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Islamic Jihad top dog: Negotiations gain “nothing”

Mar 14, 2014 9:08 pm By Robert Spencer

Shallah, head of the militant Islamic Jihad group, delivers a speech during a rally near DamascusYou may recall that Ramadan Shalah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad top dog, was once a “moderate” professor at the University of South Florida, brought there by Sami al-Arian, the once and future poster boy for Islamic victimhood, who was in reality an Islamic Jihad operative himself. In saying that negotiations gain nothing, he is announcing that he will accepted no negotiated settlement that Mahmoud Abbas may sign, no matter how favorable it is to the “Palestinians.” Barack Obama and John Kerry should take heed. They will not.

“Islamic Jihad leader: Negotiations gain ‘nothing,'” by Ali Hashem for Al-Monitor, March 14:

TEHRAN — Amid the sprawl of the Iranian capital, I met one of the most wanted men in the world, a man with a $5 million bounty on his head — Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shalah.

As we met, Shalah’s organization was reviving a cease-fire with Israel, thanks to Egyptian mediation, less than 24 hours after the most recent storms of war struck the Gaza Strip. Tensions erupted March 11 when an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Yunis. Islamic Jihad and other armed Palestinian factions retaliated by launching 130 rockets across the border in the most intense confrontation since the November 2012 war, which also ended with an Egypt-brokered truce.

I asked Shalah about the restored truce and whether it had been coordinated with Hamas. The UK-educated jihadist said that his group had been contacted by the Egyptians, who offered to mediate.

“We told them we are committed to the last truce as far as the Israelis are committed, so it’s as much restoring the last truce as signing a new one,” said Shalah. He elaborated, “During the past two years we were committed to the truce, but the Israeli occupation continued to break it. The Palestinian factions observed during these years maximum restraint, but after the last attack by Israel, we felt that they are miscalculating our response. Israel might have started thinking that we’re afraid or that all the equations set during the previous wars are void due to the situation in the region. We wanted to tell the enemy and the friend not to misunderstand us. It’s true that we signed a truce in 2012 — a truce, not a surrender document.”

“Was this coordinated with Hamas?” I asked, citing a Hamas official who claimed to know nothing about the truce. Shalah responded, “Maybe there was a delay, but all that we do is coordinated.” He further explained, “We both coordinate all our moves together, in war and peace. I’ll reveal something: Just days ago, I was the guest [in Qatar] of Abou Alwalid [Khaled Meshaal], and we held very detailed meetings to discuss almost everything, but mainly the resistance and the situation in Gaza, so whoever says there’s no coordination knows nothing. We agreed together on retaliating if there’s any attack.”

“We both coordinate all our moves together, in war and peace.” That is good to remember the next time Islamic Jihad launches rocket attacks and the witless analysts in Washington start talking about how Hamas is becoming more “moderate.”

More of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor:  In the November 2012 war, Palestinian rockets struck Tel Aviv, which was then a game-changer. Should this war continue, are you going to strike Tel Aviv again?

Shalah:  Our experience proves that our performance from one war to another is getting better. If in 2012 we hit Tel Aviv, I think the enemy can imagine what could be beyond Tel Aviv.

Al-Monitor:  Some suggest this last escalation was requested by your regional partners.

Shalah:  It’s a shame to hear that some people think this way. Who started the war? Israel started the war. Unfortunately, our war with Israel is becoming more and more limited to Gaza. There’s an occupied Palestine that we have to liberate, and we won’t give up this objective. We always take this into consideration, but we do act in accordance with the circumstances in the region and our capabilities. Our resistance will continue as far as there is Israel, as far as there is occupation, the daily aggression against our people. Let me make it clear: Our arms are only for Palestine. Our arms aren’t for rent. We will continue until we see the Dome of the Rock, Jaffa and Haifa.

Al-Monitor:  Why don’t you accept taking the path of negotiation?

Shalah:  Because those who chose the negotiation path gained nothing. We all lost because of them. When the Oslo agreement was signed, there were 180,000 Israeli settlers. After Oslo, we have around 560,000. The West Bank today is full of settlements, Israeli checkpoints. [There are] detentions. Jerusalem is also suffering, especially with the Judaization process that saw many of its indigenous people thrown out of the city. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority [PA], in response, is banning the resistance, though there’s great potential, and our people are ready to rise up once again. Why are they committed to security coordination with Israel? What does security coordination mean? It means that the PA is working for Israel.

This is victimhood propaganda, of course. Negotiations won them the Sinai and a thriving jihad base in Gaza. Negotiations won them the end of wars in 1973 and 2006 that Israel could have and should have pressed forward to decisive victory.

Al-Monitor:  In Israel there is a campaign to declare Israel a Jewish state. What’s your take on this?

Shalah:  Declaring Israel a Jewish state means that they are the owners of the land and that for 1,400 years we were wrong, that we historically are invaders not only as Arabs but also Canaanites. It means that all our wars were baseless. Even our martyrs — [late Palestinian leader] Yasser Arafat, [Hamas co-founder] Ahmad Yassin, [Palestinian Islamic Jihad founder] Fathi Shaqaqi — would all be criminals and not freedom fighters. If we make such a compromise, we will soon see 1.5 million Palestinians in occupied Palestine crossing the river to Jordan. This will be the first step toward dividing the whole region into tiny sectarian states. For decades, we criticized and attacked the Sykes-Picot Agreement. If this happens, then we’ll write poetry in praise of Sykes-Picot. Syria is a clear example.

Al-Monitor:  For years before the Syrian crisis, you lived in Syria. Do you have any thoughts on the situation there and whether there’s any solution to the bloodshed?

Shalah:  Unfortunately, after three years no one is happy with the bloodshed. I think it’s obvious that all parties on the ground are quite certain a military solution is impossible. The only possible thing today is hopeless bloodshed. If the war continues this way, it might continue for another 100 years. This happened before in Europe between England and France. They fought for 116 years. It might happen here, too. Many other sectarian and religious wars lasted for hundreds of years. There’s no solution for Syria but politics, and here, everyone should be represented. I call on those asking [Palestinian] President Mahmoud Abbas to make painful compromises to Israel, why don’t you make some painful compromises and rid the Syrian people of this war?

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Filed Under: Islamic Jihad, Palestinian jihad Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. mortimer says

    Mar 14, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    In 1920, France and UK drew lines on a map. Then Britain drew a line down the Dead Sea to Aqiba. The Jewish homeland was born, as was the Kingdom of Transjordan. A Jewish homeland is a logical idea, since other people have homelands. This is the logical place. Let ‘Palestine’ be Jordan and Israel be the Jewish homeland.

  2. kikorikid says

    Mar 14, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    My understanding is that the Muslim-Jihadi, if things are going South
    may sign a Treaty/Truce and SHOULD honor it for a minimum of
    seven years at which time, if strong enough, resume the attack.
    Mr. Spencer, Is this correct?

  3. Rob says

    Mar 14, 2014 at 11:21 pm

    Would Truman or Eisenhower have consented to the withdrawal of American troops from the occupation of Germany IF the Germans were conducting the same level of military belligerence as the ‘Palestinians’ are now?
    Yet Obama says that Abbass is a worthy negotiating partner.
    Kerry says that Israel should withdraw unilaterally.
    The West including France, the USSR and the UK had only two wars with Germany, Israel has had three with its neighbours plus an ongoing twilight war.
    Even when the West ceased their occupation it left NATO in its place to ensure German compliance.

  4. Salah says

    Mar 15, 2014 at 12:14 am

    “Was this coordinated with Hamas?” I asked, citing a Hamas official who claimed to know nothing about the truce.

    Indeed, this truce has been brokered by Egypt. Hamas was left out. Things have been going bad between Egypt and Hamas since the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood.

  5. Jay Boo says

    Mar 15, 2014 at 12:37 am

    “Islamic Jihad leader: Negotiations gain ‘nothing,”‘
    ————–

    He makes a very valid point (in a much broader sense)

    Muslims pray five times every day in a futile attempt to negotiate appeasement with angry Allah.
    All they get for they suffering and effort is a feeling of worthlessness.
    The true reason Muslims vent such disgust at ‘infidels’ is to avoid admitting just how worthless and empty they feel about themselves.

  6. Charli Main says

    Mar 15, 2014 at 3:46 am

    Negotiations with Muslims is very simple and straightforward—–just agree to all their demands. How simple is that ????
    The real problem is all these ignorant, war mongering Kaffirs who just refuse to compromise with the victimized Muslims.

  7. dumbledoresarmy says

    Mar 15, 2014 at 5:35 am

    “Negotiations gain nothing”.

    And that is what the *non-Muslims* need to realize about all *their* useless ‘negotiations” and “peace-processing” with Muslim entities…everywhere.

    Israel, Thailand, Philippines, India and Pakistan over Kashmir..it’s all a total waste of time.

    Because the Muslims aren’t into ‘win-win”. The muslim aim – their **looooong-term aim** – is Zero-Sum, that is: Infidels get ZERO, Muslims get EVERYTHING.

    Treaty of Hudaybiyya, Treaty of Hudaybiyya, Treaty of Hudaybiyya; hudna, truce-treaty = timeout for Muslims to regroup, rearm, and then, when they think they’re strong enough, to go back in for the kill.

    Here’s Hugh Fitzgerald, on Muslim ‘treaty’ making: he’s discussing Israel’s situation, but it is relevant far, far beyond Israel, relevant everywhere that foolish kuffar are thinking they can rely on *any* agreement, of any kind at all, that they make with a muslim, or muslims, or this Muslim ‘nation’ or entity, no matter of what kind, large or small.

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/34628
    Wednesday, 11 May 2011
    Fitzgerald: Islam, The Treaty of Hudaibiyya, And The Two-Stage Solution

    “…In the Muslim view, treaties with Infidels are NOT to be obeyed. They are to be entered into when Muslims feel that they are at the moment too weak to do otherwise, and where they sense that they can gain, in the end, by entering temporarily into a treaty with Infidels.

    “For Muslims, every treaty with Infidels is merely a “truce” treaty, a “hudna.”

    “The very idea that Muslims could recognize the permanence of an Infidel nation-state [and that means not just Israel, but *each and every infidel nation-state presently in existence on planet earth* – dda] goes against everything in Islam.

    “The basis of Muslim treaty-making with Infidels can be found in the Treaty of Hudaibiyya that Muhammad made with the Meccans in 628 A.D. Finding himself and his followers too weak to take the Meccans on directly, Muhammad made an agreement with them. He would not attack them in return for their promise to allow him and his followers to annually enter Mecca for the ‘ijra, or lesser pilgrimage.
    “The treaty was to have lasted for ten years — and ten years, by the way, is the maximum period that a treaty with Infidels can normally last, though some Muslim authorities have said that a treaty can be renewed at the expiration of that ten-year period, if the Muslims need more time to strengthen their forces and would benefit from a continued “hudna.”

    “The treaty with the Meccans lasted only 18 months, however, when Muhammad decided to find a pretext to attack, and did.

    ” And he has been praised ever since in Muslim lore, for his ability to deceive the unwary Meccans and to use the time of that truce to his advantage. And Muhammad is the Model of Conduct (uswa hasana) and the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil). He is the model in all things.

    “Among those things, he provides the model, that transcends his time and is good for all time, for how to make treaties with Infidels…”.

    Another classic essay by Hugh, on the same subject, that should be *required reading* for ALL non-Muslim diplomats in training, and all non-Muslim businessmen or financiers who may be thinking of “dealing” with Muslim entities, and especially, for ALL non-Muslim soldiers, especially those aiming to become officers, and perhaps one day, generals. For the logical implication of this Muslim modus operandi is that *infidel* generals, engaged in self-defence against jihad-waging Muslims, should be fully prepared to take any and all Muslim calls for “truce ! ceasefire!” as a cue to …go in and HIT HARDER.

    Not in Hugh’s league, but still pretty good, an essay by another author, on the subject of “Hudna”.

    http://www.meforum.org/1925/tactical-hudna-and-islamist-intolerance

  8. dumbledoresarmy says

    Mar 15, 2014 at 5:38 am

    Ooops.

    Forgot to give the link to the second Hugh article: Waiting for Hudaybiyya.

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/44065
    Tuesday, 25 September 2012
    Fitzgerald: Waiting For Hudaibiyya

  9. Bill says

    Mar 15, 2014 at 11:25 am

    Dear Mr Spencer
    In your aticle you mention that 3 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
    but you do not say that the strike was in response to 60 rockets (at least) being fired from Gaza into israel. That suggests that the Israeli action was unprovoked which I am sure the radicals in Hamas would like to the world to think. They alwasy get maximum publicity for their losses while choosing to be quiet about the rockets and other attacks they inflict on Israel.
    The Islamists are poor students of history or prefer to misquote it. The 100 years was was not a continuous war like the more or less continuous attacks of the various Arab countries on Israel over the last 60 years. The so called 100 years war lasted through the reigns of 6 English kings and was due to them trying to hold on
    to their ‘inheritance’ of France, resulting from the Norman Conquest of England. The situations are not comparable.

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