Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Abdullah Ramadan Shallah said Palestinian recognition of Israel would be "more dangerous than the Nakba of 1948", the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Wednesday.

In a speech delivered by telephone for an event in Gaza on Tuesday, Shallah said: "What is more dangerous than the Palestinian people's Nakba is that the ones with the rights recognize their enemies and deny their own rights. Everything that is happening in Jerusalem is the result of the deals, agreements and negotiations with the Zionist enemy."

Addressing the pope's visit to the region, Shallah said: "What can we expect from the Vatican…when the PLO recognizes the Israeli enemy"

The Islamic Jihad leader also directed implicit criticism at Jordan's King Abdullah, who has been reported to be engaged in efforts to soften the Arab peace initiative, thereby making it easier for Israel to accept it.

"We mark the Nakba while we fear an American-Zionist and Arab offensive, and that the Islamic world will open its doors to the Zionist entity," he said. Referring to an interview submitted to by "one of the Arab rulers, who said the future is not in the Jordan River or Golan Heights," Shallah said: "This is the prize given by the Arab ruler to Israel."