Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khameneion Saturday urged the Muslim
countries to boycott the upcoming Mideast peace conference in the
US, accusing Washington of trying to save Israel and to hurt the
Palestinians.
"The US made this meeting initiative in order to save the
Zionist (Israel), all the meetings held under the name of peace so
far have harmed the Palestinians," Khamenei told a large crowd, in
a ceremony to mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of
Ramadan.
"Palestinians see this (conference) as an intrigue, other
(Muslim countries) also should see this as an intrigue, if
themselves (Palestinians) will not join the meeting, how can the
others do so?" he added.
In July, US President George W. Bush proposed to hold an
international conference this fall, which would bring together
Israel, the Palestinians, the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, which
includes the EU, Russia, the UN and the US, and some Arab states to
help resume the stalled Middle East peace talks.
Bush's administration has said it would invite its adversary
Syria to attend the meeting, but Syrian President Bashar
al-Assadhas stressed that his country would not go to this planned
conference since it lacks the chances of success.
The other major Arab countries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi
Arabia have not made their decisions whether to attend the meeting
or not.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)
