RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Islamic Jihad played a key role and was an essential partner for Hamas in the Israeli war on Gaza in summer 2014. It also took part in the indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks in Cairo that resulted in a truce agreement Aug. 26. It now seems, however, that in regard to negotiations with Israel, the group's partnership with Hamas has ended. On Oct. 4, Al-Monitor met with Nafez Azzam, a member of the Islamic Jihad’s political bureau, who spoke about the movement’s position on negotiations, intermittent military escalations between Gaza and Israel and his group's relations with Arab and regional parties.
The text of the interview follows:
Al-Monitor: The war between you and Israel ended over a year ago, after the signing of an open truce agreement, but we witness some escalation at times. What is on the horizon now? Will the truce continue or will it end soon?
Azzam: We had approved an agreement at the end of the war over a year ago, and it still stands. We will keep abiding by it as long as Israel does the same. In this critical stage, we do not believe war would be in our interest for several reasons, first of which is that the devastating repercussions of the previous war have not been rectified or recovered from yet. In addition, the regional and international situation does not serve us.
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