Free Republic

WASHINGTON: The problems that plague the Middle East, including Iran's nuclear ambitions and Syria's civil war, require "political, not military" solutions, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday. Saying the "old order" was vanishing in the region, Hagel stressed in a speech that the United States would work to promote democratic reform while bearing in mind the "limitations" of American power. Although the Pentagon chief made clear that Washington had not ruled out potential military action against Iran or Syria, his remarks highlighted President Barack Obama's cautious stance on resorting to armed force in the volatile region. He said that...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he would begin talks with rival factions, including Islamist Hamas, to form a unity government, a crucial step towards healing years of damaging internal divisions. … The need to form a new administration was prompted by the resignation earlier this month of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad because of a rift between him and Abbas, and it has created an opportunity for Abbas to forge a unity government. …

President Shimon Peres said on Monday that he does not regret the Oslo Accords, despite the fact that their signing brought about hundreds of Israeli victims who were killed in terror attacks.Speaking in an interview with the Walla website, on the occasion of Israel’s 65th Independence Day, Peres said that terrorist attacks against Jews had taken place long before the signing of the Oslo Accords. “There were terror victims before the Oslo Accords. Before the Accords there was only one Palestinian camp and that camp supported terrorism. Now we have two camps, and one camp is against terrorism and in...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tells Newsmax that President Obama won’t succeed in restarting peace talks in the Middle East because the Palestinians have “zero interest” in negotiations. The 2008 Republican presidential candidate also says the administration’s dealings with Mohammed Morsi and Egypt are “foreign policy gone wild,” and warns that the United States will be viewed as a “toothless tiger” if Obama doesn’t respond as promised to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. … “You’ve got a Palestinian government that refuses Israel’s right to exist. It’s really hard to negotiate with someone when they don’t even believe you...

The map of the Middle East displayed in an Obama administration video released days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel shows the Jewish state dispossessed of substantial parts of its current territory, including its capital. The map of Israel, displayed repeatedly during the video, shows the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, northern Israel, and areas surrounding what is currently the West Bank as non-Israeli territory. The Golan Heights is shown as part of Syria; Jerusalem is shown as part of the West Bank; and northern Israel is shown as part of Lebanon. The itinerary on the White House website also implies...

President Barack Obama promised a group of Jewish leaders that he would stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons but said he’s refraining from “extra chest-beating” as he pursues a diplomatic solution. The hour-long meeting with some two dozen American Jewish leaders Thursday was closed to the press, but the Israeli daily Haaretz managed to nevertheless get comments from those who met with the president in advance of his upcoming trip to the Jewish state. Israel and the United States share the same intelligence on Iran and therefore have a good understanding of how close the Islamic Republic is to having...

President Shimon Peres held out hopes Wednesday of seeing the Middle East draw inspiration from the European Union by one day turning a region long at war into one at peace. Praising Europe for overcoming 1,000 years of conflict in six short decades as he visited EU headquarters, Peres said, "You have the gift of a united hope even if you have a divided economic situation." "I hope the time will come when the Middle East will become a peaceful united region like you," he added. Peres, on an eight-day tour to Brussels, Paris and Strasbourg, said he believed there...

As Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said that virulent anti-Semitic comments which he reportedly said prior to his election were taken out of context, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released another video which depicts him making similar comments. The latest video is an address delivered by Morsi, which was posted on the Internet on January 10, 2010. It was translated by MEMRI and published on Wednesday. In the newly exposed remarks, Morsi calls U.S. President Barack Obama “insincere” and calls for Arabs to raise their children on hatred of Jews.

Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters rallied in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza on Friday for the first time since they were routed from power there by the Islamist militants in 2007. The rally, approved by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, marks a renewed attempt by the rival Palestinian factions to show unity following a fierce Hamas battle with Israel in November and Fatah’s subsequent recognition bid at the United Nations. … Abbas has enjoyed a boost in his status since he led the Palestinians’ successful bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations to a non-member observer state. On Friday,...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party's new logo shows all of Israel as Palestine, claimed on Sunday that he seeks peace with the Jewish State. Abbas, who met with Arab MKs Mohammad Barakeh and Said Nafaa, said that the "Palestinian people" are striving for peace in accordance with the decisions of international institutions and seek to establish an independent Palestinian state within the 1949 armistice line with its capital in Jerusalem. Abbas said that the PA Arabs desire peace and want to have a "partner who believes in peace." He added that the Palestinian aspiration is to establish...

