Islamic Jihad: Reconciliation is failing because PA wants resistance to disarm

Talks regarding Palestinian reconciliation are failing because “Fatah does not want the Palestinians to resist” the occupation, member of the political bureau of Islamic Jihad Nafeth Azzam stressed yesterday.

Speaking to Al-Watan Voice, Azzam noted that Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli existence on the land of Palestine.

“However,” he said, “the Islamic Jihad is not party to the Palestinian division so our support for one side does not mean losing the other. Therefore, we are pushing for an agreement between the two sides.”

When told that Fatah does not recognise Israel, but the PA does, he said: “This is not true. Fatah and the PA are two sides of the same coin and they recognise Israel. Fatah controls the PLO and its vision is dominating it.”

Hamas: Fatah set ‘impossible’ conditions for reconciliation

Azzam revealed the reason for which the reconciliation has not been reached yet: “the resistance’s arms”.

“Fatah does not want the Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation,” he said, “Fatah wants to control everything, including the resistance’s arms in Gaza and this what it means when it asks Hamas to allow it to govern Gaza.”

He stressed this is the difference between Fatah and all the other Palestinian factions. “This is unreasonable,” he said.

Islamic Jihad view the reconciliation in five files: rearranging the Palestinian authorities, carrying out comprehensive elections, rearranging the PLO, forming a national unity government and achieving the social reconciliation. “We are pushing to implement these filed as one package,” he said.