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The Taliban's Palestinian Partners: Implications for the Middle East Peace Process
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dan Diker and Khaled Abu Toameh - The Taliban's reconquering of Afghanistan has reenergized the global jihad's war against the West, inspiring other regional Islamist and extremist movements, including those of the Palestinians. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad see the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan as vindicating their longstanding ideological claims that patience pays off and that "resistance" can defeat the American-led Western alliance and dismantle the State of Israel. Congratulating the Taliban on August 17, 2021, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said, "The demise of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is a prelude to the demise of the Israeli occupation of the land of Palestine." Palestinian statements of support for the Taliban should be understood in the context of the fundamentalist groups' ideological rejection of America and Israel as infidels seeking to control the lands of Islam. Dr. Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian scholar and cleric, is widely considered the "father of the global jihad" and served as a mentor to Osama bin Laden. Azzam laid the groundwork for the establishment of al-Qaeda and the Pakistani jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the deadly Mumbai, India, attack in 2008, killing 175 people. Palestinian "human rights" organizations sought to undermine the American mission in Afghanistan, submitting complaints to the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and the CIA with "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity." The Taliban victory in Afghanistan makes it impossible for Palestinian Islamists to agree to any U.S. peace proposal that would require any Palestinian concessions. The Taliban's takeover and the U.S. withdrawal have legitimized and empowered Hamas as the new standard for "resistance" against Israel. Dan Diker is Director of the Project to Counter BDS and Political Warfare at the Jerusalem Center. Khaled Abu Toameh is a veteran journalist who has been covering Palestinian affairs for three decades. Both are Fellows of the Jerusalem Center.