The Iranian Revolutionary Guards logo. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
(JNS.org) A Iranian Revolutionary Guards general has called for Iran to increase its military power in the West Bank and Gaza.
“We must contain Israel… so that it never dares to speak about a missile attack on Iran, we must reinforce our power in the West Bank and Gaza,” said Brigadier General Iraj Masjedi, who serves as the top advisor to the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ al-Quds Force, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.
Masjedi added that Palestinians in the West Bank must end negotiations with Israel and increase armed resistance against Israel.
“The Palestine Liberation Organization must know that what brings them victory is not political negotiation but only resistance and (military) power, and this is what Hezbollah and Hamas have been doing,” he said.
The general’s comments come amid reports that Hamas and Iran have restored relations. Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, recently told a Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television network that Hamas is prepared to cooperate with Iran “for the sake of Palestine” in order to “destroy the Israeli occupation.” It remains unclear, however, whether or not cooperation has been fully restored. Iran and Hamas had a falling out over the Palestinian terror group’s criticism of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s conduct in the Syrian civil war, and Hamas relocated its foreign headquarters from Damascus to Qatar.
But recent reports indicate that Qatar is reducing its support for Hamas and its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, and that Hamas may be forced out of that country. Turkey, another Middle East rival of Iran, has recently stepped up efforts to support Hamas.
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