TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran criticized the efforts made by the US to resume the so-called “peace talks” between Israel and the Palestinians, saying that the Zionist regime is a warmonger which is not after peace.
“Basically, this regime is not ready to pay the costs of peace, because its nature and survival finds its roots in warmongering,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday.
He further blasted the Israeli-Palestinian land swap initiative, saying an agreement over the proposal would mean ignoring the Palestinian refugees’ right of return and the fate of sovereignty over Beitol-Moqadas and would also lead to the expulsion of those Palestinians who have remained in their lands in the occupied territories.
The spokesman said the Zionist regime has basically been established on the pillar of occupation and it, thus, is incapable of negotiation and agreement.
“Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran, alongside the Palestinian groups, declares its opposition to this plan, while it rests assured that the occupying Zionist regime has and would never accept withdrawal from the occupied territories.”
“And those who easily speak of the possibility of land swap with the occupiers of the Holy Quds will be forced to give more concessions to the Zionists in future,” he added.
Araqchi reiterated Tehran’s view on the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and said fair and durable peace in the Middle-East would be possible only by putting an end to occupation, returning all refugees to their homeland, transferring the right of sovereignty to the Palestinian nation and establishing an integrated Palestinian state with Beitol-Moqaddas (Jerusalem) as its capital.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that he finally “convinced Israeli and Palestinian officials to return to the negotiating table.” This is while the prospects for peace appear just as unlikely as before.
On Friday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined that only resistance of the Palestinian nation against the Zionist regime of Israel can lead the Middle-East region towards peace and tranquility, and asked Palestinian leaders not to rely on empty promises of Israeli leaders.
Amir Abdollahian stressed that the Palestinian leaders must rely on the strong will of their people, and must not trust in empty promises about the establishment of peace with the Israelis.
The oppressed people of Palestinian will always rely on Islamic resistance to determine their own destiny, Amir Abdollahian pointed out.
Early in May, Head of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement Khalid Mashaal underlined that Washington’s efforts to restore peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are doomed to fail since US Secretary of State John Kerry has not presented any solution to the ongoing crisis.
“The US secretary of state has not presented any solution to settle the conflicts between the Palestinians and the Zionist regime and therefore the country’s efforts are doomed to fail similar to the past,” Mashaal said.
He complained that John Kerry has not adopted a serious approach to settle the Palestinian issue fairly because it has never pressured Israel as the occupier, and has just pressured the Arab sides and the Palestinian authority and presented some useless projects.
The US secretary of state has claimed to be seeking to revive direct peace talks that broke down in 2010 over the issue of Jewish settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
He hailed the Arab League’s revised Middle-East peace initiative as “a very big step forward”.
But Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh at the time rejected the plan, saying outsiders could not decide the fate of the Palestinians.
In the meetings held in early May in Washington, Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan, acknowledging that Israelis and Palestinians may have to swap land in any eventual peace deal.
Addressing hundreds of worshippers in a Gaza mosque, Haniyeh said it was a concession that other Arabs were not authorized to make.
“The so-called new Arab initiative is rejected by our people, by our nation and no one can accept it,” said Haniyeh.
“The initiative contains numerous dangers to our people in the occupied land of 1967, 1948 and to our people in exile.”
“To those who speak of land swaps we say: Palestine is not a property, it is not for sale, not for a swap and cannot be traded,” Haniyeh said.
Haniyeh said the Palestinian Authority, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was to blame for inspiring the softer Arab position because it accepted the need for land swaps with Israel.
