The visiting political bureau chief of the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas, Khalid Mashal, and his accompanying delegation met with the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on Tuesday, December 13.
Speaking at the meeting, the Leader stated that the accomplishments of the Palestinian nation over the recent years, especially the expulsion of the Zionist regime from Gaza, are owed to the resistance and jihad of Palestinians against the usurper Zionist regime.
"The only way which guarantees the liberation of Palestine and the future of Palestinians is the continuation of resistance combined with strength, preservation of unity and solidarity and adherence to basic Islamic principles," the Leader stressed.
Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to the difficult conditions under which the Palestinian people currently live in the occupied territories.
"The experience of the past fifty years indicates that compromising with Zionist occupiers and engaging in negotiations with them will not improve the situation and will only result in the escalation of pressures on Palestinians. Therefore, it is clear that success and victory will be achieved only by standing firm and through resistance," Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out.
The Leader of the Islamic Republic further stated, "The enemies of the Palestinian nation are currently plagued with numerous political and economic problems. Yesterday, they retreated from Lebanon and, today, they were forced to pull out of Gaza. God willing, the Palestinian nation and resistance groups will also expel the occupiers from Bait-ul-Moqaddas tomorrow."
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian Intifada proved that the power of the Palestinian nation is greater than that of the Zionist regime and the United States.
"The United States also, despite all its superficial and false show of strength, has suffered defeat in the Middle East and is retreating from the region. Thus, the Palestinian nation and resistance groups, heeding the present circumstances and maintaining their vigilance, should continue treading their path of jihad and struggle," Ayatollah Khamenei told the audience.
The political bureau chief of Hamas, for his part, expressed his gratitude for the stances taken by the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian government in support of the Palestinian people.
"The stances of the Islamic Republic of Iran are indeed expressive of the attitudes and feelings of Muslim and Arab nations, and all Muslims feel proud of these valorous stances. But unfortunately other Islamic governments are not courageous enough to take such stances," he told the Leader.
Mashal further presented a report on the situation in the occupied territories and the hard living conditions of the Palestinian people. He stressed that despite all the pressures, the belief of the Palestinian people in jihad and resistance has become stronger, and that the Islamic resistance movement Hamas also would never depart from its principled strategy of resistance.
"We would not settle for anything less than the liberation of all occupied territories, the return of all Palestinian refugees to their homeland and the occupiers' pull-out. As the late Imam Khomeini stated, Israel is a cancerous tumor, and we would never accept it," the Hamas political bureau chief emphasized.