TEHRAN - The secretary of the Expediency Council(EC) has said that Israel has failed to achieve its objectives in its new wave of attacks on the Palestinians.

Mohsen Rezaee further said there were two reasons behind the Israeli massacre of refugees in the Jenin Refugee Camp. First, the fierce resistance of the Palestinians in Jenin which forced the Israelis

He said the second reason was the Zionists' animosity toward residents of the camp.

Rezaee underlined the fact that of the three operations carried out recently against the Zionists, one was undertaken by Jenin residents and so it can be presumed that the Israelis were actually takin

He said that issues affecting the management of Qods, the expanding Jewish settlements and the Israeli refusal to implement provisions of the Oslo peace accord forced Palestinian groups such as the Is

The EC secretary recalled that since the start of the second Intifada the Palestinians have already carried out 78 martyrdom-seeking operations which has led to the killing of 350 Israelis and the wou

On the other hand, he said Israelis have killed 1552 Palestinians and wounded 30000 others in attacks on Palestinian cities and villages.

On reports that Yasser Arafat is being pressured to come to a cease-fire, Rezaee pointed out that the U.S. government and Ariel Sharon are of the opinion that Arafat has done nothing to stop the Intif

The secretary underlined reports Israel is determined to replace Arafat with someone else as they find him no longer useful to them.

Rezaee reiterated his opinion that Sharon has failed to attain his objectives. He said that even the most helpless element in the Arab and Islamic world is not ready to enter into an agreement with I

The secretary further said that Sharon "is stuck in a marsh and his last resort is the United States." He predicted that once the United States begins its military operations against Iraq and Iran the

"If the United States does not succeed in achieving its aims by attacking Iraq and Iran then Israel would be defeated," he said.

Rezaee concluded by saying that the U.S. was determined to bring to final conclusion its plans with respect to Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2002, and Iran in 2003, but that the resistance of the Pales

He said that Iran's logical strategy with regard to the Palestinian problem is to continue supporting these Palestinians thereby depriving the United States and Israeli of any pretext to continue thei