TEHRAN A two-day seminar Steps Leading to the Occupation of Palestine commenced yesterday at the Allame Tabatabaie University here. The seminar is being held on the occasion of Palestine Resistance Week, an annual commemorative event in the country. The seminar, as the title indicates, is being held to discuss the various steps or events leading to the occupation of Palestine, the Palestinian resistance movement and the Zionist strategy of domination and eventual subjugation.

The seminar also aims to honor the countless number of Palestinian martyrs in history and to study ways by which to rescue them from their plight. Welcoming local and foreign guests, President of Allame University and the secretary of the seminar, Najafgholi Habibi, delivered the opening speech. Meanwhile, Minister of Culture and Higher Education Mostafa Moeen described the tragic occupation of Palestine as treason committed against the status and honor of a people and a place rooted in the conscience of all nations.

Israel was deliberately created in order to bring disorder and disunity to a society characterized by a distinct culture and civilization, he said. He further explained that Palestine was occupied in order to destroy the religion and culture of a civilized nation, render its people homeless and create instability in its affairs, spread racism and terrorism, and take control of the world's economic and political resources.

Zionist-Palestinian enmity was not bound to military fronts and political scenes; rather, its tactics extended to all aspects of society, culture, literature, thought and science, Moeen stressed. Due to the close and deep links existing between Palestine and universities, the latter should work to support the former's scientific, educational, research, cultural and political struggles and take practical steps to implement the following measures, participants resolved: 1.

Establishment of special research centers and groups on Palestine's affairs and destruction of Zionism. 2. Supporting research projects. 3. Taking advantage of Palestinian Muslim researchers. 4. Supporting Palestinian university students. 5. Paying attention to the literature, art and culture of the Palestinians and their resistance movement. A noted participant in the seminar is French writer Roger Garaudy who explained the historical relationship of the U.S. and Zionist regime through his lecture entitled Crusade Against Zionism. He said that there are common beliefs, political attitudes and real aspirations existing between the U.S. and the Zionist regime.

Garaudy termed racism as the common ideology of the common territories, warning that occupied Palestine can be a battlefield in which Israel can initiate a third war through its aggressive policy. He warned that the war is highly forseeable and could engulf tbe entire world. Referring to the U.S. as the the most effective agent and of Israel, Garaudy explained the fact that seven out of 11 members of the National Security Council of the U.S. are jews who have undertaken critical and vital responsibilities and tasks in the council's foreign affairs and security to foster the cause of Zionism. Representatives of the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad delivered a speech and the message of President Seyed Mohammad Khatami on the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine were read in the seminar.