"Withdrawal from the Gaza Strip does not mean the end of occupation," Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, told reporters, referring to the West Bank. "Our position will remain...to continue the resistance."

Zahar spoke against the backdrop of a meeting in Gaza between Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and militant factions, including Hamas, following the Israeli cabinet's approval in principle on Sunday of a Gaza pullout plan.

In separate remarks, Qurie praised Egypt's offer to send advisers to Gaza, a Hamas stronghold, to help train and equip the Palestinian Authority's security forces.

Egypt's involvement is widely seen as a bid to help ensure militants do not attack Israel from Gaza after a pullout, strikes likely to lead to Israeli retaliation.

Asked whether Hamas would provide Egypt or the Palestinian Authority with guarantees to stop attacks after a withdrawal, Zahar called the unilateral pullout plan "one-sided" and said the group was "against giving any security commitments."

Meanwhile, armed militias in President Yasser Arafat's Fatah threatened mutiny Saturday, accusing the main Palestinian faction of failing to include them in decision-making and defend them from Israeli crackdowns.

The threat by al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades underscored growing instability in the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority as a new, militant generation in the faction confronts an old guard seen as impotent after 3 and a half years of conflict with Israel.