TEHRAN -- Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a meeting with the Palestinian ambassador to Tehran on Monday that Israel must withdraw from the occupied territories and the United States and Israel must recognize the rights of the Palestinian nation.

Pointing to the recent atrocities of the Zionist regime in Palestine and the support of world public opinion for the Palestinian Intifada, Rafsanjani added that the fate of Palestine is connected to the destiny of the Islamic world, adding that Islamic countries should use all their power to confront the Zionist regime and its supporters.

He said that the war front of the Islamic world with the Zionist regime is the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and southern Lebanon and that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not lose any opportunity to help the oppressed Palestinian nation.

The Palestinian Ambassador to Tehran, Salah Zawawi, while elaborating on the latest developments in the occupied territories, said that the Zionist regime intends to fight against the Islamic world and that the Palestinian nation is not only fighting to defend themselves but is defending the whole Islamic world.

With regard to the numerous casualties of the Zionist atrocities in Palestine, Zawawi said that the more the number of martyrs increases, the greater the resistance of the Palestinians becomes.

The Palestinian ambassador also praised the recent remarks of Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei with regard to the recent developments in Palestine and expressed gratitude to the Iranian nation and government for their explicit support of the Palestinians and condemnation of the Zionist regime.