Terror Groups Threaten Israel With 'Return' of Intifada

Leaders for Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine groups, marked as terrorist organizations by the United States, encouraged their followers to escalate their opposition against Israel.

The factions also called on Palestinian Authority leaders to "return to the intifada in order to achieve national unity and the settlement of the Palestinian home on national and democratic bases," The Jerusalem Post reported Monday. The last intifada, or Palestinian uprising in Israel, started in 2000.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau, met in Beirut on Saturday with a delegation from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), led by its deputy secretary-general, Jamil Mazhar, the Post reported.

Hamas is a militant and political organization that controls the Gaza Strip. The PFLP is based in Syria but has a presence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which is ruled by the Palestinian Authority. Hamas and the PFLP reportedly receive funding from Iran.

Last month, Arouri threatened regional warfare against Israel, to which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas and Iran would pay "full price" for any terrorist attacks against Israel. Arouri also said the Israeli government would "suffer a resounding defeat, which will lead to their withdrawal from the entire West Bank."

"The leaders of the occupation government, with their extremist policies, will cause an all-out war in the region," Arouri said, according to the Post.

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