Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders claim plans to establish new West Bank terror cells
The leader of the Iranian-backed terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed that his organization plans to establish new terror cells across the West Bank region.
“The most important thing is that we strengthen the resistance,” PIJ head Ziad Nakhaleh told the Iranian Arabic-language paper Al-Vefagh on Saturday.
“During our visit to Iran, during the meeting with His Eminence, the Leader, His Eminence reaffirmed [his desire] to advance arming the West Bank and resistance action in the West Bank,” Nakhaleh added.
In June, Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hosted senior Islamic Jihad and Hamas officials in Tehran in an effort to step up Iranian-backed terror attacks against Israel and Jews.
While Hamas, the Sunni Islamic terror group that operates primarily in Gaza and the West Bank, has developed close ties with the Iranian regime, it remains an independent terror organization. By contrast, Islamic Jihad is fully financed and backed by the ayatollah regime in Tehran.
Nakhaleh expressed gratitude toward Iran for its support and claimed the Iranian assistance should not be “exaggerated.”
“There is security-military assistance, and this is the most important thing,” Nakhaleh said.
The Palestinian Authority’s waning influence in the West Bank has fueled the ongoing unrest with Hamas and PIJ increasing their influence in the area. This is particularly true in Nablus and Jenin in the northern West Bank, two cities that have seen a rise in terrorism this year. Diplomatic relations have been tense between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), but both share a common goal in opposing the growing influence of Iranian-backed terror groups in the West Bank.
“Iran is already here in the West Bank,” according to a PA official. “The Iranians want their Palestinian agents to extend their control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
