Fatah Secretary General Jibril Rajoub meets Islamic Jihad chief Ziyad al-Nakhaleh in Beirut to discuss “mechanisms for achieving [Palestinian] reconciliation,” according to the official Palestinian Authority WAFA news agency.
“Fatah is ready to achieve reconciliation and hold elections to renew the legitimacy of the components of the Palestinian political system,” Rajoub says.
Recent weeks have seen a flurry of talks between various Palestinian factions to mend the rifts between Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian groups. PA President Mahmoud Abbas led a meeting of Palestinian faction chiefs in early September at which both Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and al-Nakhaleh spoke.
Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attends by video conference a meeting with deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri (unseen) discussing Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank, on July 2, 2020. (Abbas Momani/AFP)
Many Palestinians remain skeptical that the talks will lead to national unity. Several attempts to reconcile the various Palestinian factions since the 2007 rift between Fatah and Hamas have fizzled out.
Islamic Jihad first split from Fatah in 1994, when it left the Palestine Liberation Organization in protest of the Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
Al-Nakhaleh has also remarked that Islamic Jihad is conditioning Palestinian unity on joining a “PLO that does not recognize Israel,” a demand unlikely to be granted.
— Aaron Boxerman
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