Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reacted angrily to an invitation extended by Iran to Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Hanniya to attend the non-aligned nations summit in Tehran this week. A spokesman or Hanniya accepted the invitation after Fayyad publicly urged him not to. In a statement issued by Fayyad’s office, the prime minister charged that the invitation is “a serious escalation by Iran against Palestinian unity and against the Palestinian Authority’s role as the guardian of the Palestinian people both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank including Jerusalem.” PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who had also accepted an invitation to attend, did so believing he would be heading the Palestinian delegation. Fayyad’s office said Abbas will not be attending if Hanniya does. The other international controversy surrounding the conference, which is set for this week, is American and Israeli ire at United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for planning to attend the conference. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland explained, “The fact that the meeting is happening in a country that’s in violation of so many of its international obligations and posing a threat to neighbors sends a very strange signal with regard to support for the international order, rule of law.”