Islamic Jihad: Rocket fire in the cards
Senior Jihad member Khaled al-Batch tells al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper that group is capable of firing rockets at Jewish settlements in West Bank
“As long as the enemy is using sophisticated missiles to hit its targets, it is the Palestinian people’s right to use these rockets,” al-Batch said.
Asked about the group’s capability to develop a rocket manufacturing infrastructure in the West Bank, al-Batch said that “four months ago a senior Islamic Jihad member, Jibril Zubeidi, was arrested for test-firing rockets on West Bank settlements near Jenin.”
Three Jihad rocket experts were recently arrested while attempting to make their way into Israel from Gaza throught Egypt. The three told interrogators that they had planned to import their expertise to Islamic Jihad members in the West Bank.
Batch confirmed that his group has the means to fire rockets at Jewish settlements in the West Bank yet it was decided to abide by a lull in violence agreed upon between all Palestinian factions.
The Islamic Jihad is committed to the Egyptian-brokered agreement between Palestinian groups in Cairo in March to halt attacks against Israel, al-Batch said, warning however that his group cannot accept a one-sided ceasefire. “The Israeli enemy understands that the lull is an internal Palestinian agreement and therefore it is executing assassinations,” al-Batch said.
Al-Batch reiterated Islamic Jihad’s commitment to a halt in violence against Israel, yet it should be noted that the interview was most likely conducted before yesterday’s targeted assassination of a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Batch accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of wanting to isolate the Gaza Strip and dividing the Palestinian homeland, reasons for which he withdrew from Gaza.
“We’ve already said that Sharon wanted to pullout from Gaza in order to turn it into a big dump for the Palestinian people; to separate the West Bank from Gaza and to remove Gaza from the conflict,” al-Batch said.
In the face of this strategy the Islamic Jihad cannot comply with the enemy’s demand and halt the firing of rockets from Gaza, al-Batch noted.
“As such we have focused on three principles: we are all part of one Palestinian people, we all have one land, and this land cannot be divided in our conflict with the enemy,” he added.
The Islamic Jihad is known to having developed al-Quds rockets, a homemade version of Hamas’ Qassam.
Al-Batch said that Islamic Jihad fires rockets into Israel in response to aggressions by the IDF against the Palestinians. “Gaza won’t initiate rocket fire or attacks, yet if murders are committed in the West Bank indeed Gaza is attached to the West Bank and will defend it,” he explained.
