Palestinian Leader Calls Merger of Hamas, Islamic Jihad “Necessity”

Merging Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main Palestinian Islamic resistance movements, is a political and religious must, a senior Hamas official stressed on Saturday.

“Religion, politics and political developments in our surrounding necessitate closeness of Islamic movements,” Al Zahar stated.

He said that integration of the two Palestinian movements in a single organizational structure can resolve many problems, including those related to elections since both groups can now take part in the elections in a single framework.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are holding talks about merging their two factions.

In a recent a meeting with top officials from Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called for rapid measures to merge the two movements.

Islamic Jihad also confirmed that the merger talks were already underway.

“An in-depth dialogue has actually begun, both internally and externally, with the aim of uniting,” Spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP.