'Hamas, Fatah agree to maintain Gaza truce with Israel'

Fatah and Hamas have agreed that that Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip will maintain a truce with Israel following the scheduled signing of the Palestinian unity deal, Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram quoted Palestinian sources as saying on Tuesday.Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are expected to sign the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation agreement in Cairo on Wednesday.RELATED:Fayyad: Israeli suspension of funds to PA won't stop unityAbbas bids for EU backing for unity accord with HamasRepresentatives of several Palestinian factions have also been invited to attend the signing ceremony in Cairo.On Sunday, Mashaal's deputy Musa Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying that Hamas would not recognize Israel’s right to exist, despite the agreement to form a Palestinian unity government.“Hamas has a principled position regarding this issue,” Marzouk said. “We won’t recognize the Zionist entity. Our rights are still usurped and it’s illogical for us to recognize the Zionist entity because that would be at the expense of our stolen lands and our people in the refugee camps.”Marzouk said that Hamas did not see any connection between recognizing Israel’s right to exist and the establishment of a Palestinian state.“Most of the Arab countries don’t recognize Israel, and yet they continue to deal with the international community,” he said. “And many European countries did not recognize Israel until recently. Therefore the international community should not look into this issue.”