Senior Fatah cadre rejects call to revoke Hamas pact

A senior Palestinian official from president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement on Thursday rejected Israeli calls to revoke a recent unity deal with Gaza's Hamas rulers. Speaking on a rare visit to the Gaza Strip, Nabil Shaath told reporters that Fatah, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, was completely committed to its reconciliation with its Islamist former rivals. "I am here to confirm that despite what you have heard from Washington, we are adamant about unity and the scrupulous implementation of the terms that will allow complete unity, the reconstruction of Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state," said Shaath, a member of Fatah's central committee. His remarks came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly urged Abbas to abandon his agreement with Hamas, during an address to the US Congress. "I bring a message from Fatah and from Abu Mazen that we are going to apply measures to achieve unity, and neither Netanyahu nor anyone else will prevent it," he said, using Abbas's nom de guerre. Shaath confirmed that Abbas would press ahead with a visit to Gaza in what would be his first time back there since Hamas forcibly ousted Fatah forces following a week of bloody battles in June 2007, sparking years of bitter rivalry. Their recent rapprochement has sparked an angry response from Israel, with Netanyahu vowing his government would never negotiate with a Palestinian administration in which Hamas was a partner.