Islamic Jihad Growing in Judea and Samaria, Thanks to Iranian Funding: Report

“The Iranians want their Palestinian agents to extend their control from the Gaza Strip to” Judea and Samaria, Palestinian source says.

By: World Israel News Staff – worldisraelnews.com

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group is strengthening its presence in Judea and Samaria and ramping up its efforts to recruit new operatives and launch deadly attacks against Jewish Israelis, thanks in large part due to generous funding from Iran.

According to a Jerusalem Post report, Iran views investing in the Islamic Jihad terror group as an effective strategy for weakening Israel, and the organization has now evolved into serving essentially as a proxy for the Islamic Republic.

“Islamic Jihad is using Iranian money to buy weapons and loyalty in” areas of Judea and Samaria which are formally controlled by the Palestinian Authority, a Palestinian security source told the Post. “The organization is paying high salaries to its members.”

“Iran is already here,” another Palestinian official in Ramallah told the Post. “The Iranians want their Palestinian agents to extend their control from the Gaza Strip to [Judea and Samaria].”

Considering that the PA and its president, octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas, are wildly unpopular, Islamic Jihad is positioning itself to quickly gain control in the power vacuum that will likely occur after the longtime PA leader’s death.

Due to rampant corruption within the PA, along with what many Palestinians view as a lack of progress in achieving a Palestinian state or improving economic and living conditions for their political constituents, the political body is widely losing legitimacy in the eyes of most Palestinians.

When Abbas, who is reportedly in poor health and has failed to name a successor, eventually dies, it’s unclear if the PA will be able to retain any semblance of control over its territory in Judea and Samaria.

In a recent statement, Islamic Jihad confirmed that it acknowledged the importance of “building alliances [with foreign powers] on the basis of resistance,” meaning that the terror group values partnering with countries that share their goal of destroying Israel.

Iran has long supported Palestinian terror groups. Senior members of Hamas were recently warmly welcomed in Tehran by the Iranian government’s most important officials.

At the beginning of June, WIN reported that terror chiefs belonging to the Gaza-based Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) factions were in Cairo for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials amid reports of warming relations between Egypt and the terror groups’ main sponsor, Iran.

The discussions were aimed at preserving the current ceasefire agreement with Israel and addressed the dispute between Hamas and the ruling Fatah faction led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to The Jerusalem Post. Several attempts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah have failed in the past.

The talks marked the first of their kind since the recent round of fighting between Israel and PIJ in Operation Shield and Arrow.

Egypt played a crucial role in brokering the ceasefire after the five-day flare-up, with assistance from Qatar and the United Nations.

The Hamas delegation included officials from the Gaza Strip and Qatar. It was unclear whether PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhaleh, based in Lebanon, would participate in the talks. Other Palestinian officials, including de facto Hamas Prime Minister Issam al-Da’alis and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, also visited Cairo for discussions with Egyptian officials on various topics.

(WorldIsraelNews.com)