A high-ranking member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has commended his group’s relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, terming the ties as “deep-seated and strategic.”
Ihsan Ataya, a senior member of the political bureau of Islamic Jihad, said on Thursday that the Gaza-based group’s relationship with Iran, Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement guarantees its military prowess and stronger performance.
“Islamic Jihad aligns with any party that stands up against the Zionist regime and the United States,” he said, emphasizing that his movement is prepared to “pay any cost” for the final goal of liberating the occupied Palestinian territories.
Ataya went on to describe the Islamic Jihad as a beacon of hope on the path towards liberating Palestine, highlighting that the occupying Tel Aviv regime is not the worst enemy of the Palestinian nation, but rather a broad coalition led by Washington.
“The Zionist enemy exiled a number of Jihad commanders to Lebanon, but we were able to develop the movement in Beirut and Damascus,” he said.
The senior Islamic Jihad official pointed out that Zionists usurped Palestinian lands through mass killings, stressing that the Israeli regime is plundering the entire resources of the region.
“We cannot forge relations with the United States as Washington and Tel Aviv are two sides of the same coin,” Ataya pointed.
Back on June 19, the Islamic Jihad chief hailed Iran’s unwavering support for Palestinians, insisting that the Islamic Republic remains the sole nation across the globe to openly advocate for Palestine and the anti-Israeli resistance.
Iran “dares to declare that it supports the Palestinian people and Palestinian resistance. No other country in the world takes such a stance so explicitly,” said Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhaleh during an interview with the Tehran-based and Arabic-language al-Alam television news network.
Nakhaleh, who led a Palestinian delegation to Iran, also pointed to a meeting in Tehran between senior officials of the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance movements and the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) as “a testament to Tehran’s support for the Palestinian resistance factions” that also “highlights [persisting] strong ties between Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Islamic Republic.”
