Recently, Sa’adollah Zarei, who is on the editorial board of the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan, and Ramazan Sharif, who heads the Intifada and Quds Central Headquarters of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council and is spokesman of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both expressed opposition to the “two-state solution” for Israel and Palestine proposed by countries in the West for after the Israel-Hamas war is over.
In his November 1, 2023 article in the regime mouthpiece Kayhan, titled “Establishing the Palestinian Resistance’s Right To Arms,” Zarei argued that raising the possibility of two states is irrelevant and aimed at thwarting the path to forcing a ceasefire on Israel. Discussing the meaning of Palestine, he noted that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei defined its territory as “from the river to the sea,” and said that “this is in line with the Palestinian cause and the destruction of Israel.”
Zarei, who is also part of Iran’s ideological circles, called for arming the Palestinian resistance, i.e. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), with advanced air, ground, and sea weapons systems so that they can carry out the vision of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary regime: annihilating the state of Israel.
Warning Qatar, as a representative of Hamas, not to consent to political negotiations that will legitimize the two-state solution as part of its negotiations with the U.S, Zarei went on to state that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is not a legitimate representative of the Palestinians, and that the leaders of the Palestinian resistance are Hamas and the PIJ – which are proxies of Iran.
This report presents the statements of Iranian officials Sa’adollah Zarei and Ramazan Sharif on this issue:
Kayhan Editorial Board Member Zarei: “The Two-State Solution Means Straying From The Path To Stopping The War [In Gaza]”
“…Another issue is the ‘Palestinian cause.’ Palestine, put simply, is bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, and as the Leader [Khamenei] said, [its territory stretches] ‘from the river to the sea’ (the Mediterranean to the Jordan River). This is in line with the Palestinian cause and the destruction of Israel – the issue that is sought by the resistance front, including jihadi groups and the Palestinian masses.
“This [definition of] Palestine is historical and has sources. There is the Palestine of the UN Resolution of 1948 [sic – he is referring to the Partition Plan of 1947] which encompassed [only] 43% of its land, with that territory being noncontiguous. This Palestine is legal, as was of course emphasized in UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. There is [also] the Palestine of the Oslo Accords, which encompasses approximately 22% of the territories, noncontiguously, and of course, the usurper regime [i.e. Israel] did not accept this, violating the Oslo Accords, and this is the political Palestine. When international forums and major Arab governments talk about ‘occupied Palestine,’ they are talking about this 22%.
“Now, during the war to aid the Palestinians and face [Israel’s] aggression, some are talking about reviving the Oslo plan to administer Palestine, which is really a betrayal of the Palestinian ideology. The Oslo [plan] outline of 1993, which was translated in the 2002 Beirut Summit into the ‘Arab [Peace] Initiative,’ was defeated and lost its relevance with the rise of the resistance [created by Iran]. What is being heard about now in the Biden administration and in the governments of Europe, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and so on is political Palestine, not Palestine in its full sense as we know it.
“The political process is the unavoidable fate of the war that was launched with extreme cruelty against Gaza by the usurper [Israeli] regime. In addition, this process began in Doha a few days ago, where the Qatari government and the American administration are negotiating on either side of the table. During the discussion of the Gaza war and the ceasefire, the Americans want to drag the process towards the Oslo Accords, using this to prolong Israel’s shameful life.”Of course, the Palestinians did not permit Doha to continue the talks to revive this process. According to them, negotiations should focus only on stopping the war and exchanging the imprisoned Palestinians for the [Israeli] hostages. The Palestinians have almost 6,000 prisoners [in Israeli prisons] who are serving lengthy sentences, including dozens of women and hundreds of children. These are people from the West Bank imprisoned for crimes connected to the resistance movement over the last two decades. This is even though there is no general or specific legal ruling permitting the usurping regime to [arrest and imprison] them. On the other hand, hundreds of Israelis, about half of whom are soldiers, were captured by Hamas under the legal principle of ‘the right to self-determination’ – one example of which is resisting the occupier [Israel].
“With the political process, legally and according to UN Resolutions 242 and 338, the Palestinian side has the upper hand. This is in addition to the fact that acts of ‘resistance’ are permissible by law, while the actions of the Israeli regime, which include bombing Gaza and arresting Palestinians who live in the West Bank, are in violation of [such laws]. In fact, the Palestinian side should make no concessions, and the Zionist regime should demand no concessions in order to free its usurping prisoners.
“Of course, since the Palestinian side accepted the release of the usurping [Israeli] prisoners in exchange for the release of all the [Palestinian] prisoners, the side [negotiating] in the name of Palestine, which is sitting at the [negotiating] table in Doha, may at most negotiate on two issues of a ceasefire – and not a temporary ceasefire, as proposed by the Americans and the Europeans. Here the American side must agree to stop the war that it is orchestrating and supplying.
