by Samer al-Atrush

CAIRO (AFP) – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Wednesday pledged to end years of bitter rivalry at a ceremony in Cairo in a deal slammed by Israel as a "victory for terrorism."
The surprise accord, inked this week by the two rivals among 13 factions, aims to put a stop to the animosity which has split the Palestinian territories into opposing camps since 2007.
"We have turned the black page of division forever," the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) head Abbas told delegates attending a ceremony to ratify the agreement in Cairo, host and mediator of the long-delayed deal.
"Reconciliation clears the way not only to putting the Palestinian house in order but also to a just peace," said Egypt's intelligence chief Murad Muwafi.

But the move drew a furious response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described Abbas's rapprochement with the Islamist Hamas movement which rules Gaza as a "great victory for terrorism," while on a visit to London.
"What happened today in Cairo is a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism," Netanyahu said ahead of talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
As Arab dignitaries gathered to ratify the accord in the Egyptian capital, more than 1,000 Palestinians flooded the streets of Gaza City to celebrate, waving flags, dancing and honking car horns.
Smaller demonstrations took place across the West Bank.
In Cairo, Meshaal said Hamas was willing to pay "any price for reconciliation" and that the faction's "only fight" was with Israel.

Hamas's aim, he said, was the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders -- "the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital and without giving up an inch, nor the right of return."
The reconciliation agreement envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are not affiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year.
Negotiations on the new cabinet line-up were due to start straight after Wednesday's ceremony and the factions were also to form a Higher Security Council to handle the integration of the rival security forces into one "professional" body.

The accord leaves the issue of negotiations with Israel entirely in the hands of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is also headed by Abbas.
And it makes no mention of Hamas amending its charter to acknowledge Israel's right to exist.
The rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, which is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, has provoked outrage in Israel, with Netanyahu demanding Abbas "choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas."

But Abbas, who heads Fatah, said it was Israel that had to make a choice -- "between settlements and peace," accusing the Jewish state of opposing the accord as "a pretext to avoid peace negotiations."
Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled last September over an intractable dispute on Israeli settlement building on occupied land.
Israel on Wednesday urged the European Union to cut funding to the PA if Hamas does not comply with the demands of the Middle East Quartet -- that it recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by all previous agreements.

Jordan's King Abdullah II hailed the accord and offered his country's support for the creation of a Palestinian state.
"Jordan will always support the Palestinians politically and economically, particularly in the coming stage, until an independent Palestinian state is created on Palestinian land," the monarch said.
In a sceptical response, the outgoing head of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency, Yuval Diskin, said he doubted the deal would last.
"I think that in the next two or three years the chances for real reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas that will lead to connecting Gaza to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) are almost zero," he said.

"This is mostly a public relations exercise," said Diskin. A unity government would "have to answer complex questions, each party will pull in its own direction. This agreement ... looks like a spicy drama, nothing more."
In Gaza, more than 1,000 people marched to the Square of the Unknown Soldier, which was transformed into a sea of coloured flags -- the familiar green of Hamas and the much rarer yellow flag of Fatah, which has been banned in Gaza since the Islamists kicked the faction out of the territory in June 2007.
Reflecting the rapprochement, Hamas TV resumed broadcasts in the West Bank and the PA began transmitting in Gaza, both for the first time since 2007, on a day that was hailed by premier Salam Fayyad as a "very happy moment."
"We've been waiting a long time for this to happen," he said.