Israel using Palestinian Authority talks as smokescreen: Iran

A senior Iranian official has criticized Israel for its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying Tel Aviv has manipulated the talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a cover for its expansionist policies.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that these talks have been [used as] a smokescreen for the expansion of Zionist settlements,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Tuesday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with visiting member of the Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub.

Amir-Abdollahian said that the supporters of Palestine expect the Palestinian officials to seriously stand up against the expansionist policies of Israel and spare no effort in helping restore the rights of the Palestinians.

He said the “issues of Quds and Palestine” have always been among the main concerns of the Islamic Republic and that Tehran has used all its capacities to support the Palestinian cause and maintain the solidarity of the Palestinian groups to stop the Zionist regime’s inhumane measures.

Rajoub, for his part, praised the important role of the Islamic Republic in supporting the Palestinians and their cause and said Fatah and other Palestinian groups consider Iran as a main and influential player in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis currently live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The settlements are considered illegal by the United Nations and many countries because the territories were seized by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.