GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian Islamic Jihad has given a mixed response to the April 23 reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah. Islamic Jihad's leadership reiterated the necessity of achieving Palestinian unity and restoring cohesion, to confront what the group’s leaders told Al-Monitor was “the risks facing the Palestinian cause, the division of Palestinians and the Israeli occupation.” However, some of its leaders still have concerns about the reconciliation deal, particularly concerning its weapons, as well as the future of Hamas-Islamic Jihad relations.

Khodor Habib, a leading Islamic Jihad member, relayed his impressions to Al-Monitor. He said the Palestinian reconciliation was the perfect option for Palestinians to organize internal affairs and end the division that had taken a toll on all Palestinians.

“Islamic Jihad believes that reconciliation is the [best] choice for Palestinians amid the problems they are facing, such as the ongoing Israeli aggression, the failed political negotiations led by Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] and the [failure in putting in place] one consensual Palestinian program that will ensure the minimum political representation of all factions,” he said.

Islamic Jihad, however, is still refusing to participate in any parliamentary or presidential elections under the current Palestinian political system, which it considers to come under the umbrella of the Oslo Accord. The movement believes that the PLO is the only organization it can join, because it was not formed under the umbrella of the Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty.