TEL AVIV — The weapons of the “resistance” in the hands of various Palestinian jihadi organizations is an internal Palestinian issue, Fatah official Iyad Nasser told Breitbart Jerusalem in the wake of a recent escalation in the Gaza Strip.
“The weapons of the resistance are an internal Palestinian issue that will be dealt with in internal Palestinian discussions and the demands presented by the Israeli occupation are not binding on the Palestinians,” said Nasser, a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council responsible for Fatah’s public relations efforts in the Gaza Strip.
“By refusing escalation, the Palestinian factions succeeded in preventing Israel from thwarting reconciliation efforts by dragging the factions in the direction of military escalation,” said Nasser. “The Palestinian resistance understands the challenges and the sensitivity of this special period of time.”
“Resistance” is usually used by Palestinian officials as a euphemism for terrorism targeting Israelis.
Nasser thanked Egypt for its role in calming tensions and preventing escalation, noting, “Egypt will contribute to stabilizing the security situation in the Gaza Strip.”
According to the Palestinian official, Egypt is also “overseeing the process of handing over authority and control at the border crossings, working with Hamas without any problems or disagreements.”
On that note, Nasser also stated that Palestinian security forces will soon be deployed to border crossings with both Israel and Egypt. “The process of deploying the legal security forces of the Palestinian Authority to the border crossings with Egypt and Israel is advancing properly and it will take place soon,” said Nasser.
As part of Fatah’s expected return to power in the Gaza Strip, Nasser said that the movement will hold a massive rally on Saturday to mark 13 years since the death of Fatah founder and former Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat. “We will invite all the factions so that this day will be a national day that unifies all the factions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hamas isn’t waiting to complete the reconciliation process and is already shaking off all responsibility for the population in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas is no longer responsible for the residents in the Gaza Strip. A government is active whose job it is to do that and the Palestinian factions must pressure the government to fulfill its job in this regard,” said Hamas’ deputy politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzook.
The deputy also addressed the Palestinian Authority’s failure to remove the major issues facing the Gaza Strip’s population before the reconciliation process began, including the electricity crisis, the salaries of government employees and medical transportation.
“If these sanctions aren’t removed yet, it will be interesting to know what the position of the president will be on the big issues that we will discuss at the reconciliation conference of the factions at the end of the month in Cairo,” said Abu Marzook.
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