US Plan Has Targeted Palestinian Identity

EghtesadOnline: Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described the United States' peace plan for Palestine as "a dangerous plot", saying it aims to obliterate the identity of Palestinian people "using money".

News ID: ۷۴۷۹۶۰

23 July 2019

"This is the main point that one needs to resist … Confronting this plan needs promotional, cultural and intellectual work," he said on Monday in a meeting with a visiting top-ranking delegation from the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, his website reported.

The so-called peace deal has been drawn up by the administration of US President Donald Trump with the intention of ending the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict through development fueled by international investment.

Reportedly, Trump's much-touted "deal of the century" is hugely biased toward Israel and mainly aimed at consolidating the Israeli regime’s occupation of Palestinian territories, Financial Tribune reported.

Last month, the US held a conference in Bahrain where it unveiled the economic segment of the initiative that Palestinians called a “humiliating blackmail”.

Palestinians of all political inclinations in blockaded Gaza and the occupied West Bank have rejected Trump's deal as "the slap of the century". They had also boycotted the Bahrain meeting.

"Another way of resisting this plot is to make the Palestinian people feel progress that has been attained so far," the Leader said, citing the Palestinians' possession of precision-guided missiles to replace stones used in their struggle against the occupiers.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier slammed the US for its "desperate attempt" to impose its pro-Israel peace plan on Palestine.

Addressing the Palestine committee of the Non-Aligned Movement in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday, he said, "Any initiative that would forgo international law and run counter to the Palestinians’ human and political rights would not succeed, would be unfair and would undoubtedly fail with humiliation."

Zarif stressed that Palestine's peace and economic welfare would not materialize without addressing the occupation.

"Peace could only be established through ending the occupation and apartheid system, and through allowing the Palestinians to have an independent government of their own," Press TV quoted Zarif as saying.

No Compromise on Palestine

As a Muslim country, Iran has always supported Palestine and its resistance movement against Israeli occupation.

"We have always declared our stance on Palestine … One of the reasons for hostility toward the Islamic Republic of Iran is the case of Palestine, but these hostilities and pressure will not force Iran to compromise," the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei also said Palestinians' victory and their return to homeland are not a far-fetched and unattainable goal.

During the meeting, Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, expressed the movement's appreciation of Iran's "constant and unchangeable" support for the Palestinian people.

He also outlined latest developments in Gaza and West Bank, saying Hamas's recent military progress could not be compared with the past.

"Today, all occupied lands and main bases of the Zionists are within the reach of the missiles of the Palestinian resistance," he said.

Arouri also delivered a letter from Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau, to Ayatollah Khamenei, in which he elaborated his Palestinian policy.