Palestinians celebrate as Fatah, Hamas officials anger Israeli, declaring they have turned ’black page’ of division

Finally, the Palestinian unity was reached on Wednesday…

In Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal declared turning the “black page” and paving the way for immediate reconciliation.

In a ceremony held in Cairo and aimed at ending the nearly four-year feud, Abbas and Meshaal announced their willingness to pay any price to achieve reconciliation, paving the way for celebrations throughout the Palestinian territories and at the same time angering the Israeli enemy.

"We announce to Palestinians that we turn forever the black page of division," Abbas said in his opening address. "We announce the good news from Egypt which has always carried its national and historical responsibility toward the Palestinian people. Four black years have affected the interests of Palestinians. Now we meet to assert a unified will," he said. "We are certain of success so long as we're united ... Reconciliation clears the way not only to putting the Palestinian house in order but also to a just peace," he added.

The Palestinian president said the Israeli premier must now "choose between building settlements and peace," and accused Israel of opposing the Palestinian reconciliation accord as "a pretext to avoid peace negotiations."

For his part, Meshaal said that his party would work to achieve the "Palestinian national goal" of a sovereign state on the Gaza Strip and West Bank. He stressed Hamas sought "the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital and without giving up an inch nor the right of return."

Meshaal also said the Resistance’s "only fight is with Israel" and that the four-year-old rift with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction was over. He said that his movement "is willing to pay any price for reconciliation."

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad welcomed the surprise unity accord and stressed the deal must be implemented on the ground immediately. "It's a very happy moment, the signing of the agreement by the Palestinian factions," he told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah of the deal. But he acknowledged that the deal was only a first step. "We've been waiting a long time for this to happen because the unity of the nation is one of the basic issues" to prepare for a Palestinian state, the premier said.

The reconciliation agreement provides for the formation of an interim government of independents to lay the groundwork for presidential and parliamentary elections within a year. Negotiations on the new government line-up were due to start straight after Wednesday's ceremony.

In Gaza City, around 300 people waving Palestinian flags gathered in a festive atmosphere to celebrate the deal, dancing and letting off firecrackers. "Palestinians want to end the division," said one banner held aloft by the crowd. "This is the day that we've all been waiting for," an announcer shouted to the cheering crowd.

Support rallies were also planned in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where Abbas has his headquarters.

But Israel responded angrily, threatening to withhold the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues until it could be sure no money would go to Hamas. Ahead of his London talks, Netanyahu told Britain's former premier Tony Blair, now a Middle East peace envoy for the major diplomatic players, that Abbas must "completely cancel" the reconciliation deal which he said had dealt a "hard blow to the peace process."

Following the signing ceremony, Netanyahu slammed the deal as a tremendous blow to peace. "What happened today in Cairo is a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism," Netanyahu told reporters in London where he is due to hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Israel's home front defense minister, Matan Vilnai, in turn told public radio on Wednesday that Abbas had "made a mistake in agreeing this deal when Hamas is in a position of weakness, which explains why it made moves towards reconciliation." The Israeli minister said Abbas should have insisted on a "clear declaration from Hamas on recognizing Israel and condemning terrorism before signing."

But the Palestinian president made clear on Tuesday that Hamas would not have to amend its charter to recognize Israel under the reconciliation deal. "It is not required of Hamas to recognize Israel. We will form a government of technocrats and we will not ask Hamas to recognize Israel," he said.