Hamas is ready to heed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's call for joining the Palestinian Authority but will not be restricted to a symbolic role, one of the Islamist movement's senior officials said Tuesday.
"We do not want to become political partners by joining already-existing institutions on a quota basis but without securing any influence on the political decision-making, as is the case for several parties," Said Siam told AFP.
"We want a political partnership along new guidelines which take into account the weight of the various movements," said Siam, one of the main Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview published Monday by the German weekly news magazine Focus, Arafat called on Hamas to enter mainstream politics and join the Palestinian Authority.
Several parties officially form the political branch of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, but Arafat's Fatah wields unchallenged control over Palestinian institutions.
Hamas - which rejected the Oslo peace process signed by Arafat in the 1990s - and Islamic Jihad are currently talking with Fatah and other parties on how to administer the Gaza Strip after a possible Israeli withdrawal.
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