“In addition to the legal discussion and the rights of the Palestinian people, we are seeing, in the statements of the Americans, Europeans, and some Arab countries, early whispers of a return to the two-state solution. This has nothing to do with the current war, because this war was not launched to establish two governments, and the major parties participating in the war were not pleased with the issue.
“Politically, entering a discussion on the two-state solution means straying from the path to stopping the war [in Gaza]. [This] discussion is not the goal of the usurping regime [Israel], but since it prolongs the war, it benefits the Israeli side. In other words, as soon as Qatar enters a discussion of two states [Israel and Palestine] that is initiated by other [countries], it is joining the opposing side by postponing the Palestinian cause.
“In the view of the Palestinian resistance, the [negotiating] table at Doha should be set up based on the decisive and documented victory of the Palestinian side on October 7. As a rule, the defeated party cannot set conditions for the victor or have future processes accommodate its interests and needs. Israel and all the members of the front represented by America in Doha must know that the issue of the negotiations and its indicators are the rights of the Palestinian nation, including the right to self-determination which has been withheld from it for the past 75 years.
“The usurping Israel and America should know that international law, as well as over 13 million [Palestinian] people inside and outside Palestine, are defending the power and arms of the resistance, and see them as an inseparable part of Palestinian rights. In a situation where the usurping regime [Israel] is equipped with both conventional and nonconventional weapons, and is breaking all international laws and rights, how can it ask the winning side to give up its conventional weapons or ban its acquisition of weapons in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the northern part of Palestine (1948)? The PIJ, Hamas, and the other armed groups have the right to be provided with fighters, weapons, and military facilities, just as the occupying and defeated regime [Israel] does.
“According to the ‘two-state’ plan and the agreement in Oslo, the Palestinian people do not have the right to purchase, possess, carry, or use weapons. [Only] carrying light weapons was permitted for the Palestinian Authority police, which was set up under Israel’s military authority. The Palestinians need to be given the right to acquire and use weapons to the same extent as the Israeli army, that is, to maintain fighters and advanced air, ground, and sea weapons systems. If the world does not agree to this by peaceful means, the Palestinian side will turn to qualitative and quantitative development of its own weapons, and will fill in its military gaps.
“Another point in the political process is that the true representative of the vast majority of Palestine is not Mahmoud Abbas or his ilk. Instead, the clear representatives supported by the Palestinians are the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, and no other person or institution, such as the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or the Gulf Cooperation Council share that right.”[1]
Ramazan Sharif, Head Of The Intifada and Quds Central Headquarters of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council And IRGC Spokesman: “The Two-State Solution Is Never The Right Solution”
At a special meeting of the Intifada and Quds Central Headquarters of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council, the headquarters director and IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif similarly called for rejecting the two-state solution. He echoed the call of Supreme Leader Khamenei for a “democratic” referendum of all Palestinians, inside and outside Israel, and of the segment of Israel’s Jewish population that was present under the British Mandate.[2] This referendum would be to decide on the future of the State of Israel, the “cancerous growth,” thus ensuring its elimination through purportedly democratic means.
Sharif said: “Over the last 60 days, public opinion worldwide has borne witness that the strategy of the founder of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] was correct, accurate, and logical, and that this strategy is today shared by millions of free people across the world. The Imam [Khomeini] said: ‘Israel is a cancerous growth, and until this growth is destroyed, we will witness terrible crimes.’
“We have all seen Westerners and international organizations who claim [to call for protecting] human rights remain silent over the past two months, in pursuit of their evil goals. In the Al-Aqsa Flood [operation], the failure for the Zionist regime was historic and unprecedented, and can never be rectified.
“There is no doubt that the losses of the Zionist regime, as it progresses to southern Gaza, are much heavier than what it sustained in northern Gaza, because the resistance movement in southern Gaza has better maneuverability. Today the whole world bears witness that Hamas, which is a liberation organization, is fighting a regime that is armed to the teeth and has the full support of America and Europe – but it [Hamas] will triumph.
“Hamas is all of the Palestinian people. Indeed, Hamas is a way of thinking which cannot be destroyed with bombs and rockets.
“We are the main founders of [the annual International] Qods [Jerusalem] Day, and our people have understood the suffering of the Palestinian nation more than any other people in the world. We believe that the best solution to the Palestinian crisis is the healing solution of which Supreme Leader [Khamenei] spoke [i.e. to destroy Israel via referendum]. The two-state solution is never the right solution, because the Zionists are racist and extremely ambitious.”[3]
[1] Kayhan (Iran), November 1, 2023.
[2] It should be noted that Khamenei refuses to hold referendums on any topic within Iran, claiming that the public is not sufficiently knowledgeable.
[3] ISNA (Iran), December 5, 2023.