Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal reemphasized his group’s commitment to the eradication of Israel over the weekend, in a speech that The New York Times described as “defiant” and which the Israeli government noted contained genocidal pledges to use violent “resistance” to establish a “Palestine from the river to the sea.” Present at the speech, part of Hamas’s 25th anniversary festival, were officials from the rival Fatah organization. Fatah Central Committee member Azzam Alahmed described Mashaal’s speech as “very positive.” Palestinian officials have for years made halting efforts to build a single Palestinian government encompassing Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah in a bloody 2007 coup. Reconciliation now, which would come after Fatah officials abandoned bilateral negotiations with Israel in favor of a unilateral United Nations gambit, and after Hamas officials had reaffirmed their commitment to destroying Israel, would complicate the relationship between the West and the new Palestinian government.