The reconciliation agreement between the two major Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, which was signed in Gaza on Wednesday, is based on a two-state solution and recognizes the State of Israel, senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said on Thursday.

"The reconciliation that we achieved will be implemented according to the program of Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmuod Abbas] which recognizes the state of Israel," Rajoub said, in an interview with Army Radio's Good Morning Israel program.

He added that the two-state solution envisages "a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and the state of Israel with its capital in West Jerusalem." Hamas leader Ismail Haniya "is obliged to uphold Abu Mazen's policy," Rajoub stressed.

Rajoub is a member of the Fatah Central Committee and heads the Palestinian Football Association and Olympic Committee. He was head of the Preventative Security Force in the West Bank until 2002.

He stressed that "when the government is established with Abu Mazen at its head, he will express clearly and unequivocally that he accepts the terms of the Quartet and that his government accepts the two-state solution."

However, he expressed doubt that Israel would follow suit. "Netanyahu doesn't lead a peace government," he said. "We hear the statements of [Economy Minister Naftali] Bennett, [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman and [Transport Minister Israel] Katz; which of them accepts the existence of the Palestinian nation?"

"We wouldn't have been prepared – or able – to sign a reconciliation agreement without it being clear to all the Palestinian factions that we are leading our nation to a two-states-for-two-nations solution," Rajoub emphasized.

