Islamic Jihad temporarily accepts 1967 Palestinian borders

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Islamic Jihad temporarily accepts 1967 Palestinian borders

Leaders of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement announced Wednesday that they "temporarily" accept the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

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Leaders of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement announced Wednesday that they "temporarily" accept the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

"This Palestinian state should have a full sovereignty over all the territories that were occupied by Israel in 1967, and never leave one single settler on it," said Nafez Azzam, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.

The Islamic Jihad, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombing attacks on Israel, has long been considered by Israel, Europe and the United States as a radical movement.

Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas had declared they would never recognize the Israeli state and they would act until Israel had been removed and replaced by a Palestinian state.

But Azzam denied that the group's new move is a historic change in the ideology and noted it is only "temporary."

"Our new position is not a historic change in our strategy, but because of the current complications of the new international and regional realities. We accepted this temporary solution," he said.

"But this doesn't mean that we recognize the legitimacy of (Israel's) taking our lands and raping our country," he added.

Azzam's remarks came three days after 12 Palestinian national and Islamic factions failed to reach an agreement on declaring a hudna, or ceasefire, with Israel to stop armed and suicide bombing attacks.

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