World Shia Leader: Palestine Must be Restored From River to Sea

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei in a speech to the fifth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada Saturday renewed the IRI initiative for settling the Palestinian problem through a referendum in which all the original population of the Palestine, of any religion whatsoever, would vote to decide on their fate.Ayatollah Khamenei said IRI neither proposes to cast the Jews in the sea, as some proposed in the past, nor it accepts the UN arbitration. “We propose to stage a referendum,” he added. Ayatollah Khamenei rejected the PA bid for statehood in UN as a renewal of former Israeli-favored initiatives like the Oslo agreement and said Muslims only settle for a full Palestine, from river (Jordan River) to sea (offshore Gaza). Ayatollah Khamenei said the west was nowadays at a crossroad. “It should abandon its historical tyranny by recognizing the Palestinian rights or it would receive harder blows in no far a future,” the IR Leader said.Ayatollah Khamenei also slammed US President Barak Obama for marking the Israeli security as his political red line, adding that the president would rather realize that his red line would soon be torn apart by the revolutionary regional nations.Ayatollah Khamenei also noted that what threaten Israel were not the Iranian or resistance missiles, rather Israel was truly threatened by the firm resolve of the men and women of the Islamic countries who are no more ready to accept the dominance of the colonial powers. Ayatollah Khamenei added however "the missiles will fulfill their role once an enemy threat takes place." A full text of the speech would soon be relayed.Over 700 scholars and intellectuals from 100 world countries have participated in the international event which runs for two days. /129