Borzou Daragahi in Teheran
Nestled among stories of chatty farm animals in the
official second-grade Farsi textbooks is a 'letter' from a
Palestinian boy: 'They bomb our tents, schools and even our
hospitals,' the letter says. 'But since the Islamic revolution
and the victory of Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeiny, the enemy has got
very scared.
'Our enemy is Israel.' Since its 1979 inception, the
Islamic Republic of Iran has loudly and actively supported the
most radical elements among Palestinian groups opposing
Israel. But recently, political insiders have begun
resurrecting the sensitive question of whether the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict has become an unnecessary
distraction stifling Iranian national interests and economic
growth.
'People here have concluded that the Islamic republic line
on Palestine is hurting Iran,' says Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a
professor of international law and former representative to
the United Nations. 'We have no direct stake in the
Palestinian cause. Yet the issue has a heavy negative impact
on us. Many of the allegations that Iran supports terrorism go
back to Palestine.'
Most ordinary Iranians express sympathy for the
Palestinians and outrage at Israeli military actions in the
occupied territories. And the issue remains volatile.
Intellectuals who willingly engage in public critiques of the
Islamic republic on other matters will not touch Palestine.
Questioning the extent of Iran's support for the Palestinian
cause was one of the charges that landed Abdullah Nouri, an
outspoken clerical dissident and former interior minister, in
jail.
But last week, reformist newspaper Bonyan broached the
subject by urging Iran to seriously consider Saudi Crown
Prince Abdullah's peace proposal.
'Saudi Arabia's plan has presented us with an opportunity,'
the editorial said. 'We should not miss that opportunity.'
A softening of Iran's position on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict could have enormous regional repercussions. A budding
Iran-US rapprochement during the campaign against the Taleban
and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan brought hope of an end to 23 years
of conflict between the two countries. But Israel's seizure of
the weapons-laden ship Karine A travelling from Iran to the
Mediterranean coast was among the factors leading to a
cessation of that collaboration. The Islamic republic went
from coalition partner in the war on terror to a point on the
'axis of evil'.
Iran denies sending weapons caches to the Palestinians.
Even so, it would be hard to overstate the degree of official
antipathy towards Israel. Broadcast media, and even reformist
newspapers, call Israel the 'Zionist regime'. Hardliners
controlling the judiciary, military and much of the economy
dominate discussion of Israel, regularly denouncing it in most
undiplomatic terms.
'Today, the Zionist regime, which is supported by America,
is the absolute evil in the region and the world,' Ayatollah
Mohammad Yazdi, former judiciary chief and member of the
authoritative Experts Council, told foreign ambassadors and
representatives last month.
The unyielding anti-Israeli position carries a price.
Iran's support for the most radical elements in the
Palestinian cause is the most confounding obstacle in
repairing US relations, severed following the hostage crisis
in 1980.
It has cost Iran in relations with Western countries it
needs for technology and investment and alienated moderate
neighbours such as Egypt and Jordan. It has turned the newly
independent states of Central Asia away in fear of angering
the US.
'There is definitely a correlation between the
Israel-Palestinian issue and Iranian relations with the West,'
says an investment consultant in Teheran. 'Whenever it's calm
in the occupied territories, relations are good. When it's
not, they aren't.'
Iran's ardent support for the Palestinian cause has much to
do with the domestic political tug-of-war between
conservatives and reformists led by President Mohammad
Khatami.
It is not about Muslim solidarity. Iran supports Orthodox
Christian Russia in its efforts to crush a Muslim uprising in
Chechnya. Arab Palestinians, about two-thirds Sunni Muslim and
one-third Christian, share neither the same religion nor
language of the mostly Farsi and Turkic-speaking Shia Muslims
of Iran. But without the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the
hardliners would have little to maintain bad relations with
the US, observers say.
Europe, Iran's primary source of credit, technology and
investment, has meddled in the region far longer than the US,
but American support for Israel justifies the policy of closer
ties with Europe and condemnation of the US.
Hardliners see rapprochement with the US as a threat to
their grip on the Islamic republic, which is challenged by a
belligerent and youthful population and severe economic
problems.
'Without 'Death to America, Death to Israel', [the
conservatives] really don't have anything,' says a dissident
professor. 'How else would they rally their faithful?' If
Iran's Israel policy reflected the views of its own people, it
probably would resemble that of most countries in the world -
strong sympathy for the victims, but no rush to get involved
in a blood feud.
'Even if people are against Israel,' says Mohammad Navidi,
political editor of Nowrouz, a reformist daily, 'it doesn't
mean that people here necessarily want to go to war against it
or actively support and finance the Palestinians.'
