README.md

@@ -43,9 +43,11 @@ The repository is organized as follows:
 
 `combined`
 
-* Contains merged data from all sources
-* Available in `CSV` and `JSONL` formats
-* Individual `texts` stored in numbered files
+* Combined data from all sources in multiple formats:
+  * `combined.csv` and `combined.jsonl` - Basic combined data
+  * `combined_with_metadata.csv` and `combined_with_metadata.jsonl` - Combined data with additional metadata
+* `texts` directory - Individual numbered text files
+* `texts_with_metadata` directory - Text files with metadata information
 
 `decolonizepalestine`
 

combined/combined.csv

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 text
-"Title: Biography of Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution - Khamenei.ir
-On the 19th of April 1939, the future Leader of Islamic Iran was born in the holy city of Mashhad, in the province of Khorasan. Sayyed Ali was the second son of Sayyed Javad Khamenei, a humble and poor Islamic scholar who taught all members of his family how to lead a simple, humble way of life.
+"On the 19th of April 1939, the future Leader of Islamic Iran was born in the holy city of Mashhad, in the province of Khorasan. Sayyed Ali was the second son of Sayyed Javad Khamenei, a humble and poor Islamic scholar who taught all members of his family how to lead a simple, humble way of life.
 ""My father, though a well-known religious figure, was a bit of an ascetic. We had a hard life. Sometimes for supper we had nothing but bread with some raisins, which our mother had somehow improvised.... our house, some sixty-five square meters, consisted of a single room and a gloomy basement. When visitors came to see my father as the local cleric to consult about their problems, the family had to move into the basement while the visit went on.... Years later some charitable persons bought the small, empty lot adjacent to our house, so we were able to build two more rooms.""
 Detailed biography of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of Islamic Revolution
 EDUCATION
@@ -69,8 +68,7 @@ Translations (from Arabic into Farsi)
 2. The Future in Islamic Lands, by Sayyed Qutb
 3. Muslims in the Liberation Movement of India, by Abdulmunaim Nassri
 4. An Indictment against the Western Civilization, by Sayyed Gutb"
-"Title: Imam Khomeini’s Biography - Khamenei.ir
-Introduction
+"Introduction
 Imam Ayatollah Seyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was a Muslim cleric and Marja, and the political leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Following the Revolution, Imam Khomeini became Grand Leader of Iran — the paramount figure in the political system of the new Islamic Republic — until his demise.
 Imam Khomeini was considered a Marja-e taqlid to many Muslims, and in Iran was officially addressed as Imam rather than Grand Ayatollah; his supporters adhere to this convention. Imam Khomeini was also a highly-influential and innovative Islamic political theorist, most noted for his development of the theory of velayat-e faqih, the ""guardianship of the jurisconsult.""
 Imam Khomeini
@@ -146,8 +144,7 @@ Serr al-Salat (Secrets of Prayers)
 Interpretation of Dawn Pray
 Interpretation of Forces of Reason and Negligence Tradition
 Hajj"
-"Title: Intifada echoes across Hispanic America: Latin America’s response to unfolding Gaza tragedy - Khamenei.ir
-“If they were to force you out of your homes, what would you do? Palestine bears the burden of Israel’s occupation, suffering under the weight of an arrogant occupying regime primed for war. In a recent surge of resistance along the West Bank, be it in the streets of Gaza or the alleys of Jerusalem, stones stand resilient against bullets. Intifada (Arabic for civil uprising)! Intifada! Intifada! Freedom.”
+"“If they were to force you out of your homes, what would you do? Palestine bears the burden of Israel’s occupation, suffering under the weight of an arrogant occupying regime primed for war. In a recent surge of resistance along the West Bank, be it in the streets of Gaza or the alleys of Jerusalem, stones stand resilient against bullets. Intifada (Arabic for civil uprising)! Intifada! Intifada! Freedom.”
 These verses belong to the song ""Intifada,"" which saw thousands of Chileans participating in an unprecedented event on November 12. They sang in harmony with the Spanish music group SKA-P in Santiago, the capital of Chile.
 Over the past weeks, in streets located thousands of kilometers from Gaza, resounding voices declare, “Palestine will triumph!” and passionately demand an end to the genocide against the Palestinian people. The rallying cry, “Latin America stands with Palestine!” echoes through the air. Meanwhile, captivating murals adorned with the empowering slogan “Always towards victory” draw attention, featuring the unwavering gaze of a determined young Palestinian.
 For the people in Latin America, the Palestinian Cause transcends mere politics, resonating deeply as a humanitarian cause. The populace passionately rallies behind Gaza, employing the power of social media to share millions of posts exposing Zionist crimes. Hashtags such as #FreePalestine and #IsraelGenocide prominently circulate, with a poignant video portraying a Palestinian girl surviving a bombing amassing nearly 20 million views.
@@ -181,8 +178,7 @@ The dispatch of 30 and 73-ton shipments of food and medicine by the governments
 It can be asserted that no other region has seen governments and nations express support for Palestine as openly as in Latin America. This assertion finds backing in the statements of Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on April 4, 2009. He addressed the President of Venezuela regarding the crimes against the people of Gaza that year and the subsequent severance of Caracas’ relations with Tel Aviv, stating, “What the Venezuelan government did was, in fact, the duty of European governments who claim to advocate for human rights and support for humanity. Unfortunately, the claimant European governments acted in the opposite direction during the massacre of the people of Gaza.""
 14 years later, Imam Khamenei also praised the position of the Cuban president on the issue of Palestine in a meeting that they had on Dec. 4, 2023.
 The call to sever ties with the Zionist regime, identified by Imam Khamenei as a key means to halt the tragedies in Gaza, complemented by the dispatch of humanitarian aid and the resounding support for Palestine from a populace shaped by figures like Simón Bolívar, José Martí, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara is not surprising. These figures, embraced by the people, embody anti-oppression and resistance values, which are deeply ingrained in their collective identity."
-"Title: The Zionist regime against Hamas: Defeat in the form of a KO - Khamenei.ir
-Ruhollah Abdolmaleki, researcher in regional studies
+"Ruhollah Abdolmaleki, researcher in regional studies
 In his book All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity, Marshall Berman has a famous phrase quoted from Marx, which is also seen in the title of his book: “All that is solid melts into air.” Even though this book is an outlook on the impact of culture on the process of modernization, Berman's words were a summation of what happened on October 7. The Leader of Iran described it as the victory of a small group that “was able to burn down and put an end to” everything that the Zionist regime had boasted about to the world regarding the superiority of its military and intelligence “in a matter of hours” (“Ultimate Victory”). Therefore, Hamas fighters inflicted irreparable blows on the military and intelligence of the Zionist regime through a calculated, surprising plan.
 After many years of military, security, and intelligence dominance, the Zionist regime had now found itself in the middle of a battle in which it conceded hard, unbelievable and irreparable concessions to its opponent.
 In response to this, the Zionist leaders used all their power to hold their ground and manage the crisis to their own interest. In this regard, during an apparently calculated plan, they followed a two-pronged policy based on which Gaza would be safeguarded on the condition that Hamas be removed from the Palestinian political sphere, while Hamas's insistence on remaining there would come at the cost of Gaza’s destruction.
@@ -224,129 +220,99 @@ Sayyid Ali Khamenei. “Ultimate victory which is not too far away will be for P
 Scott, Malcolm. “Saudi Minister Says Israel Talks Hinge on Palestinian Question.” Bloomberg, 8 Nov. 2023, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-08/saudi-minister-says-israel-talks-hinge-on-palestinian-question.
 Sforza, Lauren. “These 8 countries have pulled ambassadors from Israel amid Hamas war.” The Hill, 6 Nov. 2023, https://thehill.com/homenews/4296621-these-8-countries-have-pulled-ambassadors-from-israel-amid-hamas-war/.
 Stewart, Phil. “Exclusive: Senior US general flies into Israel as its war with Hamas deepens.” Reuters, 17 Oct. 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/senior-us-general-flies-into-israel-its-war-with-hamas-deepens-2023-10-17/."
-"Title: Palestine's bright future - Khamenei.ir
-Thursday, January 23, 2025"
-"Title: Palestine is both oppressed and powerful - Khamenei.ir
-Palestine is an oppressed power. Palestine is truly strong today. The Palestinian youth do not allow the question of Palestine to be forgotten and they're standing up in opposition to the enemy's crimes.
+"Despite all enmities, Good Word of Islamic Republic is becoming stronger everyday.
+08/21/2016"
+"Palestine is an oppressed power. Palestine is truly strong today. The Palestinian youth do not allow the question of Palestine to be forgotten and they're standing up in opposition to the enemy's crimes.
 Click on the image to view the large size"
-"Title: Any plan to divide Palestine is doomed to failure: Ayatollah Khamenei - Khamenei.ir
-Our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of ""recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations"" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, ""recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands"". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in ""1948 lands"".Our magnanimous Imam announced that one of the goals of the Revolution was to liberate Palestine and to remove the cancerous tumor, Israel. The powerful waves of this Revolution, which engulfed the entire world at that time, conveyed this message wherever it reached: ""Palestine must be liberated."" Even the repeated and great problems that the enemies of the Revolution imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran failed to discourage the Islamic Republic from defending Palestine. One instance of the problems that they caused was the eight-year war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussein who had been goaded by America and England and was supported by reactionary Arab governments.
+"Our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of ""recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations"" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, ""recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands"". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in ""1948 lands"".Our magnanimous Imam announced that one of the goals of the Revolution was to liberate Palestine and to remove the cancerous tumor, Israel. The powerful waves of this Revolution, which engulfed the entire world at that time, conveyed this message wherever it reached: ""Palestine must be liberated."" Even the repeated and great problems that the enemies of the Revolution imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran failed to discourage the Islamic Republic from defending Palestine. One instance of the problems that they caused was the eight-year war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussein who had been goaded by America and England and was supported by reactionary Arab governments.
 Thus, new blood was pumped into the veins of Palestine. Muslim resistance groups started to emerge in Palestine. The Lebanese Resistance formed a powerful and new front against the enemy and its supporters. Instead of relying on Arab governments and seeking help from global organizations such as the United Nations, which were accomplices of the arrogant powers, Palestine started to rely on itself, its youth, its deep Islamic faith and its selfless men and women. This is the key to all achievements.
 Today the general history of Palestine in the past 60 years is in front of our eyes. It is necessary to delineate the future by considering that general history and learning lessons from it.
 Two points should be clarified in advance. The first point is that our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of ""recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations"" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, ""recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands"". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in ""1948 lands"". It would mean leaving the cancerous tumor intact and exposing the Islamic Ummah - especially the regional nations - to constant danger. It would mean bringing back decades-long sufferings and trampling upon the blood of the martyrs.
 Any operational solution must be based on the principle of ""all of Palestine for all Palestinian people"". Palestine is the land that extends ""from the river to the sea"", not one inch less than that. Of course it should be noted that through its elected government, the Palestinian people will run the affairs of the any part of the Palestinian soil they manage to liberate, just as they did in the case of Gaza, but they will never forget the ultimate goal.
 The second point is that in order to reach this lofty goal, what is necessary is action, not words. It is necessary to be serious, not to make ceremonial gestures. It is necessary to have patience and wisdom, not engage in a variety of impatient actions. It is necessary to consider horizons that lie far ahead and to move forward step by step with determination, reliance on God and hope. Muslim governments and nations and the resistance groups in Palestine, Lebanon and other countries can each identify their share of work in this general struggle and solve the puzzle of resistance with Allah's permission.
 October 1, 2011"
-"Title: The issue of Palestine is the World of Islam’s top priority - Khamenei.ir
-Today, the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the world of Islam. Anyone who has a correct understanding of the issue of Palestine acknowledges that the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the world of Islam. The key to defeating the enemies of Islam is the issue of Palestine. The most important issue of the world of Islam in the present time is the issue of Palestine. Why is that? This is because Palestine is an Islamic country. They have come and occupied this country. They have taken it away from its people. The issue is not about usurping a village or city. The enemy has usurped a country and it has used it as a base for jeopardizing the security of regional countries. One should fight against a cancerous tumor.
+"Today, the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the world of Islam. Anyone who has a correct understanding of the issue of Palestine acknowledges that the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the world of Islam. The key to defeating the enemies of Islam is the issue of Palestine. The most important issue of the world of Islam in the present time is the issue of Palestine. Why is that? This is because Palestine is an Islamic country. They have come and occupied this country. They have taken it away from its people. The issue is not about usurping a village or city. The enemy has usurped a country and it has used it as a base for jeopardizing the security of regional countries. One should fight against a cancerous tumor.
