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GAZA, July 4-- Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party need more steps to strengthen Palestine's internal unity, Palestinian analysts said on Saturday. The two Palestinian rival groups announced on Thursday that they agreed to unify their positions against Israeli annexation plan. Jibril al-Rajoub, member of Fatah movement's Central Committee, and Saleh Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas politburo, made this announcement during a joint online conference held in both Ramallah and Lebanon's Beirut. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that it could begin the annexation process from July 1, including annexing Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley. It is still unclear whether the Israeli government intends to follow through with plans to apply Israeli law over contentious territories in the West Bank and to what extent. Adnan Abu Aamer, political analyst from Gaza, said that the announcement "is an important step towards ending the big inertness that influenced the achievement of the internal reconciliation." "What happened between Fatah and Hamas on Thursday was a good start and a symbolic step ... although many obstacles need to be resolved between the two rivals," said Abu Aamer. The internal division between Fatah and Hamas started 13 years ago when the latter routed the security forces of President Abbas and seized the Gaza Strip. | 
