TEL AVIV — Jihadists in the Gaza Strip affiliated with the Iran-backed Islamic State and other Salafist terrorist organizations won’t allow alcohol and nightclubs to return to Gaza along with the Palestinian Authority, one senior jihadist told Breitbart Jerusalem.
Abu Baker al-Maqdesi, a senior jihadist in the Gaza Strip associated with Islamic State ideology, says that as far as the jihadist organizations and Salafists are concerned, “Hamas’ replacement with the Palestinian Authority and Fatah means nothing. Both sides fought against Islam and against our brothers, arrested, killed and oppressed all those who wanted to wave the flag of Islam both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
“Just as we did in the era of Oslo, we won’t help the moral lawlessness that the Palestinian Authority will bring with it,” added al-Maqdesi. “The alcohol won’t return to the streets of Gaza; the nightclubs won’t return. The prostitution and lawless relations won’t return to hotels and tourist sites. All those who want to harm the values of our Islam will find us against them with all our force. As opposed to Hamas, we aren’t trying to replace a regime with a regime, we want to install Allah’s sharia.”
The Palestinian factions expect to wrap up Palestinian reconciliation talks at the end of November when delegations from all the factions, led by the Hamas terrorist group and Fatah, will travel to Cairo and conclude negotiations mediated by Egyptian intelligence to finally sign an agreement meant to bring the Palestinian Authority back to power in the Gaza Strip.
One of the main issues blocking a breakthrough is the weapons controlled by Hamas and the related security arrangements overshadowed by the dozens of jihadist organizations and militias that continue to bear arms parallel to the official security forces of the Palestinian Authority.
The hundreds of armed jihadists in the Gaza Strip won’t be participating in the talks in Cairo, which al-Maqdesi called “the plot in Cairo against Islam and against the Muslims. How can a dictator (Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi) be sponsoring talks between organizations called Islamic and the infidel Palestinian Authority cooperating with the crusaders and the Jews? These aren’t reconciliation talks, but talks of capitulation for all those who want to represent Islam, and Hamas once again stands at the head of the capitulators.”
The Palestinian jihadist, who formerly fought in the ranks of IS in Syria and Iraq before being wounded and returning to Gaza through smuggling tunnels, said that for the jihadists, “This change, if it happens, won’t affect us. As far as we’re concerned, Gaza is part of Palestine and all of Palestine is occupied. There’s no difference between Gaza, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Acre. This is all Muslim land and we are committed to fighting for the liberation of Muslim land, be the regime what it may, whether it’s the Jews or the infidels of the Palestinian Authority or the betrayers of Islam, Hamas.”
Al-Maqdesi said he believes, “The reconciliation won’t happen in the end because the two sides are fighting for the plunder of this world while we’re interested in the spoils of the next world. Hamas’ people are no different than the people of the Palestinian Authority; they’re also interested in the plunder and so this entire drama is a show to calm the people. Besides that, there’s no way for unity because unity is only around Allah, around our prophet and around the Quran. All other unity is for the sake of this world and its goal and end is to collapse in the face of the determination of our Muslim brothers.”