 Notice that if a person issues a fatwa as a religious mufti saying that fighting against Zionism is haram, that helping such and such a group which is fighting against Zionism is not allowed, this is really a disaster to witness that some people in the world of Islam are acting against the interests of Islam and have friendly relations with the enemies. This is the exact opposite of the Quran's clear words: ""Those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, but compassionate among each other"" [The Holy Quran, 48: 29]. However, those people are strong against Muslims, but compassionate among unbelievers. They are on good terms with them, but notice what they are doing to Muslims."
-"Title: Forgetting the issue of Palestine is the enemies’ goal - Khamenei.ir
-If Muslims are united, Palestine will not be in the situation that it is in now. Today, Palestine is in a difficult situation. Gaza and the West Bank are in a difficult situation, both in different ways. Today, the people of Palestine are under serious pressures on a daily basis. They want to erase the issue of Palestine from the minds of people and consign it to oblivion. They want to, as they say, busy the West Asian region, including our own countries – this is an extraordinarily sensitive and strategic region, it is a sensitive region in terms of geography, natural resources and sea passageways - with themselves.
+"If Muslims are united, Palestine will not be in the situation that it is in now. Today, Palestine is in a difficult situation. Gaza and the West Bank are in a difficult situation, both in different ways. Today, the people of Palestine are under serious pressures on a daily basis. They want to erase the issue of Palestine from the minds of people and consign it to oblivion. They want to, as they say, busy the West Asian region, including our own countries – this is an extraordinarily sensitive and strategic region, it is a sensitive region in terms of geography, natural resources and sea passageways - with themselves.
 They want Muslims to stand up against Muslims and Arabs against Arabs. They want them to target and destroy one another so that the armies of Muslim countries – particularly those armies that are neighboring the Zionists – weaken on a daily basis. This is their goal."
-"Title: The enemy seeks to obliterate the Palestinian cause - Khamenei.ir
-The issue of Palestine is not a minor issue. About 60-plus years have passed from the occupation of Palestine. Several generations of these people – the Palestinians - have come and gone, but the Palestinian ideal has thrived. The enemy is trying to destroy the Palestinian ideal, but the Palestinian ideal has thrived.
+"The issue of Palestine is not a minor issue. About 60-plus years have passed from the occupation of Palestine. Several generations of these people – the Palestinians - have come and gone, but the Palestinian ideal has thrived. The enemy is trying to destroy the Palestinian ideal, but the Palestinian ideal has thrived.
 Unfortunately, Arab governments are so busy doing other things that they do not have the time or they do not want to attend to the issue of Palestine. Standing on ceremony with other countries, different other considerations and aligning oneself with America and others do not allow them to do so. The issue of Palestine is a very important issue. We cannot abandon the issue of Palestine. Today, the Intifada of the people of Palestine has begun in the West Bank. The people are fighting, but the judgment that arrogant bullhorns make is a completely oppressive judgment. When a person whose house has been occupied, whose life is in danger and who does not have financial security – they come and destroy his house with a bulldozer, they engage in building settlements and they destroy his farm – attacks with a stone, they say that that person is a terrorist! This is while the organization that is destroying that person’s life, security, dignity, wealth and world is referred to as innocent. They say that this organization is defending itself. This is very strange. This is one of the wonders of today’s world!
 Someone has come and has usurped a house. They have thrown out the owner of the house and they are constantly oppressing him. They say to him that he should not defend himself, but he is defending himself. If the oppressed owner – who has lost his security and his house, and whose wife, children, dignity and everything he has are under threat – swears at the usurper or throws a stone at him, they call him a terrorist. Is this a minor thing? Is this a minor wrongdoing? Is it a minor mistake? Is it a minor act of oppression that can be forgiven? This cannot be forgiven! We will defend the movement of the Palestinian nation with all our power as long as we can and in whatever way we can!"
-"Title: Muslims have the upper hand in the issue of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-The issue of Palestine is the primary issue of the world of Islam. Fortunately, on the issue of Palestine, Muslims have gradually gained the upper hand. You should take a look at the events of the 50-day war in Gaza and see how a limited number of Palestinians -- who did not have powerful weapons, enough resources, and means of communication -- managed to defeat the Zionist regime which is the symbol of Western power in the region. Notice how they managed to impose their requests upon them and how they frustrated their effort to attack Gaza.
+"The issue of Palestine is the primary issue of the world of Islam. Fortunately, on the issue of Palestine, Muslims have gradually gained the upper hand. You should take a look at the events of the 50-day war in Gaza and see how a limited number of Palestinians -- who did not have powerful weapons, enough resources, and means of communication -- managed to defeat the Zionist regime which is the symbol of Western power in the region. Notice how they managed to impose their requests upon them and how they frustrated their effort to attack Gaza.
 This shows that we are strong on the inside. We have many capabilities, we can challenge every enemy, and we can defend ourselves. We should not underestimate our power. The power of Islam, the power of the Holy Quran, the power of faith, and the power of the Islamic Ummah is a great power. --This power should not be underestimated because it can resist oppression. We do not intend to dominate the world, rather we intend to condemn and resist the oppression of arrogant governments that bully Muslim nations. We intend to resist oppression, and we can."
-"Title: Sowing discord and conflict among Muslims is enemy’s trick to make Palestine ignored - Khamenei.ir
-It is in such conditions that the enemy is focusing all its efforts on making the Islamic Ummah forget about Palestine. How do they want to do this? They want to do this by creating discord, waging domestic wars, promoting deviant extremism in the name of Islam, religion and Islamic sharia. They want a group of people to say takfiri things against Muslims. The existence of these takfiri orientations which have emerged in the world of Islam is good news for arrogance and the enemies of the world of Islam. It is these takfiri orientations that attract the attention of Muslims towards insignificant issues instead of letting them pay attention to the truth about the existence of the malevolent Zionist regime.
+"It is in such conditions that the enemy is focusing all its efforts on making the Islamic Ummah forget about Palestine. How do they want to do this? They want to do this by creating discord, waging domestic wars, promoting deviant extremism in the name of Islam, religion and Islamic sharia. They want a group of people to say takfiri things against Muslims. The existence of these takfiri orientations which have emerged in the world of Islam is good news for arrogance and the enemies of the world of Islam. It is these takfiri orientations that attract the attention of Muslims towards insignificant issues instead of letting them pay attention to the truth about the existence of the malevolent Zionist regime.
 This is the exact opposite of what Islam wants. Islam has asked Muslims to be ""strong against unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other"" [The Holy Quran, 48, 29]. Muslims should be strong against the enemies of religion. They should stand firm and they should not be influenced by the enemies. Being ""strong against unbelievers"" is the clear message of this ayah. Muslims should be compassionate towards one another, they should stay together and join hands and they should hold fast to the rope which Allah stretches out for them. This is the command of Islam.
 Now what happens if an orientation emerges which divides Muslims into believers and unbelievers, which targets a group of people as unbelievers and which pits Muslims against one another? Who can doubt the role of arrogance and the security services of arrogant and malevolent governments in creating, supporting and enriching these orientations and in equipping them with weapons? These arrogant powers sit and plan for this. The world of Islam should attend to this issue because it is a grave danger.
 Unfortunately, a number of Muslim governments unwittingly add fuel to the fire of this discord. They do not understand that fueling this discord will kindle a fire which will burn them as well. This is what arrogance wants: they want a group of Muslims to wage a war against another group of Muslims."
-"Title: The colonial British government is at top of usurping Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-More than six decades have passed since the tragic occupation of Palestine. All the main causes of this bloody tragedy have been identified and the colonialist English government is the most important cause. The policies, weapons and military, security, economic and cultural power of the English government and other arrogant western and eastern governments were put to the service of this great oppression. Under the ruthless clutches of the occupiers, the defenseless people of Palestine were massacred and forced out of their homes. Until today even one percent of the human and civil tragedy - which was carried out at that time by the claimants of civilization and ethics - has not been properly portrayed and this tragedy has not had its fair share in the media and visual arts. The owners of visual and cinematic arts and western movie mafias have not been willing to allow this to happen. An entire nation was massacred and displaced in silence.
+"More than six decades have passed since the tragic occupation of Palestine. All the main causes of this bloody tragedy have been identified and the colonialist English government is the most important cause. The policies, weapons and military, security, economic and cultural power of the English government and other arrogant western and eastern governments were put to the service of this great oppression. Under the ruthless clutches of the occupiers, the defenseless people of Palestine were massacred and forced out of their homes. Until today even one percent of the human and civil tragedy - which was carried out at that time by the claimants of civilization and ethics - has not been properly portrayed and this tragedy has not had its fair share in the media and visual arts. The owners of visual and cinematic arts and western movie mafias have not been willing to allow this to happen. An entire nation was massacred and displaced in silence.
 Certain instances of resistance emerged at the beginning, which were harshly and ruthlessly crushed. From outside Palestinian borders and mainly from Egypt, a number of men with Islamic motives made certain efforts which were not sufficiently supported and could not have an effect on the scene.
 Afterwards there were full-scale and classical wars between a few Arab countries and the Zionist army. Egypt, Syria and Jordan mobilized their military forces, but the unconditional, massive and increasing military and financial support of America, England and France for the Zionist regime overwhelmed Arab armies. Not only did they fail to help the Palestinian nation, but they also lost an important portion of their territories during these wars."
-"Title: The Islamic Republic’s proposal for solving the issue of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-The solution of the Islamic Republic to the issue of Palestine and this old wound is a clear and logical proposal that is based on political wisdom accepted by global public opinion and it has been presented in detail previously. We neither propose a classical war with the armies of Islamic countries, nor do we propose throwing Jewish immigrants into the sea or intervention of the United Nations and other international organizations. We propose a referendum among the Palestinian people. Just like any other nation, the Palestinian nation has the right to determine its own destiny and to elect its own government. All the original people of Palestine - including Muslims, Christians and Jews and not foreign immigrants - should take part in a general and orderly referendum and determine the future government of Palestine whether they live inside Palestine or in camps or in any other place. The government that is established after the referendum will determine the destiny of non-Palestinian immigrants who migrated to Palestine in the past. This is a fair and logical proposal which global public opinion understands and it can receive support from independent nations and governments.
+"The solution of the Islamic Republic to the issue of Palestine and this old wound is a clear and logical proposal that is based on political wisdom accepted by global public opinion and it has been presented in detail previously. We neither propose a classical war with the armies of Islamic countries, nor do we propose throwing Jewish immigrants into the sea or intervention of the United Nations and other international organizations. We propose a referendum among the Palestinian people. Just like any other nation, the Palestinian nation has the right to determine its own destiny and to elect its own government. All the original people of Palestine - including Muslims, Christians and Jews and not foreign immigrants - should take part in a general and orderly referendum and determine the future government of Palestine whether they live inside Palestine or in camps or in any other place. The government that is established after the referendum will determine the destiny of non-Palestinian immigrants who migrated to Palestine in the past. This is a fair and logical proposal which global public opinion understands and it can receive support from independent nations and governments.
 Of course we do not expect the usurping Zionists to willingly accept this proposal and this is where the role of governments, nations and resistance organizations becomes significant. The most important pillar of supporting the Palestinian nation is to stop supporting the usurping enemy and this is the great duty of Islamic governments."
-"Title: Any plan to divide Palestine is absolutely refutable - Khamenei.ir
-Our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of ""recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations"" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, ""recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands"". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in ""1948 lands"". It would mean leaving the cancerous tumor intact and exposing the Islamic Ummah - especially the regional nations - to constant danger. It would mean bringing back decades-long sufferings and trampling upon the blood of the martyrs.