Masked and armed members of Fatah, Hamas’ rival party headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, shot automatic rifles in the air as they marched through Hevron on Saturday. The parade marked the anniversary of the founding of Fatah by Yasser Arafat, who was succeeded by Abbas after his death eight years ago. The scene of masked men shooting rifles was identical with Hamas demonstrations in Gaza over the years. The march did not encroach on the Jewish neighborhoods in Hevron, but it illustrates the face of Fatah not reported in mainstream media, which promotes Abbas as Israel’s ”peace partner.”...

The Fatah party, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has made official what it has been saying more quietly and has adopted a new logo showing all of Israel as Palestine. The logo marks the 48th anniversary of the founding of Fatah by Yasser Arafat and includes a map with the PA flag and a map of Israel that appears to be a depiction of the black and white checkered kefiyah, a symbol of the violent intifada, and the slogan “the state and victory." PMW revealed that the official PA daily published the new official logo. For the past...

Chairman Itzik Shadmi of the Binyamin Residents' Council played down on Thursday suggestions that Palestinian Authority Arabs have launched a new terror war (intifada) in Judea and Samaria. "We don't have to bother ourselves excessively with it too much at the moment, but the IDF should prepare for such an option," Shadmi told Arutz Sheva. Shadmi noted he is not worried by a possible takeover of Judea and Samaria by Hamas, similar to the terror group's bloody takeover of Gaza in 2007, saying, "At least this way we will recognize the enemy we already know. I'm more concerned by the...

Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman, until recently the Foreign Minister, reacted with joy Friday as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threatened to quit if negotiations do not resume. Abbas has refused to negotiate in absence of several Israeli concessions, including a complete freeze on construction east of the 1949 armistice line. According to Lieberman, Israel "can't wait" for Abbas to follow through on his threat. "We congratulate Abu Mazen [Abbas] for reaching the correct conclusion, that only his leave from the PA leadership will allow the diplomatic process to resume," Lieberman said. "We anxiously await the official announcement from the...

Does Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi desire to become a dictator...or another Abraham Lincoln? Did that question make you burst out laughing? If so, please be prepared for an even bigger laugh when you watch Atlantic editor Steve Clemons expend brain cells while struggling to figure out the answer to that question in his column. So laughable are the efforts of Clemons trying to come up with what to even slightly aware people is the obvious answer that you might need an oxygen mask due to an inability to catch a breath:

Hamas has set the destruction of Israel as its goal. Between September 2000 and April 2004, Hamas perpetrated 425 terrorist attacks against Israel and murdered 377 Israelis - nine every month. Hamas was founded by Islamic militant extremists in the Gaza Strip in 1988, shortly after the first intifada broke out. The word Hamas is an acronym for the Arabic words for "Islamic Resistance Movement." Though it is also involved in social and welfare programs, the organization is devoted chiefly to the obliteration of Israel. Its charter states, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate...

Israel will not hesitate to launch a major IDF operation against Gaza-based terrorist factions if necessary, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Sunday—after some 100 rockets hit southern Israel in 24 hours. Rockets wounded three people in Sderot during a barrage fired to coincide with the morning commute to work. One man was moderately wounded in his car by shrapnel and flying glass. … Later in the day, a Palestinian rocket scored a direct hit on a Sderot factory. Sderot is too close to the Gaza Strip for the Iron Dome anti-rocket shield to work effectively over it. In the...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would seek to have the Palestinians' U.N. status upgraded to a sovereign country and cautioned that Israeli settlement expansion meant time was running out for a two-state solution. "Despite all the complexities of the prevailing reality and all the frustrations that abound, we say before the international community there is still a chance—maybe the last—to save the two-state solution and to salvage peace," Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly. But he warned the 193-nation assembly that Israel was "promising the Palestinian people a new catastrophe" if it continues with its current Jewish...

Protests against the government of Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad continued over the weekend. Dozens of protesters gathered in Ramallah demanding that Fayyad resign, blaming him for the high prices of food and fuel in the Palestinian Authority. In one incident, protesters waited outside a radio station where Fayyad was giving an interview and when he emerged, they tried to rush him..... PA chief Mahmoud Abbas said that he believed the protests would intensify, but did not expect them to degenerate into anarchy.

"Moderate" Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigade send a young Muslim female to massacre the Jewish-Israeli doctors who saved her life... Date: July 20, 2005: Arab 'Palestinian' Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade's female would be suicide bomber, Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Biss (al-Bass) targets Israeli hospital* in Israel. She was cought by the IDF at one of the checkpoints "where endless lines of Palestinians waited for hours - including many sick children and elderly headed for medical treatment that is unavailable in Gaza."*. It was after she was treated in an Israeli hospital and was given blood transfusion from a generous Israeli Jew, in Israel....

