Islamic Jihad delegation visits Iran to 'discuss ways to strengthen intifada'

the delegation, headed by the organization's Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah will visit Iran for a few days and meet Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN
Updated: MAY 2, 2016 01:02
An Islamic Jihad militant attends an anti-Israel rally in Rafah. (photo credit: REUTERS)
An Islamic Jihad militant attends an anti-Israel rally in Rafah.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Islamic Jihad representatives are visiting Iran to discuss ways to strengthen the intifada in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Palestinian media reported on Sunday.
The delegation, headed by the organization’s Secretary- General Ramadan Abdullah, will visit Iran for a few days, according to a statement issued by the terrorist organization.
The delegation will meet Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Shamkhani.
Islamic Jihad announced that “the delegation visiting Tehran has met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as well as other senior Iranian officials.”
In these meetings, the parties discussed the circumstances prevailing in the Islamic world and especially the issue of Palestine and the ways to bolster the intifada in the West Bank and Jerusalem against “Zionist expansionism.”
Additional subjects discussed were the attempts to “Judaize al-Aksa mosque” and the need to support the steadfastness of Gazans in light of the 10-year blockade.
In a press statement, Islamic Jihad’s secretary-general underscored the importance of Iran’s support for the Palestinian people, and expressed chagrin over what he called “the Arab indifference toward Palestine and its oppressed people.”
Ali Akbar Velayati, the head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran’s Expediency Council, met with Abdullah on Saturday.
Velayati told the Islamic Jihad leader that “the West’s attempts to divide the Islamic world will fail. Iran will support the Palestinian people and continue fighting against terror and the Zionist entity, together with all Muslim states.”
The high-level visit by the Islamic Jihad delegation to Iran, as well as Abdullah’s declarations praising Iran as the standard-bearer of the Palestinian “resistance,” may be aimed at getting Iran to increase its financial aid to the Palestinian organization, which is in dire need of money.
The financial distress of the Palestinian terrorist organization emerged last year, after Tehran significantly cut its funding and began supporting a new Shi’ite organization in the Gaza Strip called al-Sabirin.