An array of Islamists are gathering in Tehran for a conference of resistance groups organized by Iran, according to Iran’s official news agency (IRNA).
The attendees include some of Israel's worst enemies -- Khaled Mishaal, head of Hamas politburo; Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Hizbollah; and Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
They will discuss how to support the Palestinian Intifada that erupted in September.
"We would like and will try to undermine the security scheme of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and show that he cannot do anything," Mohammad Sadeq Hosseini, an adviser to Iran's minister of culture, told The Associated Press.
"The aim of the conference is to unify all of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance groups, to bring them closer and to encourage them to work closely to support the Intifada," he said.
Salah Zawawi, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador in Tehran, told the AP that he expects the conference to be "fruitful" in gathering Muslim support for the Palestinian cause.
"I think our Iranian brothers are doing something very helpful for us by holding such a conference, and I see it as very positive," he said.
He said it was unlikely Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would attend, but expected other Palestinian officials to be present.
IRNA quoted the spokesman of the Second International Conference on Support for Palestinian Intifada Jalil Sazegarnejad as saying the meeting will discuss a bill on holding “a referendum among real inhabitants of Palestine.”
Sazegarnejad told reporters at the threshold of the conference, which is due to open on Tuesday, that upon approval by the Tehran Conference, a secretariat charged with looking into the bill for holding referendum among the actual inhabitants of Palestine, will be established.
He said the bill will be offered after its ratification to the international fora, including the UN and the Muslim Inter-Parliamentary Union to win support for Palestine so as to end long period of war, tyranny and aggression on the oppressed Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Iraq will not take part in the meeting in protest of the recent Iranian missile attacks on the Mujahideen Khalq opposition group.
Iran has acknowledged the attack, in which about 60 scud missiles killed six Mujahideen and Iraqis.
KHAMENEI URGES HIZBOLLAH TO INTENSIFY ATTACK ON ISRAEL
Iran’s supreme leader claimed over the weekend that Israel has been weakened, urging Hizbollah to continue attacking the Jewish state’s troops in the disputed Shabaa Farms, reported the Daily Star.
“Hizbollah, which has a heavy responsibility, must take the initiative against the Zionist enemy,” state-run radio quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.
Hizbollah killed an Israeli soldier on April 14 in a missile attack, the third to die in the Shabaa Farms since the party resumed military operations against Israel last October – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
