Wednesday, The Times of Israel reported on statements broadcast this week on Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency by Salah Zawawi, the PLO representative to Iran.
“The US and the western countries have created a fake regime in Palestine to get rid of it and have supplied it with the most advanced weapons and are seeking to create an Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates,” Zawawi, whose organization dominates the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted as saying by the Iranian semi-official news agency Fars on Tuesday.
“Israel’s annihilation has begun and the new generation in Iran will certainly witness our victory over Israel,” he said during a gathering in Tehran in support of Gaza on Tuesday.
Zawawi’s hostility was echoed by Khaled al-Kadoumi, the Hamas representative to Iran in a separate broadcast. Hamas, unlike the Palestinian Authority, is not a constituent organization of the PLO.
“The only mechanism for liberating Palestine is resistance and we have no option other than supporting the resistance,” he said on Monday, according to Fars.
“We hope to be able to make our missiles more advanced with the help of the knowledgeable Iranians,” he went on at an event in support of Gaza.
Iran was identified by the United Nations as a major supplier of arms to Hamas.
The state owned Iranian PressTV quoted similar sentiments from Zawawi on Monday:
On Monday, Salah Zawawi criticized Islamic countries for failing to adopt proper stances with regards to the situation in the war-stricken Gaza Strip, saying it is only through unity among Muslim countries that the issue of Palestine could be addressed.
What is taking place in Islamic territories today is a Western plot aimed at weakening the religion of Islam, added the Palestinian official.
According to PressTV he added “that Tel Aviv’s days are numbered and the countdown has begun for the regime’s annihilation.”
Palestinian political leaders have long records of incitement against Israel in violation of their obligations under the Oslo Accords. Incendiary statements made by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas reinforced the impression that he was not inclined to make concessions for peace. The Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat’s incitement raised doubts whether the PA was “prepar[ing] the Palestinian people for … an eventual peace deal.” Unsurprisingly, the West Bank and Gaza, ruled by the PA and Hamas, respectively, had the highest rate of anti-Semitic attitudes in the world according to a recent survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League.
[Photo: Press TV / YouTube ]