Hamas, Islamic Jihad call for Palestinians to step up 'resistance' against Israel
Islamist movement controlling Gaza calls for demonstrations in coastal enclave, West Bank on Friday.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHA Palestinian protester stands in front of an Israeli car set torched during clashes with Israeli security forces in east Jerusalem(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Thursday called on Palestinians to step up their “resistance” against Israel following the assassination attempt on the life of Yehuda Glick and the temporary closure of the Temple Mount.Islamic Jihad announced that the assailant, Mu’taz Hijazi, who was killed by Israeli security forces hours after the assassination attempt, was one of its members.The group said that the “Jerusalem intifada” will continue and praised Hijazi for carrying out his “sacred duty to defend the Aqsa Mosque.”The group said that Israeli measures in Jerusalem would not dissuade the Palestinians from “pursuing the “path of resistance and jihad.”Ziad al-Nakhaleh, deputy head of Islamic Jihad, said that attempt on the life of Glick “affirms the correctness of the option of resistance.”He said that the assassination attempt in Jerusalem proves that the “resistance is the most effective and strongest option to restore the land and preserve Palestinian rights.”Hamas, for its part, called for a “day of mobilization” on Friday in protest against the closure of the Temple Mount. It also called on Palestinians to avenge the killing of Hijazi and other Palestinians killed by the IDF and police.The movement also called for demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday.Hamas’ armed wing, Izaddin al-Qassam, welcomed the shooting of Glick and said that Jerusalem will be the trigger for “the battle of liberation.”Abu Obaida, spokesman for the Qassam, said in a statement: “We salute the sacred hands that pulled the trigger of dignity and fired the bullets of revenge toward the Zionist criminal who desecrated the blessed Aqsa Mosque.”