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney supports a two-state solution to solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he told CNN during his visit to Jerusalem. In an interview with the American news network, which took place in Jerusalem on Sunday, Romney was asked if he saw the starting point for negotiations as the borders which existed prior to the 1967 Six Day War. He responded by saying, “I'm not being that specific. I'm saying that there will be borders that have to be negotiated and what the starting point is something which will be decided by the...

Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000  1,226 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000. Note: This list also includes 18 Israelis killed abroad in terror attacks directed specifically against Israeli targets, and 3 American diplomatic personnel killed in Gaza.Not listed are 9 IDF soldiers killed during the ground operation against Hamas terror in Gaza (27 Dec 2008 - 18 Jan 2009). List of victims by date: Sept 27, 2000 - Sgt. David Biri, 19, of Jerusalem, was fatally wounded in a bombing near Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. Sept 29, 2000 -...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came and went and nothing changed, not even the hot weather, except that the U.S.-led “peace process” was left behind in lost baggage. The only question is if it was lost in Washington or Jerusalem. .....

If Israel does not surrender all the lands liberated in the Six Day War of 1967, set up an Arab state with Jerusalem as its capital, and make significant concessions in accepting as citizens descendants of Arabs who fled Israel in 1948, a third intifada should, and must, be conducted. The call for a new “uprising of the people” against Israel was part of a the summation statement issued at the end of the two day Palestinian Revolutionary Council (PRC) general meeting held this week. The meeting was led by Palestinian Authority chief and Fatah party head Mahmoud Abbas. The...

On Monday afternoon, the Palestinians destroyed officially whatever was left of the concept of a peace process with Israel. When PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas signed a deal with Hamas terror-master Khaled Mashaal in Doha, Qatar, the notion that there is a significant segment of Palestinian society that is not committed to the destruction of Israel was finally and truly sunk. >>SNIP<< It is a testament to the weakened state of the US in the region that in his hour of distress, Abbas opted to turn to Hamas.

Fatah and Hamas announced Monday they had reached another reconciliation agreement to end their differences – this time under the auspices of Qatar. According to the new accord, dubbed the Doha Declaration, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to serve as interim prime minister of a unity government consisting of independent figures. The government’s main mission, the agreement stipulates, would be to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections and rebuild the Gaza Strip. No date has been set for the elections. But some Palestinians said the vote would take place 90 days after the formation of the new government. Other...

Hamas and Fatah continue to accuse each other of a lack of commitment to the reconciliation deal signed in Cairo last May. Bethlehem-based Maan News quoted Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf as saying Saturday that “evidence on the ground shows that Hamas hasn’t fulfilled anything of the Cairo agreement.” Assaf said Hamas continues to detain Fatah activists and denies Fatah members from Judea and Samaria entry to Gaza. The Hamas government in Gaza also refuses to open the Palestinian Central Elections Commission offices in Gaza, he said. Hamas released a statement, too, on Saturday, accusing Fatah of undermining the terms of...

The rise of the forces of jihadist Islam in Egypt places the US and other Western powers in an uncomfortable position. The US is the guarantor of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel. That treaty is based on the proposition of land for peace. Israel gave Egypt the Sinai in 1982 and in exchange it received a peace treaty with Egypt. Now that the Islamists are poised to take power, the treaty is effectively null and void. The question naturally arises: Will the US act in accordance with its role as guarantor of the peace and demand that the new Egyptian...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement exposed on Sunday a video which shows the former head of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s military wing, Khalil al-Wazir (who was known as “Abu Jihad”), plotting to kill Ariel Sharon who then served as a Cabinet minister, Channel 2 News reported. According to the report, the video was released in honor of the anniversary of the establishment of the Fatah movement. The video, which was filmed in 1985, shows Abu Jihad as he briefs dozens of terrorists and explains to them how they should arrive by boat to the beach in Tel Aviv,...

Hamas and Fatah are preparing to release the lion's share of their respective 'political prisoners' by the end of the year. “By the end of the year, all political detainees will be released except those who wish to remain in custody for special reasons related to their security both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip,” the PA-affiliated Ma'an News Agency quoted PA negotiator Munib al-Masri on Saturday. The move comes on the heels of reconciliation talks between the rival factions in Cairo on Thursday that resulted in an announcement that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terror factions...

