Fatah, Hamas to implement to unity deal

CAIRO, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal agreed to implement a unity deal signed more than a year ago in Cairo, a Hamas official said.

The two met Wednesday in Cairo at the behest of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi with the aim of reconciling the Fatah and Hamas factions.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu criticized Abbas for meeting with Meshal.

"Abu Mazen [Abbas] embraces a terror organization's leader who announced just a month ago that Israel should be wiped off the map. That is not the conduct of someone who wants peace," Ynetnews.com quoted Netanyahu as saying.

"The two parties agreed to call on all Palestinian factions to implement the reconciliation agreement," Middle East Online quoted Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq, who was at the Cairo meeting, as saying. The comment was a reference to an agreement signed by the factions in April 2011 in Cairo. Rishq said the meeting between Abbas and Meshal was held in a "very good and promising atmosphere."

Prior to the meeting Morsi met with Abbas and Meshal separately. Morsi spokesman Yasser Ali said Abbas and Meshal agreed to implement the agreement immediately, Ynetnews.com said.