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Khamenei Threatens ‘Substitution’ of his Palestinian Allies | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Khamenei with participants at the Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada held in Tehran on Tuesday/ Tasnim


London, Ramallah- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday Tehran’s Palestinian allies that if they abandoned the resistance, another group would be ready to carry their flag.

Khamenei’s comments at the Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada held in Tehran on Tuesday, came at a time when Tehran’s relationship with other Palestinian resistance groups, mainly Hamas, is witnessing tension due to Iran’s role in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and other regional files.

Addressing the Palestinians, Khamenei said: “God forbid, if one of the Resistance orientations falls into this trap, they [the people] can reproduce that need as they have done so in the past. If a group puts down the flag of Resistance, another group will undoubtedly emerge from the heart of the people of Palestine to hold it up again.”

However, the Palestinian Authority (PA) rejected the cause of the Palestinian people to be transformed into a tool to launch the wars of others.

As a response to the calls of Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement Ramadan Shalah who said fronts should be united to face Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, an official at the Authority told Asharq Al-Awsat: “It is unacceptable to use the Palestinians as a fuel to ignite the wars of others.”

The official added that the Authority was, still is, and will remain against any abuse of regional forces made at the expense of the Palestinian interests.

During his speech at the Tehran Summit on Tuesday, Shalah had lashed out at the PA and said the Intifada was besieged by the Palestinian security as much as by Israel.

“The Authority is the guardian of Israel’s safety and its settlement policies,” he said.

Immediately after Shalah’s comments, the Fatah Movement lashed out at the leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement, saying it completely refuses such “unjustified ethical and political decadence.”