TEHRAN – After three days of unprovoked aggression against the Gaza Strip, Israel accepted an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that laid bare the strength of the resistance groups against the occupying regime of Tel Aviv. 

The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine issued a statement on Sunday announcing that it agreed to the ceasefire. It underlined its right to respond to any Israeli aggression. Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the secretary-general of the Movement, said the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Movement, led the fighting, which he dubbed “the unity of battlefields.”

Speaking at a press conference held after the announcement of the ceasefire, al-Nakhalah said Israel failed to achieve the goals it set for its recent aggression which is to eliminate the leaders of the Movement. 

“The Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip scored an achievement, led by the Islamic Jihad movement… the enemy raised a specific slogan, which is the liquidation of the Islamic Jihad movement and its military arm, but the movement today is stronger than ever,” he said, adding that the resistance movement had the upper hand during the recent flare-up evidenced by its ability to shower Israeli targets with missiles. 

He warned, “If the enemy does not abide by what we agreed on through the Egyptian mediator, we will resume fighting again.”

During its aggression, which killed more than 40 innocent people in Gaza, Israel pursued the seditious goal of driving a wedge between the resistance groups in Palestine but it failed to achieve that goal.

Al-Nakhla indicated that the entire Palestinian people were united in the face of the aggression and that the Al-Quds Brigades led the battle, and took upon themselves the bulk of the combat operations. “If the enemy had achieved any achievement, it would not have sought calm with the Jihad. It has sought by all means to reach a ceasefire agreement, and for 24 continuous hours, contacts through Egypt, the United Nations and others did not stop,” he said. 

The main objective of Israel was to create division between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Al-Nakhalah made it clear that Israel failed to achieve that goal as Hamas and the Jihad remained brother in arms despite the fact that Hamas did not take part in the fighting. 

“What has been achieved is a victory for the Palestinian people, and we will protect this achievement… I stress the unity of the resistance forces, and we and the brothers in Hamas are in a continuous alliance and with the various factions and the enemy will not be able to separate us,” he noted. 

Israel has miscalculated the situation again. It not only failed to create tensions between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad but also drew the ire of public opinion in the Arab world, even in the Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel. Arab social media sympathized with Palestine and strongly condemned Israeli aggression. 

And a senior official in the United Arab Emirates remarkably called for a reassessment of normalization with Israel in the wake of its aggression. Dhahi Khalfan, the deputy head of Dubai Police, issued a call “from the bottom of his heart” to Arab countries to reassess their relations with Israel.

“My heartfelt call for all the Arab countries that have relations with Israel to meet to evaluate the situation again...Israel must be serious about peace and respect...otherwise,” Khalfan said in a Twitter thread. 

He called on Israel to stop its denial of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their state. “Israel should not trade relations of cooperation with it in order to deprive the Palestinians of the establishment of their state,” Khalfan added. 

The Emirati official continued, “With its heinous actions, Israel will expand the base of jihad among Muslims in general. You will remember what I’m saying.” 

Khalfan topped the thread off with a “disastrous” prediction for Israel. “Between 2037-2040, Israel will be struck with a destructive disaster…  Because the promise of God in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur’an is approaching as I imagine it.”

Khalfan’s thread may not be that serious but it is emblematic of a changing mood in the Arab world toward Israel after nearly two years of a normalization drama. The Arab public opinion turning against Israel again could be the final denouement of the normalization trend. This has been evident in recent polling conducted by The Washington Institute.

“The wave of Arab countries officially normalizing relations with Israel over the past several years stands in contrast with a growing lack of public support for the Abraham Accords in the [Persian] Gulf,” the Institute said, noting that those who favorably view normalization with Israel are now a “minority” in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).