"They blocked you, but our hearts still belong to you, our homeland." So read the writing on the massive banners adorning the streets of Gaza even long after Khaled Meshaal's visit to the Gaza Strip. The banners bore massive images of Islamic Jihad's Secretary General Dr. Ramadan Shallah. Israeli occupation forces threatened to assassinate them both in the event of their entrance to the Gaza Strip. This was the political price that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement was forced to pay following the recent war last November. That is, in addition to becoming Israel's most wanted target, despite the truce Hamas agreed to with Israel (under Egypt's sponsorship and at the United States' behest) that concluded the eight-day war.

Islamic Jihad's "undeclared" position

This truce exacerbated the unofficial divide between Hamas and the PIJ, a fact which is attested to by the messages that representatives from the PIJ in Gaza wrote to those negotiating on their behalf in an attempt to conclude a truce during the recent war.

Al-Monitor has obtained one of the messages that was sent on the war's sixth day, in which Shallah noted that the truce's goal is not to weaken Hamas' political role or undermine its rule over Gaza, but instead weaken the military strength of the resistance movements, including the [Hamas-affiliated] Qassam Brigades.