Friday 3 September 2010

Ahmadinejad on Al-Quds Day: PA-Israeli Talks A Failure

03/09/2010 Thousands of Iranians have gathered in the capital, Tehran, on Friday to mark al-Quds day, the country's annual Palestinian solidarity day.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the crowd saying that the people of the Middle East are "capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene" in an annual Palestinian solidarity day address, AFP reported.

"If the leaders of the region do not have the guts, then the people of the region are capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene," the president said as the crowd chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!"

Ahmadinejad said that direct talks which Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas relaunched with Israel in Washington on Thursday after a 20-month hiatus were "doomed" to fail. "What do they want to negotiate about? Who are they representing? What are they going to talk about?" the Iranian president said of the Palestinian leadership.

"Who gave them the right to sell piece of Palestinian land? The people of Palestine and the people of the region will not allow them to sell even an inch of Palestinian soil to the enemy. "The negotiations are stillborn and doomed."

Ahmadinejad was also quoted by the local IRNA news agency as saying in a pre-sermon address at Tehran University that Israel was endangering the dignity and culture of the world in its quest for survival and victory.

According to Iranian state media, millions of people were attending the state-run rallies throughout the country and voice their support for Palestinians and the "liberation of their lands from the Zionist regime's [Israel's] occupation." "Today millions of people will shout out their will for liberation of the holy Quds from the devil's claw of Zionists," the Fars news agency reported.

Al-Quds Day was started by the late Ayatollah Imam Ruhollah Khomeini as a way of expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring Jerusalem's importance to Muslims.

Iranians across the country, including in the capital Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad, held rallies in opposition to the continued occupation of Palestinian land.

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