The Palestinian faction of Fatah has strongly criticized the Israeli prime minister for interfering with a unity deal signed between Palestinian movements.

Head of the Fatah delegation in Cairo Azzam al-Ahmed said on Tuesday that Benjamin Netanyahu "must respect the will of the Palestinian people and stop the unacceptable interference in internal Palestinian affairs."

He made the remarks after the Israeli premier called on acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas to call off the unity deal with Hamas that was signed in the Egyptian capital Cairo earlier on Tuesday.

"I call on Abu Mazen (Abbas) to completely cancel the agreement with Hamas and to choose the path to peace with Israel," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by AFP.

The two sides signed the agreement to establish an interim unity government and hold presidential and legislative elections within a year.

The two factions have been at odds since the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.

Following Hamas’s election victory, Fatah set up headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, thus limiting governance by Hamas to the Gaza Strip, a comparably smaller portion of Palestinian territories.

(Press TV)