Ishtri to Palestinian Delegation: The Police of the Islamic Republic is at Your Service

Simultaneously with the meeting of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and the emphasis of the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson on the "unchangeability" of Tehran's policy towards Israel, the commander of Iran's police forces also announced the readiness of these forces for "training the Palestinian resistance front." Hassan Rouhani, on the evening of Tuesday, January 1, met with Ziad al-Nakhala, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and his accompanying delegation who traveled to Tehran, calling for the continuation of the Palestinian struggle against the Israelis and stating that this struggle should continue until Israel "bows" before Palestine. Rouhani claimed that Israel, "with the help of the new rulers of the White House, seeks to implement a plan for domination over the entire region, of which Palestine is also a part," adding that the nations of this region should recognize Israel as "not only the enemy of the Palestinian people but the enemy of the entire region." The report from the Iranian presidential office indicates that the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad also told Rouhani that, "The Palestinian people, despite all pressures and threats, will not abandon their resistance and struggle until they achieve their rightful rights." While previous meetings of delegations from Palestinian armed groups in Iran rarely reported on their meetings with Iranian military commanders, Iranian media reported that Ziad al-Nakhala and his delegation met with Hossein Ashtari, the commander of Iran's police forces, on Tuesday, January 1. Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari told Ziad al-Nakhala, "The police of the Islamic Republic of Iran is at your service, and this spirit exists among all my colleagues, as we believe that today helping the resistance front is like the days of the Sacred Defense in Iran (the 8-year war against Iraq)." According to ISNA, the commander of Iran's police forces added, "There are good capacities in the Iranian police, and while inviting you to visit these facilities and capabilities, we will transfer our experiences and achievements in this area to you," and referring to the "high training capacities of the Iranian police," announced the readiness of these forces to hold training courses for the "resistance front." Based on ISNA's report, Ziad al-Nakhala also reminded Hossein Ashtari during their meeting that, unlike some regional governments, "Iran is the only country that stands by the resistance front." This is the first time that Ziad al-Nakhala, in his capacity as Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has traveled to Iran and met with the highest-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic. Al-Nakhala, 65, who was previously the deputy secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, assumed the secretary-generalship of this organization after Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, 60, fell into a coma following brain surgery under the supervision of Hezbollah in southern Beirut in late September 2018. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been active since the late 1970s, but its official existence was announced in 1987 based on a charter established within the framework of the "thoughts of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini," the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in its more than 30 years of official existence, it has shown much more alignment with Iran than Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, effectively being considered a proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ziad al-Nakhala was sentenced to life imprisonment in Israel in 1971 but was released after 14 years in Israeli prisons in 1985 during a deal between the then Israeli government and the Palestinian organization led by Ahmad Jibril. However, Israel re-arrested him in 1988 and exiled him to Jordan; al-Nakhala, by going to Syria and operating from the territory of this Iran-aligned country, has long been a familiar figure to the leaders of the Islamic Republic and has traveled to Iran several times with Abdullah Shalah. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, met with Ziad al-Nakhala and his delegation on Monday, January 10, assuring that "the formation of a Palestinian state in Tel Aviv will be realized." For Palestinians and Muslims around the world, Jerusalem has a sacred significance, and until now, Iranian officials have always emphasized the liberation of "Quds Sharif" from Israeli "occupation" and the formation of a Palestinian state in "all occupied territory" with Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also considers the existence of Israel to be invalid and seeks a Palestinian state "from the river to the sea." Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks about "the formation of a Palestinian state in Tel Aviv," while this modern city on the Mediterranean coast has no religious sanctity or historical significance, appear to have been expressed by the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the intent to emphasize that Israel should not exist even in Tel Aviv. At the same time, Bahram Qasemi, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, stated on the evening of Tuesday, January 1, in an interview with ISNA news agency that "there is a unified view and an unchangeable policy in the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the Zionist regime and the Palestinian cause." According to ISNA, Mr. Qasemi made these remarks in response to "some reports published in Arab media and social media" regarding Iran's view of Israel, but this news agency or the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not provide further explanation about the mentioned reports. It seems that the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson's remarks refer to comments made after an interview two weeks ago with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, with the French-language publication "Le Point," in which he denied that anyone in Iran had ever said that the Islamic Republic of Iran would destroy Israel. Mr. Zarif claimed that Ruhollah Khomeini had said that Israel would be destroyed due to its own policies, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, had only quoted Khomeini's remarks. Bahram Qasemi also reminded in his interview on Tuesday with ISNA that "in recent days we have witnessed the visit of two Palestinian delegations to Tehran and their meetings with our senior officials, which of course have always existed between Iran and Palestinian groups, and this is not a new issue." In addition to the senior delegation of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a delegation from Hamas led by Mahmoud al-Zahar, the former foreign minister of the Hamas government, also traveled to Tehran simultaneously with the Islamic Unity Conference last month, which also met with senior Iranian officials to emphasize the renewed warmth of relations between Hamas and Iran after several years of cold relations due to the Syrian war. Nasser Abu Sharif, the permanent representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Iran, in an interview with the Sputnik Persian news agency last month during the Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran, in response to the question of "where do the Palestinians obtain missiles and weapons?" said, "The only country that ignores all international pressures and sanctions to support the Palestinian people and supplies weapons to the Palestinians through breaking the siege of Gaza is Iran." Nasser Abu Sharif, alluding to the training of the "resistance front" forces in Iran, added, "Part of these weapons, especially missiles, are produced by a number of Palestinian youths who have received training and returned to Gaza." The term "resistance front" refers to organizations such as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and other armed groups in the region that are mostly aligned with Iran but are considered terrorist groups by Israel, the United States, and parts of the international community. The European Union, Japan, Canada, and Australia also classify the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a terrorist group. Ziad al-Nakhala himself has been on the U.S. terrorist list since 2014 when he was the deputy secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. While the leader, president, and other senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasize the continuation of Tehran's support for Palestinian armed groups due to their "struggle" against Israel, Iran's economy has recently been under the heaviest pressures, and the Iranian people, particularly workers, teachers, and other groups, in most protests and demonstrations and on social media emphasize that Iranian leaders should spend Iran's financial resources for Iranians and abandon support for "Gaza and Lebanon." On the other hand, the clear renewal of cooperation and increased interactions of the Islamic Republic with Palestinian armed groups comes at a time when hostilities between Israel and Iran have recently intensified, with Israel repeatedly carrying out military strikes against "Iranian targets" in Syria, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has emphasized that his country is ready to bring the war to Iran if it detects a "vital threat." Iran, not only through the statements of its leaders and emphasis on comprehensive support for Palestinian armed groups, is effectively challenging Israel, but Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday, in response to the U.S. and Israel's withdrawal from UNESCO at the beginning of the new year, wrote on his Twitter that it is only left for the "Trump administration and its puppet regime" to completely leave the planet Earth. Although Zarif's statement appears to be sarcastic, from the perspective of Israel and the U.S., which are keen to hear such remarks to emphasize the "warmongering" of Tehran's leaders, this undiplomatic statement from the seemingly number one diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran may evoke memories of the "wiping out of Israel" and the "World Without Zionism" conference during the controversial presidency of Ahmadinejad.