+"Our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of ""recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations"" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, ""recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands"". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in ""1948 lands"". It would mean leaving the cancerous tumor intact and exposing the Islamic Ummah - especially the regional nations - to constant danger. It would mean bringing back decades-long sufferings and trampling upon the blood of the martyrs.
 Any operational solution must be based on the principle of ""all of Palestine for all Palestinian people"". Palestine is the land that extends ""from the river to the sea"", not one inch less than that. Of course it should be noted that through its elected government, the Palestinian people will run the affairs of the any part of the Palestinian soil they manage to liberate, just as they did in the case of Gaza, but they will never forget the ultimate goal.
 The second point is that in order to reach this lofty goal, what is necessary is action, not words. It is necessary to be serious, not to make ceremonial gestures. It is necessary to have patience and wisdom, not engage in a variety of impatient actions. It is necessary to consider horizons that lie far ahead and to move forward step by step with determination, reliance on God and hope."
-"Title: The antidote to enemy’s treasonous plots lies in the spirit of resistance among Palestinian groups - Khamenei.ir
-The Oslo Accords in the year 1993 and later on in complementary plans - which were imposed one after the other on compromising and careless Palestinian groups with the intervention of America and the cooperation of colonialist European governments - the enemy tried its best to discourage the Palestinian nation and Palestinian groups from resisting through the use of empty and deceptive promises and making them busy with amateur political games. The uselessness of all these accords was revealed very soon and the Zionists and their supporters repeatedly showed that they consider these accords as worthless pieces of paper. The goal of these plans was to create doubt among the Palestinians, make materialistic unbelievers greedy and cripple Islamic resistance.
+"The Oslo Accords in the year 1993 and later on in complementary plans - which were imposed one after the other on compromising and careless Palestinian groups with the intervention of America and the cooperation of colonialist European governments - the enemy tried its best to discourage the Palestinian nation and Palestinian groups from resisting through the use of empty and deceptive promises and making them busy with amateur political games. The uselessness of all these accords was revealed very soon and the Zionists and their supporters repeatedly showed that they consider these accords as worthless pieces of paper. The goal of these plans was to create doubt among the Palestinians, make materialistic unbelievers greedy and cripple Islamic resistance.
 So far, the spirit of resistance among the Islamic Palestinian groups and the Palestinian people has been the antidote to all these treacherous games. They stood up against the enemy with Allah's permission and as promised by God, they benefited from divine assistance: ""And surely Allah will help him who helps His cause. Most surely Allah is Strong, Mighty."" [The Holy Quran, Sura al-Hajj, Ayah 40] The resistance of Gaza in spite of a comprehensive siege was an instance of divine assistance."
-"Title: One of the goals of the Islamic Revolution is the liberation of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-Our magnanimous Imam announced that one of the goals of the Revolution was to liberate Palestine and to remove the cancerous tumor, Israel. The powerful waves of this Revolution, which engulfed the entire world at that time, conveyed this message wherever it reached: ""Palestine must be liberated."" Even the repeated and great problems that the enemies of the Revolution imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran failed to discourage the Islamic Republic from defending Palestine. One instance of the problems that they caused was the eight-year war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussein who had been goaded by America and England and was supported by reactionary Arab governments.
+"Our magnanimous Imam announced that one of the goals of the Revolution was to liberate Palestine and to remove the cancerous tumor, Israel. The powerful waves of this Revolution, which engulfed the entire world at that time, conveyed this message wherever it reached: ""Palestine must be liberated."" Even the repeated and great problems that the enemies of the Revolution imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran failed to discourage the Islamic Republic from defending Palestine. One instance of the problems that they caused was the eight-year war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussein who had been goaded by America and England and was supported by reactionary Arab governments.
 Thus, new blood was pumped into the veins of Palestine. Muslim mujahid groups started to emerge in Palestine. The Lebanese Resistance formed a powerful and new front against the enemy and its supporters. Instead of relying on Arab governments and seeking help from global organizations such as the United Nations, which were accomplices of the arrogant powers, Palestine started to rely on itself, its youth, its deep Islamic faith and its selfless men and women. This is the key to all achievements.
 Over the past three decades this process has been accelerated on a daily basis. The humiliating defeat of the Zionist regime in Lebanon in the year 2006, the humiliating failure of the arrogant Zionist army in Gaza in the year 2008, the Zionist regime's escape from South Lebanon and withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of the resistance government in Gaza and in brief, changing the Palestinian nation from a group of helpless and hopeless people to a hopeful, resistant and self-confident nation - these were the outstanding characteristics of the past thirty years.
 This general picture will be clear when attempts at compromise and treacherous activities - whose goal is to break down resistance and make Palestinian groups and Arab governments acknowledge the legitimacy of Israel - are also reflected upon in an appropriate way.
 These activities, which were initiated with the Camp David Accords by the treacherous and unworthy successor of Gamal Abdel Nasser, have always been aimed at undermining the steely determination of resistance forces. During the Camp David Accords, for the first time an Arab government officially acknowledged that the Palestinian lands belonged to the Zionists and it signed the papers according to which Palestine was recognized as the homeland of Jews."
-"Title: Palestine belongs to Palestinians - Khamenei.ir
-We believe that all Palestinian lands belong to the Palestinians. Those who tried to wipe Palestine off the map of the world made a mistake. Such a thing will not happen. Palestine will survive. The usurpers have occupied Palestine for a few decades, but there is no doubt that Palestinian lands will be restored to the people of Palestine and to the world of Islam. And this will happen. The people of Palestine are vigilant. Palestine cannot be partitioned. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians entirely. The Islamic Republic presented the solution to the Palestinian issue several years ago. The solution to the issue of Palestine is not the kind of solutions that America and other such countries present. Such solutions will prove ineffective. The solution is to hold a referendum among the people of Palestine. Any government that receives the majority of the votes in the referendum will rule the entire Palestinian lands. Then that government will decide what to do with the Zionists who immigrated to Palestine. And this depends on the decision of the government that will be elected by the people of Palestine."
-"Title: Defending Palestine is a must for all Muslims - Khamenei.ir
-The enemies of the world of Islam have always tried to make maximum use of denominational, tribal, geographical and regional differences. And today, they are using modern instruments to fulfill their purpose. We should pay attention to this and we should awaken.
+"We believe that all Palestinian lands belong to the Palestinians. Those who tried to wipe Palestine off the map of the world made a mistake. Such a thing will not happen. Palestine will survive. The usurpers have occupied Palestine for a few decades, but there is no doubt that Palestinian lands will be restored to the people of Palestine and to the world of Islam. And this will happen. The people of Palestine are vigilant. Palestine cannot be partitioned. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians entirely. The Islamic Republic presented the solution to the Palestinian issue several years ago. The solution to the issue of Palestine is not the kind of solutions that America and other such countries present. Such solutions will prove ineffective. The solution is to hold a referendum among the people of Palestine. Any government that receives the majority of the votes in the referendum will rule the entire Palestinian lands. Then that government will decide what to do with the Zionists who immigrated to Palestine. And this depends on the decision of the government that will be elected by the people of Palestine."
+"The enemies of the world of Islam have always tried to make maximum use of denominational, tribal, geographical and regional differences. And today, they are using modern instruments to fulfill their purpose. We should pay attention to this and we should awaken.
 They want to busy us with one another so that they can distract our attention from the main point. They want to pit Muslim ethnicities, nations and denominations - including Shia, Sunni and other Islamic denominations - against one another so that the issue of Israel will be forgotten. The issue of occupying Palestine should have made us get close to one another. But they are using it to make us drift away from one another. They create discord in the world of Islam and pit governments against one another by using the issue of Palestine.
 The issue of Palestine is a clear issue. There is no Islamic denomination that has any doubts about the fact that jihad is wajib for Muslims whenever an Islamic land is under attack. All Islamic denominations share this belief and there is no ground for disagreement on this matter. However, the enemies cast doubt on this matter which all Muslims believe in. They create division among Muslims, they provoke denominational and tribal prejudice and they fuel its fire so that they can freely pursue their goals."
-"Title: Palestine, a big wound on the body of Islamic Ummah - Khamenei.ir
-Take a look at the conditions of Palestine in the present time. Palestine is only an example. Of course, it is a very important example, but the situation is not particular to Palestine. Take a look at Palestine and see that the Islamic Ummah suffers from a great wound which is the disaster that has befallen the great people and the historical and holy land of Palestine. What have they done to this land? What have they done to these people? What are they doing to them in the present time? Is the event of Gaza forgettable? Is it possible to erase it from the mind of the Islamic Ummah?
+"Take a look at the conditions of Palestine in the present time. Palestine is only an example. Of course, it is a very important example, but the situation is not particular to Palestine. Take a look at Palestine and see that the Islamic Ummah suffers from a great wound which is the disaster that has befallen the great people and the historical and holy land of Palestine. What have they done to this land? What have they done to these people? What are they doing to them in the present time? Is the event of Gaza forgettable? Is it possible to erase it from the mind of the Islamic Ummah?
 The pressures, savage acts, cruelties and oppressions that have been committed against the people of Gaza continue to exist even after the 22-day war during which the Zionist government was defeated and failed to achieve its goals. But despite these crimes, the Islamic Ummah cannot defend them. The Islamic Ummah has faced this phenomenon as if it were not related to it. It behaves as though it were not its right to stand up against this usurpation. It behaves as though this oppression were not shown against it. Why are we like this? Why has the Islamic Ummah faced this situation?
 A dangerous and deadly cancer - namely, the fake Zionist and Israeli government - has been created by the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Ummah. Its supporters - who have collaborated with it in showing oppression and committing great sins - continue to support it while the Islamic Ummah cannot defend itself. This is our weakness. Why is that? We should make up for this weakness by returning to Islam and pivoting around the teachings of the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.w.a.)."
-"Title: The path to liberating Palestine is nothing but resistance - Khamenei.ir
-The path of Quds, the path of Palestine and the path of resolving the issue of Palestine is the path of fighting. As was pointed out by the gentlemen in this meeting, there is no other path for Palestine. I am happy to see that all of you agree with and believe in this issue. Those people who do not accept this path - whether knowingly or unknowingly - are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine. If they are doing this knowingly, then this is called treachery. If they are doing it unknowingly, then this is called ignorance and negligence. In any case, it is a blow to the issue of Palestine. Such people are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine.
+"The path of Quds, the path of Palestine and the path of resolving the issue of Palestine is the path of fighting. As was pointed out by the gentlemen in this meeting, there is no other path for Palestine. I am happy to see that all of you agree with and believe in this issue. Those people who do not accept this path - whether knowingly or unknowingly - are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine. If they are doing this knowingly, then this is called treachery. If they are doing it unknowingly, then this is called ignorance and negligence. In any case, it is a blow to the issue of Palestine. Such people are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine.
 Palestine has no way other than resistance. The people of Palestine should say and want this and Islamic governments should echo it. Of course, many Arab governments dismally failed their test on the issue of Gaza and other issues before that. They failed dismally. Whenever there was a talk about the issue of Palestine, they said, ""The issue of Palestine is the issue of Arabs"". But when it was time for action, the issue of Palestine was completely removed from their equations.
 Instead of helping Palestine and the Palestinians, instead of helping their Arab brothers and instead of being committed to their Arabic principles - even if they do not believe in Islam - all of them left the arena. They failed dismally in this test and these things will be recorded in history. The negative consequences of this action are not particular to the afterlife. Rather, they will witness the consequences in this world as well, as God's assistance to you who are fighting is not particular to the afterlife."
-"Title: The issue of Palestine is an issue to be concerned of by all Muslims - Khamenei.ir
