December 8, 2006
Source: –BBC Worldwide Monitoring December 8, 2006 Friday, Foreign Broadcast Information Service – Near East, December 10, 2006. The text of his speech, broadcast live by the Iranian radio, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran, in Persian, December 8, 2006.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh delivered Tehran’s pre-Friday sermon speech, where he said that the Palestinians (he was speaking as a Hamas leader) would never recognize the “usurper Zionist” government of Israel and would continue their jihadist movement until the liberation of Jerusalem.
“Today we are here to see you, coming all the way from Bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem] the land that is constantly witnessing the ever-increasing violence of the Zionists. We are here to tell you about the pain that the Palestinian nation is suffering. We are carrying the warm greetings of your Palestinian sisters and brothers to you and the people of this country. We are conveying the best wishes of the resistant Palestinian nation to the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad. Also, I have to convey the thank-you messages of the Palestinian nation to the Islamic Republic of Iran. We thank the Islamic Republic of Iran for its full support to Palestine and its support to the Palestinian resistance forces who are in constant Jihad for the liberation of Palestine and the dear Quds.
“Your brothers in Palestine are witnessing killings and aggression on a daily basis. They are, on the other hand, under the unfair siege of arrogant powers. Especially since the election of the current Palestinian government by the people and the strengthening of the resistance, they have escalated their savage killings of the Palestinian nation – a nation that is going to raise the flag of Islam and liberate the Palestinian territories. With the siege, the World of Arrogance and the Zionists want us to recognize the occupation of the Palestinian territories, stop our jihad and resistance and accept the agreements that have been reached with the Zionist enemy in the past.
“But I would like to tell the honorable and heroic Iranian nation, the Islamic ummah and the Arab world from this podium that those will not happen. [Chants of slogan ‘Death to America, death to Israel’]. We will never recognize the usurper Zionist government and will continue our jihadist movement until Bayt al-Maqdis and the al-Aqsa Mosque are liberated. We will continue with this trend until all Palestinian refugees return to their homes. We are the reliable protectors of the Islamic and Arab Palestinian territories. They [the Zionists] think that the Palestinian nation is alone. It is an illusion if they think we are alone and that we are fighting them from inside the borders of the Palestinian territories. We Palestinians are part of the Islamic ummah. We Palestinians have a strategic depth [as heard] in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran is our strong, dynamic backbone. In fact, Palestine has strategic penetration in the world of Islam and the Islamic ummah. Since my time is limited, allow me to touch on a few points. First, we are standing by the Islamic Republic of Iran and will fight against the American pressure alongside the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“We reject the dominance of America and the Zionist over our Arabic and Islamic region. Second, we strongly reject America’s occupation of Iraq and call for unity and solidarity in Iraq and among the Iraqi nation. We hope that the resistance forces in Iraq will win and will expel the occupying American forces from that country. I pray to God Almighty to protect the Iraqi nation and make their blood, which has been shed, lead the Iraqi nation to victory in the near future. Also, I would like to stress the importance of giving full support to the Palestinian nation; especially the Palestinians residing in Iraq should do so. In conclusion, I would like to pray and express the hope that we, the crowd here and all Muslim nations; will be in Bayt al-Maqdis in the near future and say our prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque. That day will come and we will proudly enter the Palestinian territories – because this is a divine promise which will come true .It is true that we suffer all sorts of pain and misery from the every-day aggressions of the Israelis, but we have complete faith in the militant and Muslim Palestinian nation. We truly believe that victory awaits us and we will witness victory.
“A day will come when we expel the Zionist enemy out of the Palestinian territories. This is an honest belief that grows inside the Palestinian nation. And God has said that He will make the true resistant Muslims victorious. We will never be hesitant on our path of resistance and will not give up even an inch of the Palestinian territories. We will move in the line of resistance, jihad and sacrifice until we reach either one of our two principles, victory or martyrdom, victory or martyrdom, victory or martyrdom. May God bless you.”