Palestinian resistance groups know no red lines in war with ‘israel’: Islamic Jihad leader

In an interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV channel on Wednesday, Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ziyad al-Nakhalah said Palestinian resistance groups have military presence in the occupied West Bank, and that Israel “is a target for resistance rockets.”

“There are no red lines in resistance actions taken against the occupier and Israel in its entirety is a target if a war breaks out,” Nakhalah said.

Referring to a recent decision to establish a joint leadership of the Palestinian organizations, he said “important changes” will take place in the Palestinian territories, “especially in the West Bank.”

“Soon we will develop new equations that may reach joint military action,” said Nakhalah, stressing that there is “no binding truce” for the Palestinian groups in Gaza and they are in a “continuous war and conflict” at the borders of the strip.

“We are attached to Palestine from the sea to the river and this is our right,” he said.

Nakhalah called on Palestinian leaders to “formulate a unified political program” in the face of the occupation.

“We want the Palestinian people and their leadership to be in a clear and unified project away from the illusion of peace,” said Nakhalah.

The PIJ leader also censured the recent normalization agreements signed between the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Israel.

“The countries that have signed agreements with the occupation will not bring about significant regional changes, and they are brothers that have let us down,” said Nakhalah.

“The Palestinian people have fought alone from the beginning” he said.

“The mere passing of the Israeli plane over Mecca and Medina is sad and humiliating,” said the Palestinian leader, referring to the Israeli flight to the UAE that passed over Saudi Arabia.

He further welcomed Iranian and Turkish support for the Palestinian people.

The Islamic Jihad leader took responsibility for the rocket attack launched on Tuesday into the occupied territories, calling it a response to the “humiliation at the White House.”

The Palestinian rockets triggered sirens in the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod, potentially sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was signing agreements at the White House with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani.

Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, view the US-brokered deals as a betrayal of their cause.

Hamas also said in a statement that the Palestinian nation “insists on continuing its struggle until it secures the return of all of its rights.”

The coastal sliver, home to some two million people, has been under an Israeli-imposed crippling siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in the living standards as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty there.

Israel has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing and wounding thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.