Mottaki: Hamas must be allowed to keep its arms

 
Source: Press TV, 22-01-2009

The following is the text of Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki's speech at a forum on support for Gaza in Tehran.

Today, at this conference, we can look into the issues surrounding the situation in Gaza from two perspectives. The first is the work that our brothers in the Red Crescent have been doing.
You are at the scene when there is a crisis, when the lives and the property of people are threatened, and when they are targeted by the enemies of humanity. You put your lives at risk. Volunteers who risk their lives for this humanitarian cause are always on the scene.

I have seen televised footage of Gaza, images of burnt buildings, raging fires, and the plight of a group of rescue workers trying to pull out a child from under the rubble. They did everything possible to save that child.
These rescue workers are there risking their lives to help their fellow humans and in some cases they have lost their lives trying to save the lives of others.

In Gaza, ambulances trying to get the wounded to hospitals were sometimes targeted by the "Israeli" army.
Such situations help us better understand the critical role these rescue workers play. Let me also talk about NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations).

Today NGOs have significantly grown in size and importance over the past 20 years. They too play an important role in regional and international crises.
NGOs are active in different fields and have especially grown in social fields and the whole sphere of liberal democracy and they serve as instruments to secure the goals of liberal democracy.
Even the directions that are given to NGO's behind the scenes are there to secure the interest of the people.

Their philosophy is to seek justice once they come into the field as rescuers.
All of the calculations for the recent onslaught on Gaza had been made beforehand by the Zionist regime. For 38 years they were monitoring this tiny piece of land, from house to house. They had extensive services available to them like satellites...even someone walking about his house could have very well been filmed or have their pictures taken.

They were assuming that through regional arrangements and with the help of their masters outside the region, they would be able to finish off the war on Gaza within seven days.
According to international laws and regulations, everyone has the right to have a land and also defend its land. They waged a war on Palestinians and in the middle of the war, they ["Israelis"] said we had miscalculated the power of resistance inside Gaza.

The "Israeli" objective in starting a war in Gaza was to wipe out the resistance and destroy its defensive capabilities. These people [Gazans] have every right to stand against colonialists and fight to secure the release of their land and to that aim they have a natural right to have access to weapons. All such struggles across the world are making use of military equipment.

For "Israelis" to look into their weaponry to find out how they secured their weapons is aimed at diverting attention from what is really going on in the Palestinian territory. For a government or a nation who would like to defend themselves, it is only natural that they would do their utmost to obtain weapons from whatever place possible. It is a diversionary tactic to deny Gaza weapons.
 
Didn't they have a democratic election inside Gaza? They have a democratically elected government in power in their territory. The entire territory belongs to Palestinians, Palestinian Muslims, Jews and Christians. But it doesn't belong to the Zionists. They were imposed on the region as they came there from different communities. Therefore, Palestinians will continue to defend their land and themselves for thousands of years.

During this most recent savage attack against Gaza, you [the United States] offered 300 tons of bombs to the Zionist regime and now you have the audacity to come and say that the resistance should not have access to weapons? Who are you to say that? None of the objectives that "Israel" considered has been materialized.

Gaza comes as the second aftershock which shook the foundation of the "Israeli" system after their heavy losses and failure in the 33-day war with Lebanon.
The triangle consisting of Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni is a clear example of war criminals. And an international legal investigation should be launched against the heads of the Zionist regime. If justice ruled the international tribunals, when this aggression began, they would issue subpoenas for "Israeli" officials.

There is a special tribunal to start in Malaysia which has been charged with taking legal action against senior officials of the Zionist regime. There is also a similar bill in the Islamic Republic of Iran which has been approved by the cabinet and is currently on the agenda of the Iranian parliament for approval.