TEHRAN - A senior Lebanese political analyst says that Iran adheres to the Palestinian cause while many Arab countries have neglected Palestine in order to satisfy the colonialists and the Zionist regime and their American master.

Amin Hoteit says Iran has adopted such a policy toward Palestine because it is an independent and sovereign state.

"There is a big difference between a sovereign, independent ruler who safeguards the interests of his nation and a subordinate ruler who guards the interests of foreigners," Hoteit tells the Tehran Times.

"Iran adheres to Palestinian cause while many Arabs neglect Palestine in order to satisfy the colonialists and the Zionist regime, and their American master," the Lebanese analyst notes.

After 11 days of Israeli bombing, Gaza remains strong. The Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Resistance forces in Gaza forced Israeli settlers to seek shelters by firing hundreds of missiles at different parts of occupied territories.
Following is the text of the interview:

Q: What is the status of Palestine in the Arab and Islamic world?

A: Palestine is part of the Arab and Islamic lands, and within this framework, we say that the Islamic world should be coherent and united in the face of Israel as God says in Quran: "Indeed this, your religion, is one religion, one and I am your Lord, so worship Me." (Al-Anbya – Verse: 92)

On the one hand, according to Islamic logic, the attack on Palestine means an attack on the Islamic Ummah.

On the other hand, Palestine contains the most important sanctities of Muslims, including Jerusalem, which hosts Muslim's first Qiblah and the Al-Aqsa Mosque; and there are other religious symbols related to Islam and Christianity.

Third, the Palestinian people are part of the Arab people and the Islamic Ummah, and attacking that part means attacking the whole. For all of this, Palestine, in its three dimensions -the land, the people, and the holy sites-has a fundamental position for the Arab and Islamic world.

Q: Why does Iran, after the Islamic Revolution, has kept insisting on liberating the Palestinian lands?

A: What distinguishes Iran from other Arab countries is that first it is an independent, sovereign state whose rule stems from the will of the people and was established on the basis of an Islamic revolution that seeks to achieve the nations’ rights and resist the usurpers.

Therefore, Iran is working for the sake of Islam, the people, and the Islamic Ummah. This feature does not exist in most Arab regimes, wherein the ruler is appointed by foreigners.

 In Arab states, a ruler comes and goes by an external decision, and policies and governments are determined by powers outside the countries. Therefore, at a time when we find that Iran is a country in which the rule emanates from the people and takes care of the interests of the people and nations, most of Arab rulers are guardians of the interests of foreign powers.

 There is a big difference between a sovereign, independent ruler who safeguards his nation's interests and a subordinate ruler who guards the interests of foreigners. For this reason, Iran adheres to the Palestinian cause while many Arabs neglect Palestine in order to satisfy the colonialists and the Zionist regime and their American master.

Q: How do you see the stances of Arab states towards the Palestinian issue? How do you assess normalization of ties with Israel?

A: Unfortunately, some Arabs are heading towards overt surrender to the Israeli enemy.

Under the slogan of normalization of ties with Israel and the forged Abraham Accords, these regimes accepted to be slaves of Israel and servants of American interests, providing it with resources and reassurance. This approach should be stopped.

We call on Arab people to move against this approach adopted by their governments. They need to retreat from this treacherous behavior.

Normalization of ties with Israel, in our opinion, is a betrayal of the Ummah and a betrayal of the Palestinian cause. It violates their rights and legitimacy.
That is why we find that today there are sides and groups in the Arab and Islamic world that condemn normalization of ties with the Zionist regime and call for an end to it and a return to the idea of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Q: Is it possible to bet on the American-European role in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

A: The Palestinian tragedy is a result and product of European-American conspiracy.

The Europeans continue to insult Palestine and the Palestinian people since they adopted the Sykes–Picot Agreement in Britain and France, which was followed by the Balfour Declaration.

Then, they decided to partition Palestine in the United Nations, which was ruled by Europeans and Westerners. 

They are insulting the Arab world and the Islamic Ummah by aggression against Palestine.

Whoever harmed Palestine cannot heal its wounds, and therefore we are not betting on a real European stance or on a just and fair American position in order to restore rights to their owners.

The only bet is on the peoples, on the will of the Muslim nations, and on the governments that line up in support of the resistance axis, which constitutes a milestone in the modern era.

Resistance forces have succeeded to withstand colonial domination in the region and now are drawing a scheme of liberating Palestine in the people's minds.

Q: How could Israel preoccupy Islamic countries with internal disputes and divert attention from the Zionist threats?

A: Israel is afraid of the unity of the Arab-Islamic world because if the Arabs and the Muslims get united, what Imam Khomeini said about the Zionist regime's demise will be realized.

To divide the Islamic world and preventing Muslim unity, Israel is working to undermine the Arab-Islamic frontier. Unfortunately, it finds those who listen to it and engage in its projects.

The comprehensive war that targeted Syria, and the great strife that has been called the Arab Spring, are not but a case of conspiracy plotted by the Zionists and Europeans to disperse and divide Muslims so that they do not unite to liberate Palestine.