Palestine is More Important than Iran’s National Interest

Mohammad Mehdi Abdkhodai, the secretary general of the Fadayan Islam Association (Martyrs of Islam) says support for Palestine and battling Israel are more important than Iran’s national interest. In an interview with Rooz, he said that even if Palestinian and Arabs turned to peace and animosity with Israel became detrimental to Iran’s national interest, the Islamic republic of Iran should still not recognize the independent state of Israel.

Fadayan Islam is an Iranian fundamentalist, secret and armed Islamic group created in 1941 by a young cleric seyed Mojtaba Navab Safavi. The goal of the group was the destruction of the monarchial regime in Iran and the establishment of an Islamic state.

The destruction of Israel was one of the main goals of Fadayan Islam from the beginning. In the 40 and 50s the group succeeded in killing a number of Iranian intellectuals on such pretexts as being anti-Islam or affiliated to imperialism, and the Bahai faith. Abdkhodai is among the last survivals from this group who in 1951 made an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Mohammad Mossadegh’s foreign minister Hossein Fatemi.

Abdkhodai told Rooz that he rejected the notion that the Islamic republic’s November vote at the UN in support of elevating the status of the Palestine Authority to that of a non-member observer “state” constituted a recognition of the state of Israel. He stressed, “The existence of the Islamic republic of Iran is based on the illegitimacy of the state of Israel.”

Abdkhodai rejects the existence of Israel and adds, “By recognizing Palestine to be a non UN member state, Israel is forced to obtain the legitimacy of the UN if it attacks Palestine again. So the UN can now do many things for Palestine.”

In response to Iran’s proposal of holding a referendum in Palestine, the leader of the Fadayan Islam said, “From the perspective of the Islamic republic of Iran the Palestinian state that is being established is legal, and not the current Israeli state.”

According to Abdkhodai, the leader of the Palestine Authority Mahmoud Abbas must now pay attention to those who have been fighting Israel such as Hanieh, “otherwise groups that have opposed Israel may win the future elections in Palestine.”

He once again stressed the notion that the Islamic republic of Iran was not concerned with whether a group of Arabs have recognized the state of Israel because of behind-the-scenes compromises with Israel and imperialism. The Islamic republic, he asserted, looks at the views of the Arab people. Israel from their perspective, according to Abdkhodai, is rejected.

When asked about the comments that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Esfandiar Rahim Mashai have made about Israel, Abdkhodai says, “Mashai or Ahmadinejad are expressing their own views and they are responsible for them. The general policy of the government in Iran is defined by the supreme leader.”

“We look at this ideologically. The Islamic republic, its leaders and its founder do not view Israel as a legitimate state even if Hamas or the Palestine Authority of Mr. Abbas make a deal with Israel,” Abdkhodai explained his views.

Abdkhodai elaborated on this by saying, “We have religious teachings (that guide us) and we have economic interests. Sometimes our religious teachings are at odds with our economic interests. And because we are an ideological regime, we must preserve our religious teachings.”

In response to a question on why did the Islamic republic not support the Muslims of China or Chechens who have years been violently suppressed by the Russian and Chinese governments, Abdkhodai said, “We do not know the conditions of the Chechens very well. The same is true for China. Are these Muslims there driven by nationalistic motives? Imam Khomeini said that we have been slapped by nationalism. Are these groups suppressed because they are Muslims? This must be clarified.”