Ahmadinejad sends messages on Gaza

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:05:09 GMT  | PressTV

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran has sent letters to the governments that have supported Gaza the most -- Bolivia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Qatar and Venezuela.  Israel's launch of Operation Cast lead in the densely-populated areas of the Gaza Strip prompted the Latin American nations of Venezuela and Bolivia to break diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv on January 14.  "The gravity of the atrocities against the Palestinian people", according to Caracas, had earlier caused the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from the Venezuelan capital.  Three days later Qatar and Mauritania also suspended economic and political ties with Israel, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called on all Arab nations to cut ties with Israel.  "Severing economic ties with the Zionist regime and hosting the Arab League summit creatively lead the way in upholding human rights in the impoverished strip," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a letter to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.  In a separate letter the Iranian president described Mauritania's support for the people of Gaza as "the most beautiful manifestations of the soul of humanity."  Bolivia's "revolutionary" move to severe ties with Tel Aviv was necessary to rid the region of the rein of Zionists, reads Ahmadinejad's letter to Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales.  In his letter to Venezuela, the Iranian president said Hugo Chavez's "logical and praiseworthy" stance on "Israel's atrocities" in the Palestinian sliver of land will hasten "the restoration of the absolute rights of the Palestinian nation".  In Malaysia, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel, the Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia (PPIM) launched a nationwide campaign to urge Malaysians to boycott products made by Jewish companies.  Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi had also called on the United Nations to immediately set up a war crimes tribunal to investigate and prosecute Israelis suspected of committing war crimes against Palestinians.  In his letter to the Malaysian prime minister, Ahmadinejad said the world must move to restructure the UN Security Council in a way that peace and order can be ensured.  Iran has repeatedly called for structural reform in the UN Security Council, arguing that the current veto system hinders the council's main function to maintain international peace and security.  The United States has so far vetoed at least 45 anti-Israel resolutions at the UN and has blocked official condemnation of crimes committed against the native Palestinian population.  Israel waged war on Gaza on December 27. The ensuing airstrikes and ground incursion left over 1,300 Palestinians -- at least 1100 of whom were civilians --dead and more than 5,400 others injured.

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