The organizing staff of International Congress in Support of the Islamic Revolution of Palestine met the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on Saturday, December 10.
In an address to the audience, the Leader stated that the issue of Palestine has become more prominent over the past decades to the benefit of the Palestinian nation and the Islamic world and to the detriment of global Zionism. He added that the reality on the ground points to the fact that the Muslim Ummah is able to seal the fate of Palestine in the interest of the Palestinian people.
Ayatollah Khamenei further noted that the issue of Palestine was first brought up in Iran when the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini launched his Islamic movement in this country.
"The extreme sensitivity displayed by the Zionists and their American supporters toward Iran and the issues raised about the Zionist regime reveals their intense weakness and their fear of the attention paid by the Muslim Ummah to the issue of Palestine," Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader of the Islamic Republic described Muslim nations as the earnest supporters of the liberation of the Holy Quds. He also praised the commitment, self-sacrifice and resistance of the Palestinian people, especially the Palestinian youth, in the face of the Zionist usurpers of Palestine.
"Despite all the Zionist plots, the struggle against the usurpers of the Al-Aqsa Mosque has turned into a stalwart tree with deep roots in the Islamic lands, which the arrogant powers will never be able to uproot," the Leader stressed.
Ayatollah Khamenei stated that Iran's proposal for holding a referendum in the Palestinian occupied territories has been welcomed by Muslims and other nations in the world. He also pointed out that Muslim nations are carefully following up on the issue of the Palestinian refugees' return to their homeland, and that they are determined to prevent the destruction of the Holy Quds by the Zionist regime.
Referring to the defeat suffered by the Quds-occupying regime in South Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, the Leader of the Islamic Republic stated that the construction of the segregation wall in the Gaza Strip by the Zionist regime indicates the inability of the Zionists to suppress the Intifada, or uprising, of the Palestinian people.
Further in his statements, Ayatollah Khamenei described the holding of International Congress in Support of the Islamic Revolution of Palestine as very significant and valuable. Underlining the Iranian people's support for the Palestinian nation, the Leader noted that the government, the Majlis and all other relevant state organizations will fully cooperate in holding the congress.
Before the Leader's statements, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (the Majlis) Gholamali Haddad-Adel presented a report about the preliminary measures which have been taken with regard to the holding of International Congress in Support of the Islamic Revolution of Palestine. He also said that the congress will be held in Tehran in April 2006 with the participation of intellectuals and dignitaries of the Islamic world.
The congress secretary Hojjatoleslam Aliakbar Mohtashemipoor, also speaking at the meeting, referred to the resistance of the Palestinian people against the attempts made by the Zionists to obliterate Islamic manifestations and holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He also presented a report about the preparatory measures that are being taken with regard to the holding of the congress.