Consider the fact that PIJ is funded and armed by the Iranians.

(AFP) — Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main Palestinian Islamist movements, are holding talks about merging their two factions, sources from both movements said Tuesday.

At a meeting with top officials from Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s Hamas-affiliated prime minister, Ismail Haniya, called for “opening a serious dialogue to achieve the merger of the two movements,” his office said in a statement.

Islamic Jihad confirmed that talks to merge the two factions were already underway.

“An in-depth dialogue has actually begun, both internally and externally, with the aim of uniting,” Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP, referring to the group’s leadership which, like Hamas, is based in both Gaza and Damascus.

All previous attempts to merge the two Islamist movements had ended in failure, Shihab noted.

He indicated that the current talks were taking place “at the highest level” among the leaders of both factions in Gaza and Damascus, as well as among Islamist prisoners currently being held in Israeli jails.