Ghalibaf stresses stepped-up support for Palestine, Quds

Islamic Ummah has to intensify efforts to support the Palestinian cause and make the Arab rulers pay a heavy price for their normalizing ties with the Israeli regime, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament said in a meeting with Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Tehran on Thursday.

Stating that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the support for Palestine and Holy Quds as one of its priorities, the Iranian speaker said that as Late Imam Khomeini (RA) said Quds is the heart of Islam and the issue of Palestine stands at the of core the Islamic world's issues.

The Muslim Ummah, the resistance groups and the Islamic world must make the Arab rulers pay a heavier price for normalizing relations with the Zionist regime, Ghalibaf said, stressing that unity among the Palestinian groups is certainly very effective in achieving success and victory.

He stressed the necessity of armed struggle against the Israeli regime, saying that "If we do not stand up to the Zionists and become powerful through struggle, we will not make progress in legal and political battles."

Khalil al-Hayya, for his part, said that "We thank God that this year, despite all the enemy's attempts, with the awakening of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the lands of 1948, we did not allow the Zionist regime's plot to be implemented in Al-Aqsa Mosque."

The Hamas deputy head added that the Zionists are trying to evacuate Al-Aqsa Mosque from its original residents and replace them with Zionist occupiers and to increase their presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque, but their plot has been thwarted.

He hailed the recent martyrdom-seeking operations by the Palestinians deep inside the occupied lands and the subsequent uprising in the West Bank and said that "Although 40 Palestinians have been martyred since the beginning of the year 2022, the operations of resistance groups have spilled over to entire Palestine."

He further hailed Iran's role in backing the Resistance movement and recalled the role of Martry Qassem Soleimani players in raising and strengthening the Resistance Axis.

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