AMMAN, Jordan, June 20 (UPI) -- Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement is gathering support to launch a reconciliation dialogue between rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas.
The influential group Wednesday called on political figures and members of civil society to take part in a national conference, sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood, on Saturday to launch an initiative that will bring Fatah and Hamas leaders together to end factional fighting.
A Brotherhood member told United Press International the initiative calls for the two factions to urgently start serious dialogue to contain the repercussions of their crisis and to reach a common mechanism that will end their rifts.
Fatah refuses to speak to Hamas after the latter's Islamist militants overthrew the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip last week following violent battles that left more than 100 people dead.
The Jordanian Islamic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said reconciliation was necessary to enable the Palestinian people "to continue their efforts to regain their legitimate rights and confronting the conspiracies that target their unity and struggle." He stressed the initiative rejects any attempt to split the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, where there are two governments -- one led by Hamas in Gaza and another emergency government in the West Bank.
Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood has close ties to Hamas. But a recent statement by the Jordanian Islamic movement had called on Hamas to "return the situation in Gaza to the proper institutional work and to prove its good intentions ... with Palestinian consensus, not through unilateral factional decisions."
More than half of Jordan's 5.4 million population are of Palestinian origin, and the kingdom fears threats of any intra-Palestinian fighting spilling over into the country.
