ALGIERS: Iran's outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Israel to "go find somewhere else" for its state and leave its territory for the creation of a Palestinian state, according to an interview published yesterday. "Our support (for the Palestinian people) is unconditional. As for the Israelis, let them go find somewhere else," Ahmadinejad told several Algerian newspapers ahead of an visit to Algiers that starts Monday.
Iran consistently refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist in the Middle East, and Ahmadinejad sparked outrage abroad by stating after coming to power in 2005 that Israel should be "wiped from the map." He also provoked a storm in June by saying a "countdown" had begun that would end with Lebanese and Palestinian militants destroying Israel, and his government last year hosted a conference on the Holocaust questioning the German Nazis genocide of the Jews during World War II.
In his latest diatribe, the Iranian leader accused Israel of committing "butchery" in the Palestinian territories. Ahmadinejad said, too, that Iran wanted to cooperate with Algeria against terrorism. "Islam bans the assassination of innocent people wherever they are," he said. "We reject all methods of terrorism, whatever the denomination or motive," Ahmadinejad declared. He criticized what he called the "partial" view of human rights in Western countries. He said there were "secret prisons" in Europe. "In
the United States people's telephone conversations are listened to. In Britain, people are spied on using television cameras. In Palestine, Israel commits butchery. But no-one causes a scandal." Ahmadinejad's visit to Algeria has not been officially confirmed by the authorities. - AFP
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