BICOM

Hamas will never acknowledge Israel, the leader of the Palestinian movement in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh said this weekend in Tehran. “They (the West) want from us to stop resistance and acknowledge Israel but I herewith announce that this will never happen,” Haniyeh said at a ceremony marking the 33rd anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Haniyeh also thanked Iran for its support for Palestinian resistance groups.

At the same rally, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi reiterated its support for Palestinian resistance against Israel, saying that it would “use everything at its disposal” to support the Palestinians, according to an AFP report. Haniyeh arrived in Tehran on Friday and met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during his three-day visit.

Also this weekend, at another rally in Tehran to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejad said his country would soon unveil a “very important” nuclear achievement. Ahmadinejad also said that the West’s efforts to slow down its nuclear programme were futile and that his country would never give up enriching uranium.