An
al-Qaeda-linked group said three militants killed in the West Bank by Israeli
forces last week were its members, and that their presence there showed that
the Islamist network had taken root in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Al-Qaeda has struggled to
build up significant support in the West Bank, analysts say, and the
Palestinian Authority that administers the area last week denied an Israeli
report the men were linked to the organisation.
“By the will of God
Almighty, the global jihadi doctrine has reached the bank of pride, the West Bank,
planting its foothold after all attempts to thwart its presence,” said a
statement posted by Majles Shura al-Mujahideen, or Holy Warriors’ Assembly, on
an Islamist web forum.
Such groups have some
grassroots support in the other Palestinian territory of Gaza, which is
governed by the Islamist faction Hamas.
Israeli officials had
said the three Palestinians killed on Tuesday belonged to an al-Qaeda-linked
cell plotting attacks.
Close cooperation
They said the men were
shot after opening fire at Israeli troops who tried to arrest them. The West
Bank is policed by Israel in often close cooperation with the U.S.-backed
Palestinian Authority (PA).
On Sunday, PA security
forces spokesman Adnan Damiri said he had no information about the presence of
al-Qaeda-linked groups in the West Bank but that Palestinian investigators were
looking into Tuesday’s incident.
Many Palestinians chafe
at security ties between the PA and Israel given the lack of clear progress in
U.S.-sponsored peace talks between the sides. Those negotiations are billed as
leading to Palestinian statehood in the West Bank, a territory extensively
settled by Israel, as well as in the Gaza Strip.
In its online statement,
Majles Shura al-Mujahideen denounced the peacemaking efforts and threatened
attacks on Israel and the PA.
“We call on every sincere
person to cut off what is called ‘negotiations’, which causes one’s nose to
turn away with its
foul stench of
collaboration,” the statement said. “We are serious about fighting the
aggression against religion by the
blaspheming Jews and the
hypocritical collaborators.”
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