GAZA CITY - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas expressed hope Tuesday that militants can be brought into mainstream politics after radical group Islamic Jihad attended an PLO executive meeting for the first time.
But Hamas, the biggest rival to the mainstream Fatah, warned there was still much to be agreed before the Islamist group joins the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which groups the main secular factions.
"There is a good chance of at least agreeing on a political programme," Abbas told reporters after the meeting, which officials said focused on how Jiahd and Hamas might join the PLO after years of boycott.
"Our brothers in Islamic Jihad participated in this meeting and our brothers in Hamas will participate in the next meeting," Abbas added.
"We discussed how and on what basis Hamas and Islamic Jihad would join the PLO ... We started to discuss the political issues and how the PLO will move forward," said Mohammed al-Hindi, a Jihad leader.
But he said it was still "too early" to decide to join the PLO. "There has been no decision so far," he stressed.
Hindi said officials had agreed to hold another meeting in Gaza City within a month, followed by a subsequent gathering abroad of top-level leaders from all factions.
"All secretary generals of all factions will attend this meeting, including Islamic Jihad and Hamas. I think Hamas will participate in the next two meetings," Hindi said.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas have shown signs of easing their voluntary boycott of the political mainstream since Abbas replaced the late Yasser Arafat as Palestinian leader in January.
But although Hamas has declared its willingness to join the PLO, the faction snubbed Tuesday's talks and one of its West Bank leaders said practical membership could still be some time off.
"There are still a lot of issues regarding the political programme, charter and institutions of the PLO that need to be agreed upon before Hamas actually joins," Hassan Yussef told.
"Hamas does not only want to have a seat. We want to be effective," he said.
"The PLO has deteriorated, its institutions are weak and in order for them to function again a whole lot of reconstruction needs to be done based on free elections," he added.
Tuesday's meeting followed inter-Palestinian talks in Cairo earlier this month, at which faction members said progress was made towards ironing out persistent political disagreements concerning the PLO.
Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas, violently opposed to Israel, are wedded to the vision of an independent Palestine incorporating the modern-day Jewish state.
The PLO charter calls for the creation of a Palestinian state only in land conquered by Israel in the 1967 war.
Fatah is the largest movement in the PLO, which represents Palestinians living in the occupied territories as well as the diaspora, and controls the Palestinian Authority which was created under the 1993 Oslo peace accords.
Earlier this month, Hamas announced that it would join the Palestinian political mainstream and stand in July parliamentary elections after years voluntarily in the cold.
03/29/2005 14:39 GMT