"The Zionist regime has proven it won’t abide by any treaty & understands no logic except force," Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrote in a Wednesday statement posted on Twitter as a series of tweets. "The nature of the Zionist regime is incompatible with peace, because the Zionists seek to expand their territories & will certainly not be limited to what they have already occupied."
"Eliminating the Zionist regime doesn’t mean eliminating Jews. We aren’t against Jews. It means abolishing the imposed regime & Muslim, Christian & Jewish Palestinians choose their own govt & expel thugs like Netanyahu. This is 'Eliminating Israel' & it will happen," the Shiite religious leader explained. "A proposal for a referendum to choose the type of govt for the historical country of #Palestine was registered with the UN as offered by Iran. We say the true Palestinians with Palestinian roots of at least 100 years, and Palestinians living abroad, choose the govt of Palestine."
"Comprehensive struggles by the Palestinian nation - political, military & cultural - should continue till the usurpers submit to the referendum for the Palestinian nation. This nation should determine what political system should rule there; struggle must continue until then," Khamenei continued.
"We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this."
Khamenei's comments follow an announcement by the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday that it would cease to abide by any of its agreements with either Israel or the United States - a move itself in response to an announcement by the newly formed Israeli government to begin annexing one-third of the West Bank as soon as July.
Here's the map of the territory of the Jordan Valley, in the West Bank, that Netanyahu vowed to annex if he wins next week's election (blue: will be annexed to Israel; orange: will remain under Palestinian control) pic.twitter.com/xMcsPeDLpt
— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) September 10, 2019
However, Tehran is far from the only government to come out against the move. In an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel on May 15, King Abdullah II of Jordan, a country that borders the territory Israel seeks to annex, promised "massive conflict" if Israel seized the territory.
"Leaders who advocate a one-state solution do not understand what that would mean. What would happen if the Palestinian National Authority collapsed? There would be more chaos and extremism in the region. If Israel really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," the monarch told Der Spiegel.
"I don't want to make threats and create a loggerheads atmosphere, but we are considering all options," Abdullah said. "We agree with many countries in Europe and the international community that the law of the strongest should not apply in the Middle East."
The area Tel Aviv seeks to annex is part of what is known as "Zone C" under the Second Oslo Accords in 1995, a part of the West Bank subjected to Israel military control. However, the area Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed annexing is roughly 30% of the West Bank and not all of Area C, but mostly the Jordan River valley. As Sputnik has reported, the Israel Defense Forces have used this control to systematically evict Palestinian villages from the fertile land along the River Jordan for decades, later turning the land over to Israeli settlers who now number close to 400,000 in the zone.
