August 15, 2008
Reprinted by a U.S. Web site at:
http://www.cjp.org/page.aspx?id=182306
In a press conference in Istanbul broadcast live on IRINN on 15 August, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad commented on Israel. He said:
"We welcome the release of any area of the occupied lands. But the issue of the Zionist regime will not be settled through such measures. It [Israel] is a sixty-year wound. A disease cannot be cured before its cause is identified. You know that the Zionist regime is totally a fake and occupying regime. We should find the root cause of the problems in the Middle East and address it.
"During the past sixty years, more than three heavy wars have taken place[in the region]. The Zionist regime has been the cause of all these wars.
Five-million people have been displaced. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. The region is overshadowed by threat. The reason for all this is the Zionist regime. The root cause of all problems is the existence of the Zionist regime.
"You know that some Western powers were wishing to dominate our region for hundreds of years. By defeating the Ottoman Empire, they finally found the chance to dominate our region. The Ottoman Empire acted like a barrier in the face of their historic desire.
"When this government collapsed this barrier was also destroyed. They entered our region extensively. But in order to stay here they needed a base. Traditionally speaking, they had no base in our region. In a political plan, a ridiculous play and by lying, they paved the way for displacing the Palestinian nation at the gunpoint. Afterwards, by gathering a number of people from other parts of the world, they imposed a criminal regime on the countries in the region.
"This regime is in fact been created to impose the colonial objectives of big powers against the nations in the region. The slogan of this regime was that it intended to rule from Nile to Euphrates. That is to say, they want to have hegemony over all nations of the region. This regime has been made for war, aggression, terror, creating dispersion and paving the way for the hegemony of big powers over the nations of the region.
"If it fails to do so, it will have no existence. I raised a question on the Holocaust to draw the attentions to this fact. I intended to unveil a historical deceit. I also wanted to clarify the philosophy of existence of this regime to the world.
"If we want to settle the problems of occupation, war, terror, Palestine and the Middle East, the root cause of the problem which is the nature of the Zionist regime should be addressed.
"In order to distract public opinion, the Zionists and big powers accuse us of being against the Jews. This is a big lie. The Zionists are neither Jews, nor Christians nor Muslims. They do not have any religion. They are a criminal party. In order to settle the problem of Palestine, we have a very clear and democratic solution. We suggested that in order to settle this sixty-year problem, there should be a free referendum in the Palestinian land. All Palestinians including Muslims, Jews and Christians should have a share in determining their fate directly. This is also in compliance with the UN Charter, as well as democracy and the rights of nations.
"But the self-professed supporters of democracy reject this very clear suggestion. I should however tell you that the expiry date of this regime has arrived. This regime is isolated in the world today. The nations of the world do not want it anymore. Many governments do not want it either. It has even become isolated within its own land.
"We believe that the big powers have also come to the conclusion that what they spend on this regime is more than what they gain out of it. The time for the occupation of the Zionist regime has come to an end. Therefore the best scenario would be that those who have created this regime by their lies should remove it, or allow the Palestinian nation to make its choice.
"Our suggestion is a fundamental, humane and democratic solution."
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