Palestinian Leader Calls Merger of Hamas, Islamic Jihad "Necessity"
News number: 9010171979 15:50 | 2012-01-21
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010171979

TEHRAN (FNA)- 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.