Islamic Jihad optimistic over Mecca talk

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement on Wednesday expressed its optimism over the ongoing talks between rival factions of Hamas and Fatah in Saudi Arabia's Mecca, saying the talks would end a crisis in the Palestinian territories.

"We are confident about the results of Mecca meetings because we are aware that the Palestinian blood and the higher interest are the most important points on the conferees' agenda," a Jihad leader Khader Habib told reporters in Gaza.

Delegations from Hamas and Fatah movements kicked off their first session of talks Wednesday morning in Mecca, Islam's holiest city, amid expectations for agreements on all outstanding points regarding the formation of a national unity government.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had called last December for early elections in a bid to settle power struggle between his Fatah movement and the governing Hamas party, though without setting a date for the elections, which has prompted bloody clashes between the two rival sides.

But Habib dismissed the remarks that Mecca talks would be the last effort before resorting to early elections which had been condemned by Hamas as tantamount to a coup against the less-than- one-year-old Hamas-led government.

The Islamic Jihad has made clear its position that it would not participate in any Palestinian government as long as the Israeli occupation exists.

Source: Xinhua