The head of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization on Friday denounced Arab attempts to normalize relations with Israel.
"Those who rush towards normalization with the Zionist project must know, and they do know, that this is their acknowledgment that Palestine is not ours, and that Jerusalem with its mosque is not ours," Ziad al-Nakhala said in a video address broadcast to demonstrators in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon and Syria, and quoted by Reuters.
Al-Nakhala further stated that Islamic Jihad remained opposed not only to normalizing relations with Israel, but also to the entire peace process that started with the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978.
"We affirm that our resistance continues, and the Islamic Jihad Movement, born from the spirit of Islam, still perseveres in its path. It has not compromised and will not surrender to delusions," he said, according to Reuters.
While Al-Nakhala did not specifically mention any countries, his comments come as efforts continue to achieve normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Sources told Reuters last week that Saudi Arabia is determined to secure a military pact requiring the United States to defend the kingdom in return for opening ties with Israel and will not hold up a deal even if Israel does not offer major concessions to Palestinian Arabs.
While an Israeli-Saudi deal is widely expected to include Israeli concessions towards the Palestinian Authority, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said that the Palestinian Arab issue will be part of a normalization agreement, three sources told Reuters that the Palestinian Arab core demand for statehood would take a back seat.
Last Friday, US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby told reporters that a “basic framework” was in place for a potential deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but also said, “We’re continuing to work at this…until you negotiate everything, you haven’t really negotiated anything final.”
On Tuesday, Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel poured cold water on the idea that a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is near, saying there is still work to be done.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)