-The issue of Gaza and Palestine is our issue. It is our Islamic issue. It is the issue of all Muslims and it is our responsibility. What we are doing is our responsibility and we do not ask anyone to thank us for this. We have carried out our responsibility and we ask Allah the Exalted to help us continue carrying out our responsibilities... Any Palestinian who stepped away from resistance suffered a loss. Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Even if it were honest, it would not have any right in Palestine and therefore, its request would be illegitimate. But Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Those people who took the path of negotiations were forced to accept the enemy's impositions. If they had turned away from the path of the enemy's impositions even for one moment, they would have been either eliminated or humiliated. You have witnessed both cases. They eliminated some and they humiliated and disowned the rest."
-"Title: The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for the U.S. for centuries to come - Khamenei.ir
-The issue of Gaza is not the issue of a small piece of land. The issue of Palestine is not only a geographical issue. It is the issue of humanity and human principles. Today, the issue of Palestine is a dividing line between commitment and hostility to human principles. This issue has such significance.
+"The issue of Gaza and Palestine is our issue. It is our Islamic issue. It is the issue of all Muslims and it is our responsibility. What we are doing is our responsibility and we do not ask anyone to thank us for this. We have carried out our responsibility and we ask Allah the Exalted to help us continue carrying out our responsibilities... Any Palestinian who stepped away from resistance suffered a loss. Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Even if it were honest, it would not have any right in Palestine and therefore, its request would be illegitimate. But Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Those people who took the path of negotiations were forced to accept the enemy's impositions. If they had turned away from the path of the enemy's impositions even for one moment, they would have been either eliminated or humiliated. You have witnessed both cases. They eliminated some and they humiliated and disowned the rest."
+"The issue of Gaza is not the issue of a small piece of land. The issue of Palestine is not only a geographical issue. It is the issue of humanity and human principles. Today, the issue of Palestine is a dividing line between commitment and hostility to human principles. This issue has such significance.
 Without a doubt, America will suffer a loss in this deal. These historical eras and these ten, twenty, thirty-year historical developments are like a moment and they will soon pass. But the history and future of America will definitely suffer a loss as a result of the movement that they launched in the past 50, 60 years with regards to the issue of Palestine. The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for America for many years in the future.
 Palestine will be liberated. You should have no doubt about this. Palestine will definitely be liberated. It will be restored to the people of Palestine and a Palestinian government will be formed in this country. There is no doubt about this, but America's disgrace and notoriety will not disappear. They will continue to be disgraced.
 There is no doubt that a new Middle East will be formed based on the truths which Allah the Exalted has determined. This Middle East will be an Islamic Middle East."
-"Title: All governments are responsible with regards to Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-The issue of Palestine is an Islamic issue. All peoples are responsible towards Palestine. All governments are responsible towards Palestine, whether Muslim or non-Muslim governments. Any government which claims to advocate humanity is responsible towards this issue.
+"The issue of Palestine is an Islamic issue. All peoples are responsible towards Palestine. All governments are responsible towards Palestine, whether Muslim or non-Muslim governments. Any government which claims to advocate humanity is responsible towards this issue.
 However, Muslims' responsibility in this regard is a heavier one. Islamic governments are responsible and they should carry out their responsibility on this issue. Any government which does not carry out its responsibility on the issue of Palestine will suffer a loss. This is because nations have awakened and they want governments to do such things. Therefore, governments have to give in to this issue and they have to surrender."
-"Title: The biggest and most dreadful violation of human rights by West occurs in Gaza - Khamenei.ir
-Today, America and the west are lying in a blatant day on the issue of Palestine and many other issues. They are lying in a blatant way. They completely misinterpret a great disaster such as the disaster of Gaza in the 22-day war. I would like to remind you that we should pay attention to this issue. Today, Gaza and Palestine are an arena of disgrace for the west. The west with is claim to support human rights has ignored the greatest and the most disastrous violation of human rights in Gaza.
+"Today, America and the west are lying in a blatant day on the issue of Palestine and many other issues. They are lying in a blatant way. They completely misinterpret a great disaster such as the disaster of Gaza in the 22-day war. I would like to remind you that we should pay attention to this issue. Today, Gaza and Palestine are an arena of disgrace for the west. The west with is claim to support human rights has ignored the greatest and the most disastrous violation of human rights in Gaza.
 Last year, westerners did not say a single word in favor and in defense of the people of Gaza for many days. Many days passed while we were listening carefully to see if any word in favor of the people of Gaza is uttered by the Europeans - let alone the Americans - by human rights organizations and by so-called defenders of freedom. But no word was uttered. They began to talk after the people in different countries raised their voices and held different processions and demonstrations and when the scandal heated up. However, it was just talking. The west did not show any support for the people of Gaza against such a great disaster which was taking place in front of everyone's eyes. And the west has continued to adopt the same positions until today.
 The United Nations disgraced itself. America was disgraced and it became even more disgraced. They did not show any support even after the Goldstone Report was released and everyone became aware of it. Today, the savage and criminal leaders of the Zionist regime should be put to trial and punished, but nothing is being done in this regard. No measure is being adopted. On the contrary, support for the usurping and fake Zionist regime is increasing even more than this. These things have brought shame on the west... I would tell you that today, the western civilization has been challenged on the issue of Palestine. Today, the claim of western liberal democracy has been questioned. This means that you in Palestine have brought down and dismissed this western claim which had survived for several centuries and with which the west used to rule over the entire world. Resistance - the one that you are showing - has such significance and greatness."
-"Title: The only solution to the issue of Palestine is resistance and fighting - Khamenei.ir
-The only way to solve the issue of Palestine is resistance and fighting. This is correct, but this resistance and fighting is dependent on preserving the people's morale and hope and their presence on the scene. In my opinion, this is the greatest task that Palestinian groups, organizations and activists should carry out.
+"The only way to solve the issue of Palestine is resistance and fighting. This is correct, but this resistance and fighting is dependent on preserving the people's morale and hope and their presence on the scene. In my opinion, this is the greatest task that Palestinian groups, organizations and activists should carry out.
 The purpose of the pressures that are exerted on Gaza by both sides - whether by Zionists or by westerners - is to make the people turn away from resistance. The purpose of the pressures which are exerted on the West Bank - on the issue of Jewish settlements, on the issue of Quds, which was referred to by one of the friends in this meeting, on the issue of shocking and drastic measures, on the issue of the Israeli West Bank barrier and other such issues - is to make the people turn away from resistance and to submit. We should not allow this to happen. You should not allow this to happen. You should keep the people of Palestine and Gaza - these resistant and strong people - hopeful so that they know their great movement will produce results."
-"Title: The issue of Palestine is an issue of Islam regardless of being Arab or non-Arab - Khamenei.ir
-Two months ago the Muslim Ummah gained another victory - that is, the victory of the Palestinian Resistance Movement over their Zionist enemies in Gaza. That was a great and glorious victory. What victory can be more impressive than defeating a powerful army that had managed to defeat three powerful armies between 1967and 1973? What could be more impressive than 22 days of futile efforts of a powerful army against the resisting youth and persistent soldiers of Gaza? The Zionist army was forced to retreat empty-handed. In addition, the Zionist regime and its supporters, especially the US, were disgraced in the world. They were publicly disgraced. That was a great victory for all Muslims. It led Muslims to a kind of unity. This time they could not resort to the Shia-Sunni conflict. They brought up the issue of ethnicity this time. They started a debate, arguing that the Palestinian issue was an Arab issue and that non-Arabs had no right to get involved in the issue. The Palestinian issue is an Islamic issue. It is not peculiar to Arabs or non-Arabs.
+"Two months ago the Muslim Ummah gained another victory - that is, the victory of the Palestinian Resistance Movement over their Zionist enemies in Gaza. That was a great and glorious victory. What victory can be more impressive than defeating a powerful army that had managed to defeat three powerful armies between 1967and 1973? What could be more impressive than 22 days of futile efforts of a powerful army against the resisting youth and persistent soldiers of Gaza? The Zionist army was forced to retreat empty-handed. In addition, the Zionist regime and its supporters, especially the US, were disgraced in the world. They were publicly disgraced. That was a great victory for all Muslims. It led Muslims to a kind of unity. This time they could not resort to the Shia-Sunni conflict. They brought up the issue of ethnicity this time. They started a debate, arguing that the Palestinian issue was an Arab issue and that non-Arabs had no right to get involved in the issue. The Palestinian issue is an Islamic issue. It is not peculiar to Arabs or non-Arabs.
 If ethnicity was dragged into the matters of importance to the world of Islam, the greatest source of discord would be created. When ethnicity is dragged into the matters of importance to the world of Islam, Arabs, Iranians, Turks, Kurds, Indonesians, Malaysians, Pakistanis, and Indians will have to be separate from one another. What will remain of the Muslim Ummah if such a thing happens? Is it not a disaster for the Muslim Ummah and its collective capabilities?
 These are the machinations of arrogant powers and, unfortunately, some people in the world of Islam have fallen for these machinations. They do not want to let the sweet memory of the victories in Lebanon and Gaza remain in the minds of Muslims. They found that situation unpleasant and, therefore, they thought up a source of discord to separate Muslims from one another."
-"Title: Providing all-inclusive assistance to Palestinians and thoroughly supporting them is kafa’i obligation for Muslims - Khamenei.ir
-Our great community, with the blessing of the Islamic awakening, possesses tremendous power. The key to the solution of many of the problems of the Muslim countries lies in resoluteness and solidarity. The question of Palestine is the most urgent problem of the Islamic world.
+"Our great community, with the blessing of the Islamic awakening, possesses tremendous power. The key to the solution of many of the problems of the Muslim countries lies in resoluteness and solidarity. The question of Palestine is the most urgent problem of the Islamic world.
 At times some people are heard to say that Palestine is an Arab problem. What does that mean? If it means that there is a stronger feeling of consanguinity among the Arabs, who are willing to offer Palestine a greater service and do more struggle for its sake, that is something desirable and we welcome it. But if it means that the heads of some Arab countries should refuse to pay any heed to the cries of help of the Palestinian people which are addressed to all Muslims, if it means that they may collaborate with the ruthless usurper enemy in such an important case as the tragedy of Gaza while loudly condemning others who cannot remain indifferent to their call of duty to help Gaza- then no proud and conscientious Muslim or Arab will accept it, nor spare the speaker of disapproval and reproach. It is the same as the logic of Akhzam, who used to beat his father and chide others for interfering. After him, his son would assault the grandfather with his fists. The fable is the source of an Arabic proverb. (Which means: My sons have left me covered with blood, a custom that I know was laid down by Akhzam)
 Offering a multi-faceted assistance to the people of Palestine and complete support is a joint duty of all Muslims. The governments which criticize the Islamic Republic of Iran and some other Muslim countries for assisting Palestine should come forward to bear the burden of such support so that others are relieved of this Islamic duty. But if they lack the ability and courage to do so, instead of criticism and causing hindrance, they should appreciate the dutiful and courageous steps taken by others."
-"Title: Palestine will regain its Islamic-Arabic identity - Khamenei.ir
-A big fallacy which has taken control of the minds of some persons concerning the problem of Palestine is that a country named Israel is a 60-year old reality with which one has to reconcile. I do not know why these people do not learn from other realities that are in front of their eyes. Is it not a fact that the countries of the Balkans, Caucasus, and Southwest Asia reclaimed their identity after 80 years of loss, and after being parts of the former Soviet Union? Why cannot Palestine, which is part of the body of the Islamic world, reclaim its Islamic and Arab identity? Why cannot the Palestinian youths, who are among the most astute and resistant of Arab youth, overcome this unjust reality by their will and resolution?
+"A big fallacy which has taken control of the minds of some persons concerning the problem of Palestine is that a country named Israel is a 60-year old reality with which one has to reconcile. I do not know why these people do not learn from other realities that are in front of their eyes. Is it not a fact that the countries of the Balkans, Caucasus, and Southwest Asia reclaimed their identity after 80 years of loss, and after being parts of the former Soviet Union? Why cannot Palestine, which is part of the body of the Islamic world, reclaim its Islamic and Arab identity? Why cannot the Palestinian youths, who are among the most astute and resistant of Arab youth, overcome this unjust reality by their will and resolution?
