Waleed al-Qatati, a member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, revealed that the understandings of the indirect truce between the Palestinian factions and Israel through regional and international mediation were almost suspended following the recent Qatari grant crisis.
Al-Qatati said that his movement received an official invitation from Russia to attend a forthcoming dialogue on reconciliation, bringing together ten Palestinian factions in Moscow on February 11.
He explained that the movement will participate in the dialogue through a delegation, either from outside Palestine or from within, pointing out that it has not been determined to this day.
Understandings of calm
Al-Qatati explained that the understandings of the "indirect" calm reached by the Palestinian factions and Israel, brokered by the UN, Egypt and Qatar, are now considered "almost suspended" because the main objective is "to end the siege completely and not partially improve the lives of the people."
A member of the Political Bureau, the failure to provide the Qatari grant to the staff of Gaza a step that threatens "understandings of the truce, and may end in the event that mediators did not intervene to reach a solution."
Qatati said that "partial understandings reached, did not abide by the enemy." According to the Turkish Anatolia news agency
He pointed out that Israel began to "evade and shake the Palestinian people through the Qatari grant, prompting the Hamas movement and the Palestinian resistance to take a decision not to receive in response to the blackmail."
"The understandings led to a partial easing of the blockade, on the basis of promises, to resume the efforts of indirect negotiations to end the siege, and that was not done," Qatati said.
Last Thursday, Hamas announced its refusal to receive the funds, in response to Israel's "behavior" and its attempt to "evade the understandings of the truce."
Three weeks ago, Israel decided for the second time to stop the transfer of funds, citing "acts of violence" near the border area of the Gaza Strip.
In October 2018, Doha decided to provide $ 150 million in humanitarian aid to alleviate the "humanitarian tragedy" in the sector, including financing fuel for the power plant, paying salaries and providing assistance to poor families.
The Qatari support came within the framework of an indirect understanding recently reached between Hamas and Israel and mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Qatati pointed out that the Islamic Jihad "made it clear to the Egyptian mediators (and earlier) and all the parties involved in mediating between the resistance and Israel that they will not accept the equation of calm in exchange for calm only, but calm in exchange for ending the siege completely."
Al-Qatati said the end of the siege is part of the "national demand, as alleviating the siege contributes to the suffering of the population, which strengthens their steadfastness in Gaza to serve the Palestinian national project."
Regarding the possibility of an explosion in the Gaza Strip after the failure of the Qatari grant to the staff, Al-Qatati said that the presence of the occupation and the continuation of the blockade is sufficient justification for "the explosion at all times against the occupier."
Al-Qatati said that the Israeli siege imposed for the 13th year in a row is "a slow killing of the Palestinian people and a kind of continuous war against it."
Joint Operating Room
During the dialogue, al-Qatati stressed that his movement is committed to the understandings of the "joint operations" room, which includes the military branches of the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.
"The Islamic Jihad movement is an essential part of the joint operations room and therefore does not depart from understandings. These understandings do not prevent the resistance from the right to respond to and punish the Israeli aggression," he said.
He explained that "the state of consensus in the joint operations room, allow any faction of resistance to respond to the Israeli aggression to prevent the Palestinian blood shed, if he felt the change of rules of engagement in favor of the enemy."
Al-Qatati said that "the response of any faction, albeit alone, will be within the framework of the agreed national accord, as was the case in the previous" Revenge of October "operation, which broke out at the end of October 2018.
The member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Jihad on the existence of "consensus to prevent the enemy from changing the rules of engagement in his favor."
Relations with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah
Al-Qatati said during the dialogue that his movement is an essential part of the "axis of resistance", which is called the alliance of "Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
He added: "The relationship with that axis is witnessing the development towards the unification of the northern fronts (Syria and Lebanon) and southern (Gaza Strip)."
He added: "The relationship is strong with the axis of resistance, and was not interrupted and was not affected by the regional conflicts and sectarian existing in the region."
He pointed out that this development stems from the fact that "the conflict with the Israeli enemy is not only with the Palestinians, but with the Arab and Islamic nations as well."
Al-Qatati pointed out that Islamic Jihad is committed to strong relations with all those who support "Palestine and the Palestinian people and adopt resistance against the Zionist axis in the region."
At the end of last December, Ziad al-Nakhla, secretary-general of the movement, said in an interview with Al-Alam television, "In any future battle with the occupation, all the axis of resistance north and south will move."
Qatati said that "the nature of the move may take different forms ... Finally the war with the Israeli entity and the axis is an inevitable war. A day must come and all fronts are involved, but this is subject to changes."
"At the moment, it is not necessary that if there is a war on the northern front (Syria or Lebanon), another eruption will take place in Gaza (the southern front)," he added.
He pointed out that the strategy of uniting the fronts to resist "the occupation may take practical dimensions in the next stage or the next one, such as to address any Israeli aggression coming from all fronts with the means available from each front."
According to al-Qatati, it is not possible to compare the "capabilities of resistance in the northern front with the capabilities on the southern front."
But despite the "limited possibilities of resistance and limited maneuvering margin in the Gaza Strip, but it succeeded in forming a deterrent component of the Israeli occupation," according to al-Qatati.
On the northern front, al-Qatati believes that the possibilities of resistance are "greater and the margin of maneuvering with the occupier is broader."
Jihad and Iran
In another context, al-Qatati rejects accusations (and Israeli allegations) that are directed to the Islamic Jihad for the purpose of spreading sedition between factions in Gaza and distorting the movement as it works for an Iranian external agenda, which is unacceptable. "
Al-Qatati also condemned accusations by Israeli media that the movement "wanted to ignite a war in Gaza in favor of Iran."
"Jihad and all Palestinian resistance factions are national parties with a national agenda, and they have resisted the enemy and liberated the land," he said.
He pointed out that "Iran and the axis of resistance support the Palestinian cause, and do not want anyone to work for their benefit in Palestine, and the Iranians are fighting Israel and support all those who fight."
A new Palestinian government
Al-Qatati sees the formation of a new Palestinian government in the West Bank without the Gaza Strip and does not include the Hamas movement, a move to split into "separation" and break up the "Palestinian national project."
"Legislative elections are to be held in the West Bank without Gaza, and a government without Hamas is a step that will transfer the state of division towards secession, and this is a consecration of the Palestinian political impasse," Qatati said.
Qatati asked: "If the Palestinian Authority cut off its relationship with Hamas permanently, and headed towards forming a new government, how will the Gaza Strip and any legitimacy?"
A member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Jihad described the current political situation as "the new Palestinian tragedy".
The Fatah movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, said it was heading to form a new Palestinian government, replacing the consensus government headed by Rami al-Hamdallah, following the faltering file of reconciliation with Hamas, headed by a Fatah leader.
A split between Fatah and Hamas since 2007 has failed to end several agreements, most recently the 2017 agreement, due to disagreements over several issues, including: the empowerment of the government in Gaza, and the file of Hamas-appointed employees during its rule For the sector.
The new leadership of the movement
"The general policy of the movement" has not changed with the new leadership, created by the recent internal elections.
At the end of September 2018, Jihad announced the holding of internal elections, resulting in the election of a new Secretary-General, Ziad al-Banna, and a new political bureau.
Qatati said in this regard: "There are constants in the positions of intellectual and political movement, do not change the change of leadership, and is related to the subject of intellectual principles of the movement and committed to the political document of the movement."
Al-Qatati said that "Islamic Jihad, its strategy, its tactics and its means stick to three axes: Islam, Palestine and resistance." But there are variables that may impose itself on the movement in the political reality, And its policy. "
"These variables are often in relation to the relationship
