The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Egyptian Parliament has taken a stand against the increasing trend toward Islamist extremism in Gaza.
Mustafa al-Faki told participants at a conference in Cairo this week that his country would not tolerate the establishment of what he called an "Islamist emirate" on Egypt's northern border.
According to a report published Thursday in the London-based Arabic language Al Hayat newspaper, al-Faki blamed the Hamas terrorist organization, which controls Gaza, for the repeated breakdown of renewed unity talks with the rival Fatah faction.
Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his willingness in statements over the past several months to meet with Hamas officials and work out their differences. Hamas, however, has been reluctant to come to the table.
Abbas, whose term in office is set to expire next month, has also said he will not leave his position, claiming that elections for the post were meant to be held at the same time as legislative elections in 2010. Hamas has said it will not recognize his claim to the position after January 8, 2009.
The two groups struggled for control of the Palestinian Authority government after Hamas won the elections in a landslide victory in January 2006, leaving Abbas as chairman of the PA but installing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister.
The struggle ended after numerous negotiations mediated by various Arab leaders broke down, and clashes between the two factions escalated into a brutal militia war in Gaza.
Hamas decisively ousted the Fatah leadership from the region in June, 2007 and seized total control of Gaza. Fatah retained control over the PA territories in Judea and Samaria, governed by Abbas from his headquarters in the Muqata, the Ramallah office once occupied by his PLO predecessor and mentor Yasser Arafat.
Repeated attempts by Arab League members to bring the two sides back together again have failed.