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Ziyad Nakhalah, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), said in a November 24, 2021 interview on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) that if Israel targets any member of the Islamic Jihad, it will retaliate with a rocket attack on Tel Aviv. He emphasized that the Palestinian "resistance" is present wherever possible, including both Gaza and the West Bank, and said that weapons and UAVs are being manufactured in Gaza. Later in the interview, Nakhalah commented on the recent approval of 3,000 entry permits into Israel for Gazan laborers, saying that the Palestinian resistance should not agree to Palestinians being mere laborers on their own land. Nakhalah also said that the Palestinians are being economically besieged by the Arab countries, which he said provide very little aid and interfere with Palestinian organizations' ability to gather donations.
Ziyad Nakhalah: "If any Islamic Jihad member or leader is targeted, we will retaliate with an immediate [rocket] attack on Tel Aviv."
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Journalist: "So the armed resistance is not limited to the Gaza Strip..."
Nakhalah: "Absolutely. The armed resistance is in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank, and anywhere in Palestine where it is possible. The resistance is a historic decision, not one made on the spur of the moment. The Palestinian people and their resistance factions are always committed to this.
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"Weapons of all types are manufactures in the Gaza Strip, with the exception of rifles or machine guns that require more precision.
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"There are UAVs and they are built in the workshops in Gaza. Mayadeen TV presented an operation where an Israeli vehicle was targeted. So there are UAVs there, as well as the necessary workshops and the know-how.
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"Allowing [Gazans] to work in Israel is a significant measure [by Hamas], which is trying to contain the energy of the people in Gaza, by letting them work in the [Zionist] entity.
"Thus, we become laborers for the Israelis, on our own land. That's the plan. One assumes that the resistance should not go along with this. You can hear many justifications. People's circumstances are tough. You hear this from the citizens themselves. They say that their economic circumstances are tough. However, as a matter of principle, the resistance must not play the role of a broker, and facilitate the work of those laborers for the enemy, no matter what the reason may be. After all, this is our land and we cannot turn into mere laborers there.
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"If we assume the best intentions, this is one of the measures that Hamas employs believing it alleviates the siege on Gaza. This is how Hamas understands and presents this. Just like you, I was surprised that the [Hamas] government opened offices to register the laborers officially. Honestly, I was surprised by this.
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"We are facing a serious economic crisis. Unfortunately, among the Arab countries, only Qatar provides us with some intermittent aid, and this is done with Israeli and American approval. The Arab money is spent on marginal and insignificant battles. Hundreds of millions have been spent on the war in Syria, and hundreds of millions are being wasted in Yemen.
"Meanwhile, the Palestinian people who defend Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Palestine, receive some leftover crumbs from charities, and even this work by charity NGOs for the sake of the Palestinians is banned. One example is Saudi Arabia, which arrested a group of Hamas members because they were collecting charity money. So the Palestinians are besieged by the Israelis as well as by the Arab regimes, who wish to put an end to the Palestinian cause, one way or the other."
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