of Gaza after routing pro-Abbas forces in 2007, doesn't recognize Israel. As a result, the United States and most of the European countries placed Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations.

Obama will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on March 20 and 21. He will try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which stalled in 2010 over a dispute on Jewish settlement activities in the West Bank.

Bardaweel said Obama's visit will not result in resuming the negotiations, which Hamas also do not recognize.

Meanwhile, 100 Palestinian non-governmental organizations demanded Obama to show "balanced attitudes" regarding the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and to work seriously on achieving the two- state solution.

In a joint statement, the organizations said that Obama's visit to the West Bank is hoped to mark "the beginning of a serious change in America's pro-Israel policies." Endi

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