President Obama and his cheerleaders in the media may be fed up with Israel and its democratically elected government, but the Palestinian Authority appears to be about to take one step closer to effectively ending all hope for peace in the foreseeable future. Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reports that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to a key concession that will solidify the Hamas-Fatah unity pact first signed in May. The result will guarantee a strong Hamas role in the new Palestinian government that will ensure it will be impossible for the PA to agree to any deal with Israel,...

Days after the mass release of hundreds of terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has released a surprise demand, and is calling on Israel to release 1,000 more. Abbas claims that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised him that if Israel were to free Hamas terrorists in exchange for Shalit, it would also free Fatah terrorists, in order to avoid hurting Abbas’ political standing. In an interview with TIME Magazine, Abbas said the deal was kept secret so that it would not affect negotiations for Shalit’s freedom. Olmert promised not only to free more terrorists,...

Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad said Wednesday that impromptu talks with Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal in Cairo led him to believe "reconciliation talks" would begin "soon." Al-Ahmad, who heads the Fatah delegation in talks with Hamas, told reporters after the meeting was arranged at the last minute as the officials happened to be in the Egyptian capital. According to al-Ammad, Mashaal phoned Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his full support for Abbas' statehood bid at the United Nations in September. al-Ahmad also claimed Mashal congratulated Abbas on his speech to the General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Palestinians should not limit themselves to seeking a country within the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip -- which would implicitly recognize Israel -- because "all land belongs to Palestinians." ... Israel and the United States oppose the U.N. bid, saying there is no substitute for direct peace negotiations. But with Israel continuing to build settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Abbas says there is no point in talking. Iran doesn't recognize Israel and considers it an archenemy. Khamenei, who spoke at a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran, called Israel a "cancerous...

Some anniversaries in Arabs' racist war on Israel/Jews 1921-2011 Within a few days, next to the term "Palestine" we are bound to be subject to hear that filthy blanket-for-Arab-crimes: "occupation" mantra [this despite the falsehood of the term, like, for instance, that the Arab "Palestinians" never really 'HAD' the disputed territories, nevertheless], being thrown around at the Arab lobby's hijacked United Nations. Let's put, then, some anniversaries in perspective, especially their pre-1967 anti-Israel, or more accurately anti-Jewish war. 1921 - The founder of the Arab-Israeli conflict, infamous agitator Haj amin al-Husseini is appointed the Mufti [Islamic supreme authority] of Palestine...

Infiltration of the federal government by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood is worse than some have warned recently, says a former FBI special agent in Washington. The agent confirmed that at least three operatives of the Egypt-based Brotherhood – whose credo is "Jihad is our way and death in the cause of Allah is our dream" – have penetrated the Obama administration. The shocking charge was first leveled by Muslim reformer Tarek Fatah during a recent speech in Toronto. "Today in the White House, there are three members of the Muslim Brotherhood that influence Obama's policy," he told the...

Tarek Fatah is a Canadian moderate Muslim Advocate who considers himself a liberal democrat. He campaigned for Obama and believes there are advisors around Obama who are intentionally destroying our culture along with our economy. He believes they are from the Muslim Brotherhood; and being a Muslim himself, he can talk to these points.

The much touted unity agreement signed between rivals Fatah and Hamas has still failed to produce a unity government amdist fierce bickering. Since rival factions Fatah and Hamas announced a reconciliation after four years of often violent fueding following Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, the promised coalition government remains unformed due to disputes over fundamental issues, including who will serve as prime minister. While leaders in both factions have tried to play down the lack of progress and missed deadlines, barbs are being traded daily in Palestinian Authority and Hamas-run media outlets. As a result, what both sides...

Soldiers at a checkpoint near Kfar Saba Sunday morning foiled a Palestinian Authority Arab’s attempt to stab them while shouting “Allahu Akhbar ("Allah is great"). The soldiers were not injured. The attempted murder of the soldiers occurred near the Arab city of Kalkilya and on the main highway connecting Kfar Saba, located in the northern Tel Aviv metropolitan area, with communities in Samaria (Shomron). Alert soldiers shot at the terrorist in self-defense, wounding him moderately. Israeli medics for Magen David Adom (MDA) treated the terrorist at the scene and then rushed him to Beilinson Hospital-Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah....

Fatah officials in Ramallah complained Wednesday their spokesman in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip was detained by Hamas security forces, the Palestinian Authority-run Maan News Agency reports. Fatah lambasted Hamas and said the detention of Fayez Abu A’itah violated the reconciliation agreement signed by the two factions in Cairo. "Fayez Abus A’itah's detention harms the basic rights of the Palestinians," a Fatah statement said. According to Fatah officials, Hamas security forces have "insisted on preventing the movement of A'itah, making it impossible for him to do his job." "In detaining A'itah," Fatah said, pointing fingers in its statement, "Hamas is harming...

