GAZA, March 30 (UPI) -- The Islamic Resistance Movement, better known as Hamas -- and for its suicide bombing attacks in Israel -- is gradually moving toward politics, competing with the ruling Fatah movement in the Palestinian territories.
Since a March 17 meeting in Cairo that brought together 13 different Palestinian factions, Hamas has declared a temporary cease-fire with Israel and begun to adopt a policy reflecting more political power than military muscle.
Hamas leaders, however, insist that this does not mean they intend to give up their arms, regardless of whether Israel pulls out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Musheer al-Masri, Hamas' spokesman in Gaza, said his group decided to join the Palestine Liberation Organization and all its political, popular and financial institutes, but "to reform and rebuild the whole organization from the beginning."
Earlier, a senior Hamas official called for forming a national committee to rule the territories evacuated by the Israeli army in July. There were reports that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas proposed sharing with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Syria, the administration of the settlements in Gaza after Israel evacuates them.
Israel had announced it was preparing plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and settlements of northern the West Bank. The pullout proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to be implemented next July and includes dismantling the Gaza Strip settlements and four in the West Bank.
The PLO executive committee, chaired by Abbas, held a meeting Tuesday in Gaza attended by representatives of the Islamic Jihad, but Hamas representatives excused themselves, promising to join future ones.
It was the first time Islamic Jihad leaders had attended such a meeting.
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movements were founded in 1987 in Gaza. Before this, they rejected joining the PLO executive committee, arguing that the Islamic and secular ideologies and strategies contradict one another.
When the PLO recognized the state of Israel and signed Oslo Accords in 1993, the two Islamic movements vowed to carry on their armed attacks against Israel.
After Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in November 2004, and Abbas was elected in his place, Abbas intensified dialogue with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Salim Zanoon, speaker of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestinian parliament in exile, who attended the PLO executive committee meeting, stressed the importance of the future role of the PLO.
"The meeting would include representatives of all factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as the left-wing parties. The aim is to agree on a mechanism to activate the meetings and set up the location for these meetings," he said.
Zanoon said that one the major issues that all factions will discuss, including Hamas, is to whether to hold elections for the PNC and allow all Palestinians everywhere in the world to vote.
"There were diverging views, but in principle and according to what had been agreed upon in the Cairo meeting, everyone agrees to join the PLO and the PNC," said Zanoon.
If Hamas and Islamic Jihad join the PLO and the PNC, it would mark a turning point in the history of the Palestinian political struggle.
In the meantime, many questions remain to be answered, such as the continuation of the armed struggle, the peace process and peace negotiations with Israel.