 Another big fallacy is to say that negotiation is the only means of deliverance for the Palestinian nation. With whom are these negotiations to be held? With a usurper, misguided and bullying regime which does not believe in anything except force? What have those who have been captivated with this game and delusion achieved?
 Firstly, what they obtained from the Zionists in the form of the Palestinian Authority- its humiliating and disgraceful character aside- was at the enormous cost of having to recognize the ownership of the usurper regime over nearly the entire Palestine.
 Secondly, even that partial and fake authority was at times trampled underfoot by the Zionists under flimsy excuses. The siege of Yasser Arafat in his administrative building in Ramallah and numerous forms of humiliation he was made to suffer are not events that can be forgotten.
 Thirdly, during Arafat's days and especially after him, they have treated the officials of the autonomous Authority as police-station chiefs whose duty was to prosecute and arrest Palestinian combatants and to keep them under intelligence and police surveillance, thus spreading seeds of enmity among Palestinian groups and prompting them to wage war against one another.
 Fourthly, even that puny achievement was the fruit of the struggle of Palestinian combatants and resistance of its proud men and indomitable women. Had the Intifada not occurred, the Zionists would not have given them even this little, despite the successive compromises made by the conventional Palestinian leaders. Or shall it be negotiations with the United States and Britain, who are guilty of the biggest sin in creating and sustaining this malignant tumor, and who moreover, are one of the parties to the dispute and not arbiters? The United States government has never ceased its unconditional support for the Zionist regime and its flagrant crimes, such as those committed during the recent events in Gaza."
-"Title: 9/11: a plot for an Israel-centered Middle East - Khamenei.ir
-The Americans used the event that happened on the 20th of Shahrivar - that is to say, the 11th of September - four, five years ago as a pretext to pursue their greedy desires in the Middle East region. Their main goal was to build a kind of Middle East which would pivot around the interests of Israel. As we used to say in those days, they wanted to build a kind of Middle East whose capital would be Israel... Analyze each and every part of this plot. In Palestine, this plot failed to achieve results. In Palestine - which was a strategic point - this plot failed. Why? Because in Palestine, it was Hamas, the biggest and the main opposition group against Israel, which formed the government after being elected by the people. Is there any slap across the face - delivered to America and Israel - which is harder than this? Since the day that this government was formed, they are constantly creating obstacles so that they can throw it out of the arena. But they have not managed to do this until today. Unfortunately, they have received help from a number of Palestinians in order to bring this popular government to its knees. But, thankfully, they have not managed to do this until today. We hope that they will not manage to do this from now on either."
-"Title: Palestine should be ruled by a single government elected by all Palestinians - Khamenei.ir
-Today, all Muslim nations should treat the issue of Palestine as their own issue. This is a mysterious key that will open the doors of deliverance to the Muslim Ummah. Palestine should return to the Palestinian nation, and a single Palestinian government, elected by all Palestinians, should administer the entire Palestinian territories.
+"The Americans used the event that happened on the 20th of Shahrivar - that is to say, the 11th of September - four, five years ago as a pretext to pursue their greedy desires in the Middle East region. Their main goal was to build a kind of Middle East which would pivot around the interests of Israel. As we used to say in those days, they wanted to build a kind of Middle East whose capital would be Israel... Analyze each and every part of this plot. In Palestine, this plot failed to achieve results. In Palestine - which was a strategic point - this plot failed. Why? Because in Palestine, it was Hamas, the biggest and the main opposition group against Israel, which formed the government after being elected by the people. Is there any slap across the face - delivered to America and Israel - which is harder than this? Since the day that this government was formed, they are constantly creating obstacles so that they can throw it out of the arena. But they have not managed to do this until today. Unfortunately, they have received help from a number of Palestinians in order to bring this popular government to its knees. But, thankfully, they have not managed to do this until today. We hope that they will not manage to do this from now on either."
+"Today, all Muslim nations should treat the issue of Palestine as their own issue. This is a mysterious key that will open the doors of deliverance to the Muslim Ummah. Palestine should return to the Palestinian nation, and a single Palestinian government, elected by all Palestinians, should administer the entire Palestinian territories.
 The fifty-year efforts of Britain and the United States and Zionists to remove the word 'Palestine' from world maps and incorporate the Palestinian nation into other nations have proved futile, and their pressures, injustice and cruelty have yielded contrary results. Today, the Palestinian people are livelier, more valorous and more efficient than their predecessors who lived some sixty years ago.
 This process which has emerged as a result of faith, jihad and the glorious Intifada will continue, and this divine promise will be fulfilled that ""Allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will most certainly make them rulers in the earth as He made rulers those before them, and that He will most certainly establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them, and that He will most certainly, after their fear, give them security in exchange; they shall serve Me, not associating aught with Me; and those who disbelieve henceforth, they are rebellious and wicked."" (the Holy Qur'an, 24: 55)
 It is also possible in a vaster arena, namely the Islamic world, to achieve the noble objective of freedom from domination, bullying and intervention on the part of colonialists and live under the banner of Islam, but this is contingent on a jihad of a different kind, namely a scientific, political and moral jihad."
-"Title: The usurping of Palestine for a long period of time was plotted, executed by Western politicians - Khamenei.ir
-The present age is the era of Islamic awakening, and Palestine lies at the center of this awakening. Almost sixty years have passed since the occupation of Palestine, and the oppressed Palestinian people have endured hard times and undergone various trials, ranging from desperate empty-handed resistance following the occupation, homelessness and displacement, witnessing the destruction of their homes and the massacre of their relatives and dear ones to seeking assistance from international organizations and engaging in futile political deals and the gamble of negotiation with the occupier, a gamble that yielded nothing but a heavy loss, and the mediation of those powers that were the main culprits in the creation and continuation of their plight and suffering.
+"The present age is the era of Islamic awakening, and Palestine lies at the center of this awakening. Almost sixty years have passed since the occupation of Palestine, and the oppressed Palestinian people have endured hard times and undergone various trials, ranging from desperate empty-handed resistance following the occupation, homelessness and displacement, witnessing the destruction of their homes and the massacre of their relatives and dear ones to seeking assistance from international organizations and engaging in futile political deals and the gamble of negotiation with the occupier, a gamble that yielded nothing but a heavy loss, and the mediation of those powers that were the main culprits in the creation and continuation of their plight and suffering.
 The outcome of this historic experience helped the new zealous generation of this valorous nation to reach the summit of awakening and broad-mindedness and caused the volcano of the Intifada to erupt.
 On the opposite front also various steps were taken on a different path, ranging from merciless and unbridled ferocity, genocide and wrathful demolition, military aggression against neighbors and claims to the territories from the Nile to the Euphrates, to political and economic encroachment on the region by profiting from the weakness and betrayal on the part of certain politicians of the Islamic world and, all of a sudden, confronting the awakening of the sleeping lion of Palestine and the roaring Intifada of a nation fed up with and rising against oppression.
 Today, the product of this adventurous process, which was reliant all the time on the money and might of the United States and Britain and their shameful support for Zionist criminals, is wavering and despair on the part of those ruling the usurper Zionist regime and their coming face to face with the sweeping wave of rising Islamic awakening.
 It is true that Palestine is even today the scene of the most heinous crimes in human history being committed by alien and usurper Zionists against the oppressed owners of Palestinian territories, and the most brutal atrocities are being openly and boastfully perpetrated by the Zionist regime in an unprecedented manner.
 However, a glance at what has happened over the past sixty years reveals a surprising reality, which serves as a lesson, and this reality is nothing but a great change on the scene and the shift of power from one front to the other both in Palestine and in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
 As a matter of fact, Western politicians had planned and given rise to the tragedy of the usurpation of Palestine with the intention of ensuring their long-term control and domination of Palestinian territories."
-"Title: The story of the usurping of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-Think of the Palestine of the 1940's: a land in the heart of the Arab world, a poor country with a weak government and an unaware nation and some neighbors installed by colonial powers. The wealthiest and most evil Western government with the greatest stockpile of arms and weapons, provoked by the Zionists, took it away from Muslims and entrusted it to a racist, belligerent and terrorist party which received support from all Western countries and from both of the world's two political blocs that were at odds with each other.
+"Think of the Palestine of the 1940's: a land in the heart of the Arab world, a poor country with a weak government and an unaware nation and some neighbors installed by colonial powers. The wealthiest and most evil Western government with the greatest stockpile of arms and weapons, provoked by the Zionists, took it away from Muslims and entrusted it to a racist, belligerent and terrorist party which received support from all Western countries and from both of the world's two political blocs that were at odds with each other.
 It also received services from the puppet regimes in the region, including the Pahlavi regime in Iran and others that had turned their backs on Islam and Arab nations. It was provided with money, weapons, science and technology from everywhere. The United States acted as its guardian, attorney and caterer, and this was the only issue on which the former Soviet Union expressed no disagreement with the United States.
 The UN resolutions, even in their weak and conservative form, were utterly ignored by the forged and rogue Zionist regime. Relying on the backing and support on the part of the United States and Europe, the Zionist regime launched a military offensive on Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and occupied some parts of their territories with the intention of annexing them.
 The Zionist regime openly and audaciously made threats to assassinate, kill and plunder, and notorious terrorists took power one after another in this regime, the last of whom was the infamous butcher of 'Sabra and Shatila'. For tens of years, the usurper Zionist regime remained on the scene of Palestine with a violent, inflexible and invincible face."
-"Title: U.S. is the main culprit in the failure of resolving the Palestinian issue - Khamenei.ir
-Those powers that claim to oppose tyranny and dictatorship are themselves the most despotic and tyrannical regimes in the world. Even in the case of Palestine, it is the U.S. officials and nobody else that are to blame for the Middle East issue not having been resolved yet. They claim that Iran is preventing the settlement of the Middle East dispute! But it is in fact the U.S. officials that are doing so. Disregarding a nation has no result except this. You are trying to eliminate the Palestinian nation with a several-thousand-year historical background from the political equations of the region, something which is not possible. This is why you are experiencing defeat and failure. You are supporting and backing up a rabid dog that is attacking Palestinian men, women, children, the young and the elderly. It is clear that the Middle East issue will not be solved in this manner. One should be naïve if he thinks that it is possible to trample a nation and still expect them to do nothing in the face of oppression, tyranny and pressure. This is not possible.
+"Those powers that claim to oppose tyranny and dictatorship are themselves the most despotic and tyrannical regimes in the world. Even in the case of Palestine, it is the U.S. officials and nobody else that are to blame for the Middle East issue not having been resolved yet. They claim that Iran is preventing the settlement of the Middle East dispute! But it is in fact the U.S. officials that are doing so. Disregarding a nation has no result except this. You are trying to eliminate the Palestinian nation with a several-thousand-year historical background from the political equations of the region, something which is not possible. This is why you are experiencing defeat and failure. You are supporting and backing up a rabid dog that is attacking Palestinian men, women, children, the young and the elderly. It is clear that the Middle East issue will not be solved in this manner. One should be naïve if he thinks that it is possible to trample a nation and still expect them to do nothing in the face of oppression, tyranny and pressure. This is not possible.
 It is a few years now since the beginning of the Intifada in Palestine. The young Palestinian generation that is the motive force of the Intifada will not be diverted by worldly enticements. It is not possible to put out the flame of the Intifada, unless you recognize the rights of the Palestinian nation and opt for the solution to the issue of Palestine that has been presented by the Islamic Republic.
 This solution calls for holding a referendum on the future of Palestine among all the Palestinians who belong to this land, and for the establishment of a government based on the results of the referendum. The established government can then decide about the non-Palestinian immigrants currently living in Palestine."
-"Title: Khamenei.ir
-The solution to the issue of Palestine
+"The solution to the issue of Palestine
 Palestine is both oppressed and powerful
 Apr 26, 2022
 The issue of Palestine is the World of Islam’s top priority

