Palestinian supporters of Hamas take part in a rally against the Israeli annexation plan in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on July 3, 2020. The two Palestinian rival groups, Fatah movement and Islamic Hamas movement, announced on Thursday to unify their positions against Israeli annexation plan. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)
RAMALLAH, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The two Palestinian rival groups, Fatah movement and Islamic Hamas movement, announced on Thursday to unify their positions against Israeli annexation plan.
Jibril al-Rajoub, member of Fatah movement's Central Committee, and Saleh A'rouri, deputy chief of Hamas politburo, made this announcement in a joint online press conference held in both Ramallah and Lebanon's Beirut.
"We agreed upon working jointly to develop the mechanisms of unifying our positions towards confronting the Israeli annexation plan," said al-Rajoub.
He said that these mechanisms include "a confirmation that we are one people who live in one homeland and have one cause, one sovereign state, and one right of self-determination."
"We decided to agree on the mechanisms of holding the general Palestinian elections, respecting its results and turning our backs to the past," he said, referring to 13 years of internal Palestinian division that started in 2007.
The internal Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah began in 2007 when Hamas forcibly took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah.
The senior Fatah official called for turning the page of the past and opening a new page of internal Palestinian relationships, saying that the unity serves "the national interests of our people."
Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader A'rouri, said that there is "a golden opportunity to start a new stage and back the strategy of the Palestinian people in such crucial situation to confront Israel's plan of annexation."
"The Israeli annexation annuls the political solution of the vision of the two states and therefore, there will be no possibility to establish a constant Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," said A'rouri.
He said that Hamas supports all political and legal measures that the Palestinian leadership is carrying out to confront the Israeli annexation plan.
He added that the Palestinians will confront the Israeli annexation plan by all means of struggle and resistance "because it is a legitimate right to resist the occupation."
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it could begin the annexation process from July 1. Plans are to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.
It is still unclear whether the Israeli government intends to follow through with plans to apply Israeli law over contentious territories in the West Bank and to what extent. Enditem
