GAZA (Dispatches) – The head of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says there are developments in the region that are in the interest of the Palestinian cause that will curb normalization of ties with the Zionist regime, Anadolu News Agency reports.
Ismail Haniyeh made the comments at the opening session of the 12th conference on Al-Quds entitled, “The Vanguards of Al-Quds hold its Sword,” in Istanbul that saw the participation of 400 officials, lawmakers and activists from 40 countries.
He said there are “three important changes that surround us at the level of the [Palestinian] cause, the region and the ummah, and I think they are present in this conference and we read them positively as important developments for our cause and our ummah.”
The first is the outcomes of the “Al-Quds Sword operation,” he said, with reference to fighting between Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza with the Zionist regime in May. Gaza responded to calls to protect Al-Quds.
The second is represented with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, that will weaken the U.S.’ allies in the region regarding the Zionist regime.
The third is the Istanbul conference because it confronts Zionist attempts to break Arab and Islamic nations.
Haniyeh said, based on the three changes, there are three priorities for the Palestinian cause: To raise the status of Al-Quds and keep it at the forefront of the Palestinian cause. Second, to support Palestinian resistance as a strategic option for the Palestinian cause. The third priority that Haniyeh outlined is to down efforts of normalization with the Zionist regime.
He called for “setting a complete plan to topple the normalization which took the shape of military and security alliance with some Arab countries.”
The Zionist regime secured diplomatic ties with six Arab regimes in 2020, after former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration brokered normalization deals between the occupying regime and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, in addition to the existing ties with Egypt and Jordan.
“Normalization will increase weakness of these [Arab normalizing] governments and won’t increase the enemy’s strength,” said Haniyeh. “We must not allow normalization to spread in the body of our ummah.”