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-Title: Biography of Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution - Khamenei.ir
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 On the 19th of April 1939, the future Leader of Islamic Iran was born in the holy city of Mashhad, in the province of Khorasan. Sayyed Ali was the second son of Sayyed Javad Khamenei, a humble and poor Islamic scholar who taught all members of his family how to lead a simple, humble way of life.
 
 "My father, though a well-known religious figure, was a bit of an ascetic. We had a hard life. Sometimes for supper we had nothing but bread with some raisins, which our mother had somehow improvised.... our house, some sixty-five square meters, consisted of a single room and a gloomy basement. When visitors came to see my father as the local cleric to consult about their problems, the family had to move into the basement while the visit went on.... Years later some charitable persons bought the small, empty lot adjacent to our house, so we were able to build two more rooms."

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-Title: Palestine belongs to Palestinians - Khamenei.ir
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 We believe that all Palestinian lands belong to the Palestinians. Those who tried to wipe Palestine off the map of the world made a mistake. Such a thing will not happen. Palestine will survive. The usurpers have occupied Palestine for a few decades, but there is no doubt that Palestinian lands will be restored to the people of Palestine and to the world of Islam. And this will happen. The people of Palestine are vigilant. Palestine cannot be partitioned. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians entirely. The Islamic Republic presented the solution to the Palestinian issue several years ago. The solution to the issue of Palestine is not the kind of solutions that America and other such countries present. Such solutions will prove ineffective. The solution is to hold a referendum among the people of Palestine. Any government that receives the majority of the votes in the referendum will rule the entire Palestinian lands. Then that government will decide what to do with the Zionists who immigrated to Palestine. And this depends on the decision of the government that will be elected by the people of Palestine.

