Thousands of demonstrators rallied in downtown Tehran on Thursday to support the Palestinians amid growing calls for a holy war against Israel after the latest bloodshed in the Middle East.
Some 5,000 people were on hand by mid-morning at Tehran's Palestine Square, not far from the former Israeli embassy, and thousands more were swelling toward the square for the massive state-organized rally.
The state of Israel "has to be destroyed," Khaled Meshaal, head of the politburo of the Islamic militant group of Hamas, told the crowd, which responded with cries of: "We are ready! We are ready!"
He said, "God willing, the blood of Iranian and Palestinian brothers will be spilled at the Al-Aqsa Mosque," the Jerusalem holy site whose fate has been at the crux of the rapidly failing peace process.
Meshaal condemned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's latest efforts at peace talks in Paris with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
He also praised Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has called for the Islamic world to unleash a holy war or jihad on the Jewish state.
"Your brothers in Palestine do not have any arms because the borders are closed, so I praise the leader who has opened the door for jihad. The only way to counter Israel is with a jihad," he said.
The crowd chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to the United States" as popular anger at the latest events, the worst Middle East violence in four years, showed every sign of mounting.
State television broadcast the rally interspersed with images of Palestinians smashing cars and hurling stones at Israeli troops recorded during the recent week of deadly street battles.
Iran's parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karubi also addressed the crowd and blasted the United States for "not allowing the UN Security Council to issue a resolution" condemning Israel for the bloodshed.
He said that for the Palestinians to earn their rights, "there is no other way except through jihad."
Iran does not recognize the Jewish state and its support for Hizbollah guerrillas helped force the Israelis out of southern Lebanon in May after more than two decades of occupation.
Nearly every top Iranian official has denounced Israel for the violence and President Mohammed Khatami, current head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), on Wednesday called for an urgent meeting of the group's foreign ministers to coordinate policy against Israel – TEHRAN (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
