Speaking at the Iranian regime’s Friday prayers in Tehran on Friday on the occasion of so-called Qods Day, Ahmadinejad took a confrontational gesture against the Palestinian Authority and leaders of the Arab world for supporting the Middle East talks in Washington.
“Today, they say they want to participate in negotiations again. Our question is this: Who wants to negotiate? Who are they representing? Who is the representative of the Palestinian people?” His comments were broadcast on state-run TV.
Highlighting the Iranian regime’s sham presidential elections last year and Ahmadinejad’s forged victory, Nabil Abu Rudeineh added, “President Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] was elected in a free and fair election process in which more than two thousand international observers took part. We have fought for Palestine and Jerusalem and the Palestinian leadership has sacrificed thousands of martyrs and tens of thousands of wounded and prisoners. It has not repressed its people like the government of Ahmadinejad has.”
“We are defending our national rights and interests. President Abbas, the Palestinian leadership and the PLO are the sole legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman added.
In his speech on Friday, Ahmadinejad clearly exuded the regime’s fears over the success of the talks. The clerical regime is worried that peace and stability in the Middle East would deprive it of opportunities to export terrorism and fundamentalism abroad.
“That poor person [Palestinian side of the negotiation] who went to the talks is a hostage. I want to declare to the leaders of the Arab and Islamic world that they should learn from the past six decades. They should learn from the 20 years of talks, negotiations and years of retreat.”