The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei on Friday called on Muslim heads of state to join hands to break the Israeli occupation siege of Gaza.
“Muslim governments should break siege of Gaza and the Egyptian government and nation have a heavy duty in that concern. All Muslim nations should help the Egyptian government and nations fulfill the duty,” said Ayatollah Khamenei in an address to the Islamic Republic Army Air Force personnel.
His eminence said the problem with Palestine, siege of Gaza and massacre of Gazans are the result of the wrong Middle East policies of the US and of the Annapolis Conference. He added, “At a time when Gaza boils in fire and blood, and (at a time when) the US President’s tour of the region has ended up in disaster, any talks between regional states and the US and the usurper Zionist Regime will be futile.”
Sayyed Khamenei said Arab states should be watchful that they or others from the Palestinian camp are not used against Gaza people because the dirty act will always remain as a dark stain. Naming resistance as the only way for salvation of the Palestinian nation, his eminence said, “Resistance of the Palestinian nation and of Gazans against huge economic pressure, invasions and massacre is praiseworthy and Palestinian people should be careful of enemies’ plot to divide Palestinian nation and the Palestinian government-elect.”
How About the Palestinians in Iraq?
Iran’s credibility with the Palestinians would have been greatly enhanced if it exercised its huge influence with the Shiite death squads in Iraq to stop hounding, killing and forcing out of Iraq the thousands of Palestinians who have been in Iraq since 1948.
One can’t help but feel that the Iranian leadership sometimes uses the Palestinian tragedy to suit its designs.
That is an important issue to which I will try to address. To my knowledge most Shia death squads in Iraq are “unauthorized subgroups” within the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr. I understand that he used the ‘surge’ to “clean house” because while he is seeking a national unity government or front with the Sunni these death squads are alienating the Sunni with the horrors they commit. Either way, even if Moqtada Sadr did control these elements it is hugely important to stress that he is NOT a follower of Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, but of Ayatollah Kazem al-Haeri, another Persian cleric exiled in Iraq. This is crucial as, unlike the case of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Al-Sadr’s loyalties are NOT with Iran or Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei. I would therefore dispute that the massacres of Sunnis and Palestinians should be linked to a passive Iranian support, at least not through Sadr’s Mehdi Army.
What about the Badr forces of Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim? They are, as far as I know, much more disciplined and their loyalties are presumably with Iran though they have been very apt at using the Americans. I did read some reports that Badr forces were also involved with death squad like activities and I think that it is reasonable to assume that they did. BUT SO DID EVERY OTHER FACTION OR SECT IN THE IRAQI CIVIL WAR. Is is reasonable to expect Iran to have the needed leverage over the Dawa/Badr people to make them behave in a more civilized and humane way then every other faction or sect in Iraq? I don’t think so.
Lastly, I do not think that the Iranians are the white nights in shining armor who are the best protectors the Palestinian people have everywhere. What I do think is that people like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are deeply religious, sincere and dedicated people who do speak up and try to help the Palestinians the best they can. The best expression of this sincerity is, in my opinion, the fact that Hassan Nasrallah is personally a spiritual follower of Ali Khamenei and that Hezbollah has chosen to place itself under the spiritual leadership of the Iranian (ethnically Azeri) Khamenei and not under the leadership of the Lebanse Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (which most Lebanese Shia follow). I fully and totally believe that people like Nasrallah are totally dedicated to the Palestinian cause and, therefore, I do believe the same thing about Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
Are there Iranians who are using the Palestinian tragedy to ‘suit’ their own designs? Maybe. Probably. But while your guess is as good as mine (or better, in fact) I do not beleive that this is the case of the Iranian Supreme Leader, nor do I believe that the exactions committed against the Palestinians in Iraq prove otherwise.
I agree with Tony.
I also think that the Iranian leadership uses the Palestinian cause to promote its own status in the region. Right now, supporting the Palestinians helps Iran’s image as the one independent, defiant power in an ME full of subservient ‘leaders’. However, there is reason to believe that the Iranians would ‘drop’ the Palestinians if they felt it suited their interests better.
Recall that in the ‘grand bargain’ presented to the US in 2003, the Iranian leadership offered to go along with the ‘international consensus’ regarding Israel – ie. recognising that country without any satisfactory resolution to the outstanding issues. They have also offered to take a “Malaysian” attitude to the issue: ie. not to formally recognise Israel, and to issue occasional meaningless ‘condemnations’ of Israeli actions, but to take no concrete stand against Israel either.
So, I think, sad to say, there is little doubt that Iran would abandon the Palestinians if the price is right. I suppose the only positive thing to say is that that price is unlikely to be right any time soon.
ok. let look at the ‘grand bargain’ thing. First – all we know about it comes from Western sources so I am rather surprised that otherwise prudent commentators would take the claims made about it at face value. Second, an “offer to discuss” is not quite the same thing as an agreement, in particular in the Middle-East and coming from a country with 7000+ of diplomacy. Third, the position of the Iranians has always been that whatever solution is accepted by the Palestinians would be acceptable to them. Does anybody really expect them to make an about face on this?!