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-Title: Defending Palestine is a must for all Muslims - Khamenei.ir
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 The enemies of the world of Islam have always tried to make maximum use of denominational, tribal, geographical and regional differences. And today, they are using modern instruments to fulfill their purpose. We should pay attention to this and we should awaken.
 They want to busy us with one another so that they can distract our attention from the main point. They want to pit Muslim ethnicities, nations and denominations - including Shia, Sunni and other Islamic denominations - against one another so that the issue of Israel will be forgotten. The issue of occupying Palestine should have made us get close to one another. But they are using it to make us drift away from one another. They create discord in the world of Islam and pit governments against one another by using the issue of Palestine.
 The issue of Palestine is a clear issue. There is no Islamic denomination that has any doubts about the fact that jihad is wajib for Muslims whenever an Islamic land is under attack. All Islamic denominations share this belief and there is no ground for disagreement on this matter. However, the enemies cast doubt on this matter which all Muslims believe in. They create division among Muslims, they provoke denominational and tribal prejudice and they fuel its fire so that they can freely pursue their goals.

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-Title: Imam Khomeini’s Biography - Khamenei.ir
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 Introduction
 
 Imam Ayatollah Seyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was a Muslim cleric and Marja, and the political leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Following the Revolution, Imam Khomeini became Grand Leader of Iran — the paramount figure in the political system of the new Islamic Republic — until his demise.

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-Title: Palestine, a big wound on the body of Islamic Ummah - Khamenei.ir
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 Take a look at the conditions of Palestine in the present time. Palestine is only an example. Of course, it is a very important example, but the situation is not particular to Palestine. Take a look at Palestine and see that the Islamic Ummah suffers from a great wound which is the disaster that has befallen the great people and the historical and holy land of Palestine. What have they done to this land? What have they done to these people? What are they doing to them in the present time? Is the event of Gaza forgettable? Is it possible to erase it from the mind of the Islamic Ummah?
 The pressures, savage acts, cruelties and oppressions that have been committed against the people of Gaza continue to exist even after the 22-day war during which the Zionist government was defeated and failed to achieve its goals. But despite these crimes, the Islamic Ummah cannot defend them. The Islamic Ummah has faced this phenomenon as if it were not related to it. It behaves as though it were not its right to stand up against this usurpation. It behaves as though this oppression were not shown against it. Why are we like this? Why has the Islamic Ummah faced this situation?
 A dangerous and deadly cancer - namely, the fake Zionist and Israeli government - has been created by the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Ummah. Its supporters - who have collaborated with it in showing oppression and committing great sins - continue to support it while the Islamic Ummah cannot defend itself. This is our weakness. Why is that? We should make up for this weakness by returning to Islam and pivoting around the teachings of the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.w.a.).

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-Title: The path to liberating Palestine is nothing but resistance - Khamenei.ir
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 The path of Quds, the path of Palestine and the path of resolving the issue of Palestine is the path of fighting. As was pointed out by the gentlemen in this meeting, there is no other path for Palestine. I am happy to see that all of you agree with and believe in this issue. Those people who do not accept this path - whether knowingly or unknowingly - are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine. If they are doing this knowingly, then this is called treachery. If they are doing it unknowingly, then this is called ignorance and negligence. In any case, it is a blow to the issue of Palestine. Such people are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine.
 Palestine has no way other than resistance. The people of Palestine should say and want this and Islamic governments should echo it. Of course, many Arab governments dismally failed their test on the issue of Gaza and other issues before that. They failed dismally. Whenever there was a talk about the issue of Palestine, they said, "The issue of Palestine is the issue of Arabs". But when it was time for action, the issue of Palestine was completely removed from their equations.
 Instead of helping Palestine and the Palestinians, instead of helping their Arab brothers and instead of being committed to their Arabic principles - even if they do not believe in Islam - all of them left the arena. They failed dismally in this test and these things will be recorded in history. The negative consequences of this action are not particular to the afterlife. Rather, they will witness the consequences in this world as well, as God's assistance to you who are fighting is not particular to the afterlife.

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-Title: The issue of Palestine is an issue to be concerned of by all Muslims - Khamenei.ir
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 The issue of Gaza and Palestine is our issue. It is our Islamic issue. It is the issue of all Muslims and it is our responsibility. What we are doing is our responsibility and we do not ask anyone to thank us for this. We have carried out our responsibility and we ask Allah the Exalted to help us continue carrying out our responsibilities... Any Palestinian who stepped away from resistance suffered a loss. Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Even if it were honest, it would not have any right in Palestine and therefore, its request would be illegitimate. But Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Those people who took the path of negotiations were forced to accept the enemy's impositions. If they had turned away from the path of the enemy's impositions even for one moment, they would have been either eliminated or humiliated. You have witnessed both cases. They eliminated some and they humiliated and disowned the rest.

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-Title: The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for the U.S. for centuries to come - Khamenei.ir
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 The issue of Gaza is not the issue of a small piece of land. The issue of Palestine is not only a geographical issue. It is the issue of humanity and human principles. Today, the issue of Palestine is a dividing line between commitment and hostility to human principles. This issue has such significance.
 Without a doubt, America will suffer a loss in this deal. These historical eras and these ten, twenty, thirty-year historical developments are like a moment and they will soon pass. But the history and future of America will definitely suffer a loss as a result of the movement that they launched in the past 50, 60 years with regards to the issue of Palestine. The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for America for many years in the future.
 Palestine will be liberated. You should have no doubt about this. Palestine will definitely be liberated. It will be restored to the people of Palestine and a Palestinian government will be formed in this country. There is no doubt about this, but America's disgrace and notoriety will not disappear. They will continue to be disgraced.

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-Title: All governments are responsible with regards to Palestine - Khamenei.ir
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 The issue of Palestine is an Islamic issue. All peoples are responsible towards Palestine. All governments are responsible towards Palestine, whether Muslim or non-Muslim governments. Any government which claims to advocate humanity is responsible towards this issue.
 However, Muslims' responsibility in this regard is a heavier one. Islamic governments are responsible and they should carry out their responsibility on this issue. Any government which does not carry out its responsibility on the issue of Palestine will suffer a loss. This is because nations have awakened and they want governments to do such things. Therefore, governments have to give in to this issue and they have to surrender.

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-Title: The biggest and most dreadful violation of human rights by West occurs in Gaza - Khamenei.ir
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 Today, America and the west are lying in a blatant day on the issue of Palestine and many other issues. They are lying in a blatant way. They completely misinterpret a great disaster such as the disaster of Gaza in the 22-day war. I would like to remind you that we should pay attention to this issue. Today, Gaza and Palestine are an arena of disgrace for the west. The west with is claim to support human rights has ignored the greatest and the most disastrous violation of human rights in Gaza.
 Last year, westerners did not say a single word in favor and in defense of the people of Gaza for many days. Many days passed while we were listening carefully to see if any word in favor of the people of Gaza is uttered by the Europeans - let alone the Americans - by human rights organizations and by so-called defenders of freedom. But no word was uttered. They began to talk after the people in different countries raised their voices and held different processions and demonstrations and when the scandal heated up. However, it was just talking. The west did not show any support for the people of Gaza against such a great disaster which was taking place in front of everyone's eyes. And the west has continued to adopt the same positions until today.
 The United Nations disgraced itself. America was disgraced and it became even more disgraced. They did not show any support even after the Goldstone Report was released and everyone became aware of it. Today, the savage and criminal leaders of the Zionist regime should be put to trial and punished, but nothing is being done in this regard. No measure is being adopted. On the contrary, support for the usurping and fake Zionist regime is increasing even more than this. These things have brought shame on the west... I would tell you that today, the western civilization has been challenged on the issue of Palestine. Today, the claim of western liberal democracy has been questioned. This means that you in Palestine have brought down and dismissed this western claim which had survived for several centuries and with which the west used to rule over the entire world. Resistance - the one that you are showing - has such significance and greatness.

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-Title: The only solution to the issue of Palestine is resistance and fighting - Khamenei.ir
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 The only way to solve the issue of Palestine is resistance and fighting. This is correct, but this resistance and fighting is dependent on preserving the people's morale and hope and their presence on the scene. In my opinion, this is the greatest task that Palestinian groups, organizations and activists should carry out.
 The purpose of the pressures that are exerted on Gaza by both sides - whether by Zionists or by westerners - is to make the people turn away from resistance. The purpose of the pressures which are exerted on the West Bank - on the issue of Jewish settlements, on the issue of Quds, which was referred to by one of the friends in this meeting, on the issue of shocking and drastic measures, on the issue of the Israeli West Bank barrier and other such issues - is to make the people turn away from resistance and to submit. We should not allow this to happen. You should not allow this to happen. You should keep the people of Palestine and Gaza - these resistant and strong people - hopeful so that they know their great movement will produce results.

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-Title: The enemy seeks to obliterate the Palestinian cause - Khamenei.ir
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 The issue of Palestine is not a minor issue. About 60-plus years have passed from the occupation of Palestine. Several generations of these people – the Palestinians - have come and gone, but the Palestinian ideal has thrived. The enemy is trying to destroy the Palestinian ideal, but the Palestinian ideal has thrived.
 Unfortunately, Arab governments are so busy doing other things that they do not have the time or they do not want to attend to the issue of Palestine. Standing on ceremony with other countries, different other considerations and aligning oneself with America and others do not allow them to do so. The issue of Palestine is a very important issue. We cannot abandon the issue of Palestine. Today, the Intifada of the people of Palestine has begun in the West Bank. The people are fighting, but the judgment that arrogant bullhorns make is a completely oppressive judgment. When a person whose house has been occupied, whose life is in danger and who does not have financial security – they come and destroy his house with a bulldozer, they engage in building settlements and they destroy his farm – attacks with a stone, they say that that person is a terrorist! This is while the organization that is destroying that person’s life, security, dignity, wealth and world is referred to as innocent. They say that this organization is defending itself. This is very strange. This is one of the wonders of today’s world!
 Someone has come and has usurped a house. They have thrown out the owner of the house and they are constantly oppressing him. They say to him that he should not defend himself, but he is defending himself. If the oppressed owner – who has lost his security and his house, and whose wife, children, dignity and everything he has are under threat – swears at the usurper or throws a stone at him, they call him a terrorist. Is this a minor thing? Is this a minor wrongdoing? Is it a minor mistake? Is it a minor act of oppression that can be forgiven? This cannot be forgiven! We will defend the movement of the Palestinian nation with all our power as long as we can and in whatever way we can!

