Palestinian terrorist factions, including the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, welcomed the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policy and branding Jewish homes in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem as illegal and dangerous to the so-called two-state solution.
The Palestinian jihadist organizations said the motion represented an important sea change in the international position on the conflict and a crucial victory for the Palestinian people.
Hamas, which does not support the two-state solution, lauded the countries that voted for the motion, saying they backed the Palestinian people’s rights.
The organization’s spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum stated that “Hamas commends the countries that voiced their opposition to the Israeli occupation’s aggressive settlement policy aimed against the Palestinian people.” He further added that he lauds “the important about-face in the international position in favor of the Palestinian people. We expect further support for the Palestinians’ righteous cause of ending the occupation.”
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad announced that the UNSC resolution is “a clear condemnation of Israel’s occupation and aggression, and a victory for the Palestinian people, securing a global consensus in their favor.”
Spokesperson Daoud Shihab said, “It’s plain to see the world opinion is against Israel and its policies. Now Israel can be isolated and blockaded, as well as prosecuted in the international arena for all its crimes.”
Shibab called on Arab leaders to “break free from the fear complex and stop galloping toward a normalization and coordination with Israel, and instead to work to implement the wishes of their people regarding the struggle against Israel.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group stated that it welcomed “the decision determining that the settlements on the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, have no legal mandate and represent a blatant violation of international law.” The Popular Front hailed “the call to immediately halt all settlement activities on Palestinian lands.” The group urged the international community to “keep working to implement the decision in all the relevant institutions and prosecute Israel for failing to comply with Chapter VII of the UN Charter (‘action with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression’).”
The Popular Front warned of attempts by Israel and its allies to shrink from implementing the resolution or empty it of its meaning. “You cannot allow Israel to focus on the clauses the refer to incitement and terror, which we reject. We should focus on the fact that the Palestinians are the victims of racist and fascist incitement, and the victims of Israeli occupation and terror. The Palestinian resistance is protected under the international law that grants people living under occupation the right to fight their occupier.”