Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday that the United States is an accomplice in what he said were Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people.
Khamenei said "the United States is an accomplice in the crimes of Israel, just as is anyone else who aids Israel, directly or indirectly."
Speaking to an assembly of hundreds of the country's leaders, which was also attended by the ambassadors of Islamic countries in Tehran, Khamenei also called for the Islamic world to come to the aid of the Palestinian people.
Asserting that the Palestinian people will ultimately regain the territories lost to Israel over the past half century, Khamenei said the current generation of Palestinians realize that the "Zionist regime is not invincible."
Late Tuesday, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami lashed out against the Arab states for failing to defend the Palestinian nation as the latest Middle East violence brought the death toll to near 140.
Arab leaders at the end of their two-day summit Sunday backed the Palestinian uprising and established funds for the victims of clashes with Israeli forces and to ease their economic dependence on Israel.
But they stopped short of scrapping Arab ties with the Jewish state.
"I, as a member of an Islamic nation, the head of state and the head of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), have serious complaints against the brothers in the Arab (Cairo) summit. You have not fulfilled the expectations of an Islamic nation," Khatami said.
"Open your ears! Which nation, except the innocent Palestinian nation, has suffered from the injustice brought upon it?" he said.
"Why has the minimum cooperation with the innocent people of Palestine not taken place?" Khatami demanded.
He thanked the few nations that have "broken off ties with Israel," referring to Tunisia. It closed down its interests section in Israel and called on all others "at least, even if they don't support the Palestinians, not to defend the enemy." – TEHRAN (AFP)
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