Islamic Jihad slams statehood bid

The leader of Islamic Jihad, Ahmed Al-Mudalal, believes that the Palestinian statehood bid will not benefit the Palestinian people. Al-Mudalal told the Arabstoday: “Abbas’ decision to go to the United Nations is delusional and will not benefit Palestinians. It will merely legitimate the status quo. Furthermore, returning to the negotiating table just legitimises the occupation and allows Israel to continue its aggression towards Palestinians.” Al-Mudalal argued that the UN bid will formalise Israeli domination over more than 80 percent of Palestinian land and will give impetus to the Israeli drive to make Palestine a Jewish state. “Israel would only give us 20 percent of our land in a peace agreement, a decision that would have a huge impact on the right of return.” Al-Mudalal accused Abbas of having a contradictory stance on peace negotiations. He believes that Abbas needs to talk to the Palestinian people to create a unified strategy that would confront the Israeli occupation away from the negotiating table.