CAIRO, EGYPT (BNO NEWS) -- The two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, will finalize the formation of the historic unity government next Tuesday in Cairo, Fatah said on Tuesday. According to the Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA), Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mishal will convene in Cairo on June 21 to conclude negotiations about the new government. The announcement came as Fatah and Hamas began a new round of negotiations as the two factions failed on reaching a consensus on the election of the next Prime Minister. "Fatah is determined to end the division...

The meeting, organized by a Finnish nongovernmental organization, was backed by Turkey, officials said. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official addressed a reception held at the opening of Saturday's meeting but no Turkish official attended the talks. The meeting came after Fatah and Hamas proclaimed a landmark unity deal aimed at ending their bitter, four-year rift on May 4 in Cairo, Egypt. Turkey threw its support behind the reconciliation deal, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attending the signing ceremony in Cairo and calling on Israel and the international community to also support the deal. Fatah lawmaker Ashraf Juma confirmed that the...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday slammed a peace vision presented by Israel's prime minister and suggested the Palestinians now have their sights firmly set on seeking U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in September. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday was filled with "falsehoods and distortions," Abbas told leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization and his Fatah movement. "He did not say anything we can build on positively." Abbas' comments marked the first time he responded publicly to a total of four speeches by Netanyahu and President Barack Obama over the past week. Abbas...

Hamas and Fatah were united in their reactions to Netanyahu’s speech in Congress, while Israeli reactions, with few exceptions, fell along party lines. Saeb Erekat, a senior member of the Ramallah-Based Palestinian Authority and the senior negotiator during the period of talks with Israel, accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of distorting history. The Israeli leader told Congress that all of Judea and Samaria, including parts he would be willing to surrender for a “true peace,” are part of the ancient Jewish homeland. He also said that Israel’s ancient ties to the land do not allow for charges that Jews are “occupying”...

If anyone doubted whether there was real substance to the Hamas-Fatah “unity government,” Mahmoud Abbas’s New York Times op-ed provides the proverbial teachable moment. Don’t be distracted by Abbas’s fable of expulsion from Safed or his lies about the history of the conflict. The key passage is this one: Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of...

..... Yet we never heard back from the president on this matter until May 4th, some 21 days later when White House press secretary Jay Carney responded to this question towards the end of a press briefing about the death of Osama Bin Laden. QUESTION: "Regarding a historical agreement between Hamas and Fatah today, Prime Minister Netanyahu called this a blow - a blow to peace and great victory for terrorism. "What's the President's view on this statement? Do you agree with Netanyahu?" MR. CARNEY: "We understand that Fatah and Hamas have received reached a reconciliation agreement. What is important...

The United States slammed Monday Israel’s decision to withhold Palestinian Authority funds saying "any decision following the Hamas-Fatah agreement is premature.” U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner admitted that the Israelis “have their concerns,” but stressed that that the U.S. government's position is that “we believe that we need to wait and see. We believe it's premature to make any decisions. What's important now is that the Palestinians ensure implementation in a way that advances the prospects of peace." ... The U.S. administration hinted again that the warnings of some members of Congress to cut the aid to the...

Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that runs Gaza, is mourning the death of Osama bin Laden. He is a “martyr” to these jihadists. And Hamas has just concluded a pact with the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA), or Fatah, the group that the U.S. recognizes and to whom we give lavish foreign aid. We are currently giving $600 million a year to the so-called Palestinian Authority. Fatah has held an increasingly precarious control over much of the West Bank of the Jordan River since 1988. It was then that the U.S. brokered a deal in which the PLO morphed into the...

By most accounts, the Fatah-Hamas unity deal signing ceremony Wednesday was a grand affair. Hamas terror-chief Khaled Mashal jetted in from Damascus. PLO/Fatah/Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas flew in from Ramallah. The ceremony was held under the auspices of the newly Muslim Brotherhood-friendly Egyptian intelligence services. UN representatives and Israeli Arab members of Knesset were on hand to witness the "historic" accord which officially put the PLO in bed with the Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and a terrorist organization dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and the establishment of a global caliphate. No less significant...

Israeli Prime Minister denounced Hamas' presence in a landmark reconciliation pact with Fatah as a "great victory for terrorism." In Cairo on Wednesday, rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas proclaimed a landmark reconciliation deal aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift that has left them divided between separate governments in the territories envisioned for a future Palestinian