Islamic Jihad: We are united with all factions

Islamic Jihad, whose military wing was at the forefront of recent cross-border fighting with Israel, is united with all factions but subordinate to none, senior official Khalid al-Batsh says. On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes killed nine al-Quds brigades fighters in Gaza and the group responded by firing a volley of rockets across the border before agreeing to an Egyptian-brokered truce. In an interview with Ma'an in Mecca, where al-Batsh is performing the Hajj pilgramage, the Islamic Jihad leader said the group was able to respond fiercely to Israel's attack because its armed wing is much stronger than before the last war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 "We are the people of this land, and we have been scattered in refugee camps in different countries because of occupation, and that gives us the right to build a mighty resistance capable of hurting the occupation. "Islamic Jihad and factions should strengthen their military wings. Islamic Jihad studied all the possibilities to do that, and in fact our military wing has become much stronger than it was before 2008." Al-Batsh said Israel initiated the latest attacks on the Gaza Strip to distract from its internal problems and to impede the completion of a prisoner swap agreement with Hamas. Israel agreed to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier held in Gaza, and has freed 477 detainees. An additional 550 prisoners are due to be released later this year. Asked if Islamic Jihad was satisfied with the captive swap deal between Hamas and Israel, despite the small number of Islamic Jihad prisoners released, al-Batsh said the movement was not concerned with detainees' affiliations. "Islamic Jihad was satisfied with the deal regardless of the political affiliation of the freed prisoners. All those freed prisoners are Palestinians and we see them soldiers for this homeland." The movement has good relations with all factions, including Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which leads the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, al-Batsh said. It did not take sides in the rivalry between Hamas and Fatah, which led to near civil war in Gaza in 2007. "Islamic Jihad was never part of the internal disagreement, and frequently we tried to bring an end to the rivalry between Hamas and Fatah which Israel benefited from by continuing to build settlements." He added: "We are not in Hamas' pocket, and we will never be a rod in the hand of Fatah. Islamic Jihad has strong and honorable relations with all factions including Hamas and Fatah. We are against occupation and we want good relations with all Palestinian groups. "We and Fatah are on the same page and in the same bunker against occupation. There hasn't been even a slight disagreement with Fatah in Gaza." Al-Batsh dismissed claims that Islamic Jihad was subordinate to Hamas. "The events on the ground contradict this claim. Islamic Jihad led the last battle against the aggression on the Gaza Strip alone." Hamas and Fatah signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo in May, but the deal has yet to be implemented. "We hope a meeting will be held in November to put the reconciliation agreement into effect, then to have one government and start to restructure the PLO," al-Batsh But Islamic Jihad has no plans to participate in elections, he added. "We will not join any future governments or participate in elections." Al-Batsh said Hamas and Fatah had decided to delay reconciliation until after President Mahmoud Abbas had applied for full UN membership. Asked if Islamic Jihad backed Abbas' UN bid, al-Batsh said the movement supported any step toward gaining Palestinian rights but warned that Israel would never withdraw from Palestinian land of its own accord. "We say that the Palestinian people is entitled to obtain all its rights, and we will support any step in that direction, and at the same time we will not accept any move that undermines any of these rights. "If the UN bid achieves any good, we will support it and continue in the same path until we liberate all Palestinian soil. We can hereby affirm that occupation will not withdraw from the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, and the US administration can't force Israel to withdraw." US opposition to Palestinian admission to UNESCO, the UN's cultural body, showed that America sided with Israel against the Palestinians, he added. Palestine was admitted to UNESCO on Monday after 107 countries voted in favor of its membership. Al-Batsh said Palestine should seek representation in all international agencies. Noting that the US opposed Palestinian UN membership and sought a return to negotiations, al-Batsh said Washington was siding with Israel and ignoring Palestinian rights. "If the Palestinians resume negotiations, that means yielding to the preconditions of the stronger." He said the two-state solution only served Israel's interests, and that Islamic Jihad would continue to resist until the whole of Palestine was returned to Palestinians. "Islamic Jihad believes that if a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders is agreed on, we should go ahead with resistance until all the Palestinian soil is restored."