A banner published by the militant al-Qassam wing of Hamas which reads, “We won’t let the Deal of the Century be accepted.”
Palestinian militant groups reacted swiftly on Thursday and Friday in both word and deed to US President Trumps “Deal of the Century” Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, seeking to capitalize international fears that the peace plan would lead to a new round of violence. A litany of jihadist groups, both larger and smaller factions, released written and videotaped statements in which they threatened the Jewish State and reiterated their opposition to making peace on any terms.
The Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade, located in both the West Bank and Gaza, quoted an ominous verse from the Qur’an in both Arabic and Hebrew: “Permission (to fight in self-defense) is (now) given to those (Muslims) against whom war is waged (for no reason), because they have been done injustice to, and indeed Allah has the might and power to help them.” A violent offshoot of Fatah, the ruling party of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades was responsible for many suicide bombings during the Second Intifada between 2000-2005.
CLICK TO WATCH
Watch FAI’s groundbreaking film Covenant and Controversy III: The Great Trouble to learn more about where where this conflict is headed.
Another militant Fatah offshoot, Fursan al Fatah Brigades, published a video online in which armed and masked militants flanked a spokesperson who read, “We in the Brigades of the Conquest of Fatah invite our people and the free world to confront this deal with blood and gunpowder, as this is the only language that this enemy and his supporters understand…We in the Al-Fursan Knights Brigade warn the enemy that our hand will reach it in the depths of its fortifications in Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin and inside the occupied area. You will also find us chasing you from above and below the ground.” The latter threat is a reference to tunnel systems which various militant groups have attempted to dig from Palestinian to Israeli territories in the past to infiltrate Israel and kidnap or kill Israeli troops or civilians.
The militant arm of the Popular Resistance Committees published a graphic of an Israeli flag passing through an hourglass, implying that Israel’s time as a nation is running out, and stated, “The Deal of the Century can only be fought, confronted and foiled only by unity, resistance and abandoning the humiliating Oslo Accords.” Another faction of the same umbrella group released a statement declaring, ““The Deal of the Century is all about selling Palestine and al Quds to the Jews. It will never be accepted except by the people and rulers who accept to be among the infidels…The Deal of the Century and any similar deals that came before, and any deals that may come after, will fail against the steadiness of the Muslims and against the attacks of the Mujahedeen.”
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip with an iron fist, goaded President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu via its communication channels: “Khalil al Hayya, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, affirmed that the Palestinian people will resist in all available forms the American Deal of the Century, and that history will write about its advertiser Trump. He is among the ugliest criminals in the whole world, and challenges Trump and Netanyahu, to approach (i.e. try to take from us by force) the resistance’s weapon.”
CLICK TO BUILD
Partner with FAI as we build on the edge of the growing eye of the storm in the Golan Heights. Our Legacy Center will stand as a bastion of solidarity with a Jewish Jerusalem as well as a beacon of refuge and hope for the surrounding nations.
Already, militant factions are turning their threats into actions. Thousands of civilians marched in the Jabaliya neighborhood of Gaza City today after Friday afternoon prayers at local mosques. Large batches of incendiary balloons, either with crude explosives or flaming objects attached, were floated over the Gaza border fence today into Israel. At least 7 rockets and 3 mortars have been fired into Israel from Gaza in the last 24 hours, with the IDF reporting that at least 2 were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system because of their proximity to population centers. Air raid sirens sounded in Gaza border communities, including Sderot, where at least one Israeli citizen, an infant child, was injured as her mother rushed with her to a bomb shelter. An attempted sniper attack on IDF troops near the Gaza border was also reported, with no confirmation of causalities. The Israeli military responded to the various attacks with tank fire and air strikes on Hamas positions inside the Gaza Strip.
In Jerusalem, a tense situation on the Temple Mount near the al-Aqsa mosque led to the arrest of 2 Palestinian demonstrators there. Israeli police and Border Control units have been on high alert since disrupting an imminent stabbing attack against Israeli security forces on the Temple Mount in the hours after President Trump’s press conference.
Sources:
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1223314867555328000
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1223231612478947330
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1223240873410027521
https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1223311172075761664
https://twitter.com/LocalFocus1/status/1223183612402700288
https://twitter.com/no_itsmyturn/status/1223260840792674305
https://twitter.com/StefanieDekker/status/1223239498219343873
