In an exclusive press interview conducted with him by the journalist, Saleh al-Jabri — the head of the Yeni Yemen Center — on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the establishment of the Yemeni Islah Party, the head of the Information and Culture Department of the Yemeni Islah Party, Mr. Ali al-Jaradi spoke about the effects of the war in Yemen on the future of the party, and how to get out of this impasse.

In the interview, al-Jaradi spoke about the impact of the Houthi coup and the seriousness of this project on the Yemeni state and the Arab and Islamic region.

— What are the most important challenges facing the party under the current circumstances?

The challenges facing Islah are national challenges related to the restoration of the state and its institutions. Without the possibility of restoring our homeland from its kidnappers, there is no value and no benefit from any gain, and no sense to any party or national component. If the national battle does not end with the defeat of the coup and the restoration of the Yemeni state, existential challenges and fateful questions will be faced with the parties and institutions of legitimacy and other challenges related to Yemeni culture and identity.

The results of the battle to restore the Yemeni state will extend beyond Yemen until it reaches the regional environment. The Houthi militia represents the spearhead of the Persian colonial project in the Arab region. The defeat of Iran's arm in Yemen means the stability of Yemen and the Arabian Gulf with its Arab and Islamic identity.

For decades, the battle of the Arabs in Yemen in the face of the Persian project will result in the shape and identity of the Arab region. The results of the battle to restore the Yemeni state and defeat the Persian project will design the shape of the nature and challenges of the Gulf States, and social and political parties and forces.

— To what extent was the party affected by the Yemeni war, especially as it became targeted by different parties?

There is a political and media discourse characterized by hostility, deception and fabrication of charges, directed against the Yemeni Islah party by some media institutions, in implementation of political agendas targeting the party and its members. But in the Islah Party, we made an early decision not to go into sub-animosity with some of our brothers, perhaps this animosity is due to misunderstanding.

We in the Islah Party believe that Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf States are being subjected to an Iranian colonial attack aimed at the existence and identity of our countries. This existential danger cannot be met through a multiplicity of goals, sliding into side battles and depleting our energies in confrontations with those who shared common destiny.

With pain, patience and sensing the responsibility of the moment, we bear all these slanderous discourses, and we are regretful such trends that see the fire burning around them, while they focus their energy on filtering accounts with those who share with them the same orientation, goal and common destiny.

This discourse, which mentions Islah Party in everything and makes it responsible for everything, says in another way, how great this party is, extended, rooted and a wall in front of the projects of domination and fragmentation.

Such a discourse, which wanted to offend, has made the Islah Party present, a focus of attention and inquiry by those who did not know it closely.

— What is the next project that the party relies on to get out of this impasse with minimal losses, especially after the end of the war?

Islah and its political partners bear the responsibility for any success or failure, according to the objective assessment that depends on all the surrounding factors and circumstances. Islah has made enormous sacrifices and is paying a heavy price for its bias for the Yemeni state with its pluralistic, republican and political system. Today, Islah is the national vein, the political and cultural link that exceeds racist, geographical and doctrinal ideas. Islah is similar to Yemen, the people of the North, the South, the East, the West and all groups of the society are represented in Islah. It is a national party because of its ability to overcome the dangers of the deadly fanaticism and their geographical theories and the discourse of hatred and arrogance.

— Does the Islah leadership intend to hold a general congress of the party in the liberated cities in order to elect a new leadership of the party after the past 25 years of taking over the leadership of the party, without a little change during this period?

Any system, party or institution in which people stay in their positions for long periods, especially leadership positions, is subjected to stalemate and separation from new variables and generations. The longer he stays in the same position, man feels ownership and control, and his experiences and opinions became sacred, as a historical experience that has succeeded in solving the problems of the past, and accordingly will be ready to be called for solving the problems of the future.

Islah was about to make a change before the 2014 coup, and in my opinion, it needs a change, not only in its leadership, but in many of its means of action, towards the establishment of firm institutions within this big party.