Israel worried by
Hamas team makeup

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei once in 2014 talked of the necessity of arming the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank, arguing that the sole way to repel the Israeli atrocities was to give arms to the people.

Ayatollah Khamenei said anyone who is interested in the fate of Palestine must do anything they can in arming the people.

Later in the year, Ayatollah Khamenei reaffirmed the argument in a meeting with the Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, Ramadan Abdullah, adding efforts must be made so that Israel feels the same fear from the West Bank as it does from the besieged Gaza.

Since then, the Palestinian developments have got a speedy pace despite the developments in Iraq and Syria with the Palestinian in the occupied West Bank having already carried out hundreds of operations with knives and vehicular attacks.

The third Palestinian intifada however is exceptional as it has coincided with a divide in the pro-terrorism Arab axis in Syria along with the success of Iraqi and Syrian governments in driving out the terror groups. These developments have pushed the Palestinian issue once again to top on the regional agenda.

A return by Hamas to the regional axis of resistance following a change in its top echelon combined with the Palestinian Authority’s weak position have contributed to the Palestinian resistance’ stand, both in Gaza and the West Bank.

A Hamas delegation visited Tehran for the searing in ceremony of the IRI president. The makeup of the delegation however has caused the Israeli authorities to worry.

Saleh Mohammad Hussein al-Arouri, the commander of Hamas armed wing in the West Bank was in the delegation showing that the West Bank was drawing closer to Tehran like what Gaza did before.

More worrisome for the Israeli strategists is that Arouri reminds them of Ayatollah Khamenei’s recommendation for arming the occupied West Bank.

It would be no long to see whether the strategists were right to be concerned.