Arafat wants to bring terror groups into fold

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is prepared to include the militant Hamas group in a new leadership organisation that would function alongside the Palestinian Authority, it was reported today.

The Al Ayyam newspaper, which is close to Arafat’s Fatah faction, said Arafat is willing to include Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another terror organisation, in a unified leadership group, though it did not specify what the group’s function would be.