The Office of the Supreme Leader

IRI's Supreme Leader receives Hamas chief, Khalid Mashal

Tehran, Dec 13 - 'Resistance along with unity and adherence to Islam's statutes is the sole way to ensure the Palestinian liberation and the future of the country's people', Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei told Khalid Mashal who leads the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the Palestinian nation owes resistance and struggle against the usurper Zionist regime for its successful movement in recent years, particularly for the repelling of the regime from the occupied Gaza Strip.

He drew on the ongoing plight of the Plaestinian people in the occupied territories and said that the experience of the past fifty years shows that no better conditions will be achieved by budging to the Zionists occupiers and sitting negotiation with them, instead pressures will further go up. He upheld resistance as the only option which will guarantee victory.

The leader noted that the enemies of the Palestinian nation are today embattled with a host of own political and economic problems, adding that, yesterday they retreated from Lebanon and today were forced to withdraw from Gaza and, God willing, the Palestinian nation and resistance groups will push them out of the Beit ul-Moqaddas tomorrow.

'Intifada proved that the Palestinian nation is mightier than the Zionist regime and America', Ayatollah Khamenei said, noting that America sees its defeat in the Middle East and is stepping backward unlike its superficial and shear bullying. He urged the Palestinian nation and resistance groups to get the point and vigilantly keep on their way of Jihad.

For his part, Khalid Mashal highly appreciated the Supreme Leader and the Iranian government for supporting the Palestinian nation and said that the positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran reflect sentiments of the Islamic and Arab nations. He said that all Muslims are taking honor in these courageous positions. He regretted that other Islamic governments do not dare adopt such positions.

He briefed the leader on the latest developments in the occupied lands and the Palestinian people's appalling conditions and stressed that despite all these pressures, the Palestinian people have grown more committed to continue resistance. He vowed that the Hamas movement will never spare its principle approach of resistance.

He added that the movement will contend to no less that the liberation of all occupied territories, the return of refugees and the exit of occupiers. He reaffirmed the idea of the IRI's late founder, Imam Khomeini who had once likened Israel to a cancerous tumor and vowed the movement will never accept it.
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