As Netanyahu subsequently observed, Khamenei’s remarks demonstrate the need for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, whereby its neighbors would at least have to go on record pledging that they will co-exist with Israel as it is, and not simply as a land area for which they have other eventual plans.
“Hamas: ‘Resistance’ against Israel is only option left for Palestinians,” from Haaretz, October 1:
Hamas leader Khaled Meshal told an international conference in Iran on Saturday that “resistance” was the only option left for the Palestinians.
Meshal was addressing the “5th International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada” in Iran’s capital Tehran.
“Palestinians must resort to resistance no matter how costly it is, until Palestine is free and Israel is destroyed,” Meshal said.
They’ve certainly done a fine job of squandering untold amounts of resources. If that much wealth had been put toward something constructive, Gaza and the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority could be like Dubai, Singapore, or Monaco.
For that matter, after that much blood and treasure, the demise of Israel would be a pyrrhic victory for the jihadists. Hamas and the PA would be stuck with themselves, and they cannot get along even with a common enemy to unite against.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also spoke at the conference on Saturday, assailed a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, saying the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations is doomed to fail.
Khamenei told the conference, which was attended by other by senior Palestinian militant leaders as well as Mashaal, that the Palestinians should not limit themselves to seeking a country based on the pre-1967 borders because “all land belongs to Palestinians.”
“Our claim is freedom of Palestine, not part of Palestine. Any plan that partitions Palestine is totally rejected,” Khamenei told the conference.
“Palestine spans from the river (Jordan) to the sea (Mediterranean), nothing less.”
Khamenei claimed that a two state solution would mean “giving in to the demand of the Zionists” and that it would “trample the rights of the Palestinian people” to live on their land.
Khamenei also called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that should be removed.
Hamas has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the Palestinian bid for statehood in the UN, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Last week, Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused Abbas.of relinquishing Palestinian rights by seeking recognition for a state in the pre-1967 borders.
“The Palestinian people do not beg the world for a state, and the state can’t be created through decisions and initiatives,” Haniyeh said. “States liberate their land first and then the political body can be established.”