But somebody please answer what is fallacy of the main basis of my supposition about the Iranians:
a) Hassan Nasrallah is, beyond any doubt, an absolutely sincere person who is totally dedicated to the Palestinan people (as to the other Arabs suffering from the oppression of Israel)
b) Hassan Nasrallah intimately knows Ali Khamenei and the Iranians
c) Hassan Nasrallah has complete trust in Ali Khamenei (whom he chose as his spiritual leader)
therefore:
d) Hassan Nasrallah *knows* that Ali Khamenei is as committed as Nasrallah himself to helping the oppressed Arabs of the Middle-East.
Now, none of the above really proves anything, but it is not a HUGE circumstantial evidence that the “the Iranians are as bad and cynical as everybody else” theory?!
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, is a cruel dictator who has wrecked Iran. He is no friend of the Shia, and has betrayed the legacy of Mohammed, Ali, and the rest of the rightly guided twelver Imams.
If you want the truth about the cruel tyrant Khamenei, leave a comment at IraqiMojo.com, and my good Iraqi friend Gilgamesh can clue you in to the facts of life.
The Shah was terrible. Khamenei is much worse. Some “WESTERNERS” never learn.
This prelude helps you understand how difficult it is for me to say the below. I love the Palestinian people, and their suffering pains me. So it hurts me to say the truth . . . many Palestinian sunni arabs backed Saddam and his genocide against the Iraqi people (Shia, Kurd, and Sunni Arab.) Many Palestinians detest Iraqis, and called the leaders of the anti-Saddam resistance (including the followers of Ali, Hussein and Hassan) the most vile names.
It is no surprise, although strongly condemnable, that Iraqis treated the Palestinians (including Jarrar Raed) the way they did after the cruel Saddam was overthrown. The Palestinians were persecuted as a proxy for Saddam by the many Iraqis who wanted to get back at Saddam. It wasn’t only the UIA, or Allawi’s faction, or the Communist Party of Iraq, it was the Iraqi people as a whole who went after the Palestinians.
If Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, had tried to defend the Palestinians, the Iraqi people–UIA, Najaf Marja and all—would have had Khamenei for lunch and spit him out. There was nothing Iran’s cruel Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei could have done to save the Palestinians. This, at least, is not his fault.
Vineyard Saker, I know you have a soft spot for the Shia—this is one reason I believe that there is hope for you yet. But compassion for the Shia is not the same thing as backing Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei. Back the an Najaf Marja, back the UIA, back the Iraqi, Iranian, Hazara Afghan, Pakistani, Indian and Lebanese Shia. They are the people you should be backing.
Note, since you like the Shia, you should visit the blog of my Shia friend IraqiMojo. I know him well, and have met up with him many times. Love the Shia, even love the Quom clerical theologians and clerics, but cool up on the Khamenei fetish. ;-)
Note that my friend Iraqi Mojo is very pro-Palestinian. We don’t agree on everything, or the specifics, but I learnt a lot about the Palestinian perspective from him. I think you share Iraqi Mojo, and my love for the Palestinians. The question is how to help them best, and who are the true friends of the Palestinians.
a) Hassan Nasrallah is, beyond any doubt, an absolutely sincere person who is totally dedicated to the Palestinan people (as to the other Arabs suffering from the oppression of Israel) {You don’t expect me to agree with this ;-) Nasrallah is better than Khamenei to be sure. But friend of the Palestinians! That is a joke. Nasrallah mistreats the Palestinians in Southern Lebonan. Hezbollah frequently attacks and abuses them. To be sure, the sunni arab Palestinian extremists—some of them in bed with AQ and other Takfiri–probably start it most of the time, so I am not blaming the Lebonese Shia per se.}
b) Hassan Nasrallah intimately knows Ali Khamenei and the Iranians {Right on the money.}
c) Hassan Nasrallah has complete trust in Ali Khamenei (whom he chose as his spiritual leader) {Bingo. However, my hero Ali Al Sistani is the spiritual leader of Nasrallah as my good Shia friend Iraqi Mojo has explained to me many times.}
therefore:
d) Hassan Nasrallah *knows* that Ali Khamenei is as committed as Nasrallah himself to helping the oppressed Arabs of the Middle-East. {Nasrallah knows that without Khamenei’s money, IRGC, and support . . . he wouldn’t be the leader of Hezbollah. Much of Hezbollah is more loyal to Khamenei and his IRGC than Nasrallah. How long would Nasrallah last if he openly backed Sistani and the rest of the Najaf Marja against Khamenei? Khamenei does not tolerate dissent lightly. Khamenei took away all of Khatami’s powers and made him a stick puppet during the later part of his reign as Iran’s “President.”}