Israel today said a Palestinian unity deal would sabotage prospects for peace and stemmed from panic by Hamas and Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas over popular uprisings in Syria and Egypt.
The surprise reconciliation between the Islamist group that runs Gaza and Mr Abbas's Fatah movement that exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank presented a new challenge for Israel as it mounts a diplomatic drive against a unilateral Palestinian campaign to win UN recognition of statehood in September.
"The agreement between Fatah and the terror organisation Hamas is a fatal mistake that will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and will sabotage chances of peace and stability in the region," Israeli president Shimon Peres said.
Mr Peres, a respected elder statesman, said in a statement he feared Hamas would ultimately take over the West Bank after a Palestinian election and that Iran's influence in the area would be strengthened as a result.
Peace negotiations between Israel and Mr Abbas's administration resumed in September in Washington but quickly broke down after Prime Minister Benjamain Netanyahu refused to extend a partial building freeze in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli leaders have said they cannot talk to Hamas, which has spurned Western demands to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept existing interim peace agreements.
"This deal . . . stems from panic - a huge panic," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Army Radio, an assessment echoed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak in a separate interview.
"[Hamas leader] Khaled Meshaal, sitting in Damascus, sees his patron President [Bashar] al-Assad shooting up mosques, tanks firing deliberately [at civilians], and understands the ground is burning under him," the far-right minister said.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians said the unity accord announced on Wednesday was born of a deep-seated popular desire to overcome the Hamas-Fatah divide and reflected frustration over the slow move towards statehood.
Mr Abbas signalled today that peace talks with Israel would still be possible during the term of a new interim government formed as part of a unity deal with Hamas.
Mr Abbas said the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which he heads and to which Hamas does not belong, would still be responsible for "handling politics, negotiations".
He was speaking for the first time since the unity deal was unveiled in Cairo yesterday. . A senior Hamas leader said negotiations would not be part of the programme of the new government to be formed as part of the agreement. Israel rejects any talks with Hamas, whose charter calls for its destruction.
Reuters