IRAN: 'JERUSALEM' CONFERENCE KICKS OFF IN TEHRAN
Tehran, 14 April (AKI) - Iran's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Friday opened an international conference on the future of the Palestinians and Jerusalem, which is expected to be dominated by anti-Israel statements reflecting Iran's hardline position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More than 600 delegates from 50 countries, including many parliamentary speakers are expected to attend the event which lasts through Sunday.
"One of the main issues to be discussed is the safeguard of Islam's sacred sites in occupied Jerusalem," former Iranian interior minister, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, said in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
"For 50 years the Israelis have tried to destroy all traces of Islam in this city (Jerusalem)," said Mohtashamipour, who is also founder of the Association for the Defence of the Palestinian People, which is organising the Tehran conference.
Mohtashamipour, denied any connection between statements by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for Israel's destruction, and the decision to hold the conference in Iran's capital.
"This conference was planned 10 months ago before President Ahmadinejad's remarks on Israel and the Holocaust," he said referring to the Iranian president's assertion that the Nazi mass murder of Jews during World War II never took place.
"The issue of the Holocaust will be dealt with in another conference to be organised by the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry," he said.
"If something like the Holocaust really happened, then it was completely the responsibility of the Europeans and it would then be up to them to pay any eventual compensation," he added. Mohtashamipour, who has also served as Iranian ambassador to Syria, sat in Parliament as a representative for the reformist wing Iran's Islamist political establishment in the last legislature.
The precarious state of the Palestinian Authority's finances is also expected to feature on the conference's agenda.
Following the formation of a Hamas-led Palestinian government late last month, the European Union has cut financial aid to the PA, leaving Hamas struggling to pay the salaries of 140,000 civil servants. According to Hamas officials, Iran has promised to make up the shortfall.
"One of the main issues to be discussed is the safeguard of Islam's sacred sites in occupied Jerusalem," former Iranian interior minister, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, said in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
"For 50 years the Israelis have tried to destroy all traces of Islam in this city (Jerusalem)," said Mohtashamipour, who is also founder of the Association for the Defence of the Palestinian People, which is organising the Tehran conference.
Mohtashamipour, denied any connection between statements by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for Israel's destruction, and the decision to hold the conference in Iran's capital.
"This conference was planned 10 months ago before President Ahmadinejad's remarks on Israel and the Holocaust," he said referring to the Iranian president's assertion that the Nazi mass murder of Jews during World War II never took place.
"The issue of the Holocaust will be dealt with in another conference to be organised by the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry," he said.
"If something like the Holocaust really happened, then it was completely the responsibility of the Europeans and it would then be up to them to pay any eventual compensation," he added. Mohtashamipour, who has also served as Iranian ambassador to Syria, sat in Parliament as a representative for the reformist wing Iran's Islamist political establishment in the last legislature.
The precarious state of the Palestinian Authority's finances is also expected to feature on the conference's agenda.
Following the formation of a Hamas-led Palestinian government late last month, the European Union has cut financial aid to the PA, leaving Hamas struggling to pay the salaries of 140,000 civil servants. According to Hamas officials, Iran has promised to make up the shortfall.
posted by Marko at 4/14/2006 12:48:00 PM
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