Abbas : Cairo meeting realistic ground for achieving reconciliation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that last week's meetings in Cairo among the Palestinian factions had led to practical mechanisms to implement the national reconciliation deal. "These mechanisms will remove all forms of split and will lead us to presidential and legislative elections," Abbas was quoted by official Wafa news agency as saying at a meeting with a delegation of Hamas legislators in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Abbas also urged all parties concerned to sincerely implement everything that was agreed upon to end the political division. Abbas' Fatah party and the Hamas movement have agreed to a deal signed Thursday in Cairo to form a unity government that will end their political split started in 2007. The new deal has infuriated Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Sunday not to negotiate with Abbas if Hamas joins the new government.