Hamas: New Government Must Include Islamic Jihad
“But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.” (Psalm 55:23)
Militant of Palestinian Islamic Jihad takes part in a parade in the Gaza Strip in 2013. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
The Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group is taking steps to integrate other terrorist organizations into the upcoming Palestinian unity government with the Fatah-led Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Speaking on Friday in Gaza’s Al-Omri Mosque, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced that it would help integrate the Islamic Jihad terrorist group into the new government. In the upcoming days, leaders from Hamas and the PLO will meet in Cairo roughly one month after announcing the new united Palestinian government.
Haniyeh explained that according to the new deal, Islamic Jihad, which is responsible for numerous rocket attacks on Israel, will select leaders as part of PLO leadership positions and take part in PLO elections.
The Hamas leader said that imprisoned Palestinian terrorists would be a central issue that the new government would try and take on.
“No one is worthy of leadership, and no one is worthy to stay in their role, if they distance from the prisoners and send them to deal alone with the injustice of the occupation,” Haniyeh stated. He called on the “Palestinian people” to increase the “struggle” against Israel to bring about the release of the terrorists.
Haniyeh explained that the new government would discuss three central topics between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority: presidential and parliamentary elections, security, and reciprocal release of imprisoned members.
After several years of intense rivalry, the two Palestinian factions announced an agreement that presented a united front against Israel. Conflicting reports out of the West Bank and Gaza indicate a growing rift between who will lead the new government. Abbas has stated that Hamas will not be part of the new unity government while Haniyeh has insisted that he would rule.
Ma’an News Agency reported that despite the recent deal, political unrest still continues between the two sides. Khalil Assaf, a member of the Freedoms Committee in the West Bank, told Ma’an that “political arrests by security forces in the region have continued since the sign of the Beach Camp agreement at the end of April, albeit a slower pace than before.”
Assaf said that the PA is continuing their practice of arresting individuals based on their political associations. PA security forces are still arresting those known to be affiliated with Hamas in the West Bank on a daily basis.
Assaf warned that the arrests “strained the reconciliation atmosphere” in the Fatah-led West Bank.
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