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-Title: The issue of Palestine is an issue of Islam regardless of being Arab or non-Arab - Khamenei.ir
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 Two months ago the Muslim Ummah gained another victory - that is, the victory of the Palestinian Resistance Movement over their Zionist enemies in Gaza. That was a great and glorious victory. What victory can be more impressive than defeating a powerful army that had managed to defeat three powerful armies between 1967and 1973? What could be more impressive than 22 days of futile efforts of a powerful army against the resisting youth and persistent soldiers of Gaza? The Zionist army was forced to retreat empty-handed. In addition, the Zionist regime and its supporters, especially the US, were disgraced in the world. They were publicly disgraced. That was a great victory for all Muslims. It led Muslims to a kind of unity. This time they could not resort to the Shia-Sunni conflict. They brought up the issue of ethnicity this time. They started a debate, arguing that the Palestinian issue was an Arab issue and that non-Arabs had no right to get involved in the issue. The Palestinian issue is an Islamic issue. It is not peculiar to Arabs or non-Arabs.
 If ethnicity was dragged into the matters of importance to the world of Islam, the greatest source of discord would be created. When ethnicity is dragged into the matters of importance to the world of Islam, Arabs, Iranians, Turks, Kurds, Indonesians, Malaysians, Pakistanis, and Indians will have to be separate from one another. What will remain of the Muslim Ummah if such a thing happens? Is it not a disaster for the Muslim Ummah and its collective capabilities?
 These are the machinations of arrogant powers and, unfortunately, some people in the world of Islam have fallen for these machinations. They do not want to let the sweet memory of the victories in Lebanon and Gaza remain in the minds of Muslims. They found that situation unpleasant and, therefore, they thought up a source of discord to separate Muslims from one another.

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-Title: Providing all-inclusive assistance to Palestinians and thoroughly supporting them is kafa’i obligation for Muslims - Khamenei.ir
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 Our great community, with the blessing of the Islamic awakening, possesses tremendous power. The key to the solution of many of the problems of the Muslim countries lies in resoluteness and solidarity. The question of Palestine is the most urgent problem of the Islamic world.
 At times some people are heard to say that Palestine is an Arab problem. What does that mean? If it means that there is a stronger feeling of consanguinity among the Arabs, who are willing to offer Palestine a greater service and do more struggle for its sake, that is something desirable and we welcome it. But if it means that the heads of some Arab countries should refuse to pay any heed to the cries of help of the Palestinian people which are addressed to all Muslims, if it means that they may collaborate with the ruthless usurper enemy in such an important case as the tragedy of Gaza while loudly condemning others who cannot remain indifferent to their call of duty to help Gaza- then no proud and conscientious Muslim or Arab will accept it, nor spare the speaker of disapproval and reproach. It is the same as the logic of Akhzam, who used to beat his father and chide others for interfering. After him, his son would assault the grandfather with his fists. The fable is the source of an Arabic proverb. (Which means: My sons have left me covered with blood, a custom that I know was laid down by Akhzam)
 Offering a multi-faceted assistance to the people of Palestine and complete support is a joint duty of all Muslims. The governments which criticize the Islamic Republic of Iran and some other Muslim countries for assisting Palestine should come forward to bear the burden of such support so that others are relieved of this Islamic duty. But if they lack the ability and courage to do so, instead of criticism and causing hindrance, they should appreciate the dutiful and courageous steps taken by others.

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-Title: Palestine will regain its Islamic-Arabic identity - Khamenei.ir
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 A big fallacy which has taken control of the minds of some persons concerning the problem of Palestine is that a country named Israel is a 60-year old reality with which one has to reconcile. I do not know why these people do not learn from other realities that are in front of their eyes. Is it not a fact that the countries of the Balkans, Caucasus, and Southwest Asia reclaimed their identity after 80 years of loss, and after being parts of the former Soviet Union? Why cannot Palestine, which is part of the body of the Islamic world, reclaim its Islamic and Arab identity? Why cannot the Palestinian youths, who are among the most astute and resistant of Arab youth, overcome this unjust reality by their will and resolution?
 Another big fallacy is to say that negotiation is the only means of deliverance for the Palestinian nation. With whom are these negotiations to be held? With a usurper, misguided and bullying regime which does not believe in anything except force? What have those who have been captivated with this game and delusion achieved?
 Firstly, what they obtained from the Zionists in the form of the Palestinian Authority- its humiliating and disgraceful character aside- was at the enormous cost of having to recognize the ownership of the usurper regime over nearly the entire Palestine.

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-Title: Intifada echoes across Hispanic America: Latin America’s response to unfolding Gaza tragedy - Khamenei.ir
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 “If they were to force you out of your homes, what would you do? Palestine bears the burden of Israel’s occupation, suffering under the weight of an arrogant occupying regime primed for war. In a recent surge of resistance along the West Bank, be it in the streets of Gaza or the alleys of Jerusalem, stones stand resilient against bullets. Intifada (Arabic for civil uprising)! Intifada! Intifada! Freedom.”
 
 These verses belong to the song "Intifada," which saw thousands of Chileans participating in an unprecedented event on November 12. They sang in harmony with the Spanish music group SKA-P in Santiago, the capital of Chile.

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-Title: 9/11: a plot for an Israel-centered Middle East - Khamenei.ir
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 The Americans used the event that happened on the 20th of Shahrivar - that is to say, the 11th of September - four, five years ago as a pretext to pursue their greedy desires in the Middle East region. Their main goal was to build a kind of Middle East which would pivot around the interests of Israel. As we used to say in those days, they wanted to build a kind of Middle East whose capital would be Israel... Analyze each and every part of this plot. In Palestine, this plot failed to achieve results. In Palestine - which was a strategic point - this plot failed. Why? Because in Palestine, it was Hamas, the biggest and the main opposition group against Israel, which formed the government after being elected by the people. Is there any slap across the face - delivered to America and Israel - which is harder than this? Since the day that this government was formed, they are constantly creating obstacles so that they can throw it out of the arena. But they have not managed to do this until today. Unfortunately, they have received help from a number of Palestinians in order to bring this popular government to its knees. But, thankfully, they have not managed to do this until today. We hope that they will not manage to do this from now on either.

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-Title: Palestine should be ruled by a single government elected by all Palestinians - Khamenei.ir
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 Today, all Muslim nations should treat the issue of Palestine as their own issue. This is a mysterious key that will open the doors of deliverance to the Muslim Ummah. Palestine should return to the Palestinian nation, and a single Palestinian government, elected by all Palestinians, should administer the entire Palestinian territories.
 The fifty-year efforts of Britain and the United States and Zionists to remove the word 'Palestine' from world maps and incorporate the Palestinian nation into other nations have proved futile, and their pressures, injustice and cruelty have yielded contrary results. Today, the Palestinian people are livelier, more valorous and more efficient than their predecessors who lived some sixty years ago.
 This process which has emerged as a result of faith, jihad and the glorious Intifada will continue, and this divine promise will be fulfilled that "Allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will most certainly make them rulers in the earth as He made rulers those before them, and that He will most certainly establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them, and that He will most certainly, after their fear, give them security in exchange; they shall serve Me, not associating aught with Me; and those who disbelieve henceforth, they are rebellious and wicked." (the Holy Qur'an, 24: 55)

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-Title: The usurping of Palestine for a long period of time was plotted, executed by Western politicians - Khamenei.ir
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 The present age is the era of Islamic awakening, and Palestine lies at the center of this awakening. Almost sixty years have passed since the occupation of Palestine, and the oppressed Palestinian people have endured hard times and undergone various trials, ranging from desperate empty-handed resistance following the occupation, homelessness and displacement, witnessing the destruction of their homes and the massacre of their relatives and dear ones to seeking assistance from international organizations and engaging in futile political deals and the gamble of negotiation with the occupier, a gamble that yielded nothing but a heavy loss, and the mediation of those powers that were the main culprits in the creation and continuation of their plight and suffering.
 The outcome of this historic experience helped the new zealous generation of this valorous nation to reach the summit of awakening and broad-mindedness and caused the volcano of the Intifada to erupt.
 On the opposite front also various steps were taken on a different path, ranging from merciless and unbridled ferocity, genocide and wrathful demolition, military aggression against neighbors and claims to the territories from the Nile to the Euphrates, to political and economic encroachment on the region by profiting from the weakness and betrayal on the part of certain politicians of the Islamic world and, all of a sudden, confronting the awakening of the sleeping lion of Palestine and the roaring Intifada of a nation fed up with and rising against oppression.

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-Title: The story of the usurping of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
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 Think of the Palestine of the 1940's: a land in the heart of the Arab world, a poor country with a weak government and an unaware nation and some neighbors installed by colonial powers. The wealthiest and most evil Western government with the greatest stockpile of arms and weapons, provoked by the Zionists, took it away from Muslims and entrusted it to a racist, belligerent and terrorist party which received support from all Western countries and from both of the world's two political blocs that were at odds with each other.
 It also received services from the puppet regimes in the region, including the Pahlavi regime in Iran and others that had turned their backs on Islam and Arab nations. It was provided with money, weapons, science and technology from everywhere. The United States acted as its guardian, attorney and caterer, and this was the only issue on which the former Soviet Union expressed no disagreement with the United States.
 The UN resolutions, even in their weak and conservative form, were utterly ignored by the forged and rogue Zionist regime. Relying on the backing and support on the part of the United States and Europe, the Zionist regime launched a military offensive on Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and occupied some parts of their territories with the intention of annexing them.

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-Title: U.S. is the main culprit in the failure of resolving the Palestinian issue - Khamenei.ir
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 Those powers that claim to oppose tyranny and dictatorship are themselves the most despotic and tyrannical regimes in the world. Even in the case of Palestine, it is the U.S. officials and nobody else that are to blame for the Middle East issue not having been resolved yet. They claim that Iran is preventing the settlement of the Middle East dispute! But it is in fact the U.S. officials that are doing so. Disregarding a nation has no result except this. You are trying to eliminate the Palestinian nation with a several-thousand-year historical background from the political equations of the region, something which is not possible. This is why you are experiencing defeat and failure. You are supporting and backing up a rabid dog that is attacking Palestinian men, women, children, the young and the elderly. It is clear that the Middle East issue will not be solved in this manner. One should be naïve if he thinks that it is possible to trample a nation and still expect them to do nothing in the face of oppression, tyranny and pressure. This is not possible.
 It is a few years now since the beginning of the Intifada in Palestine. The young Palestinian generation that is the motive force of the Intifada will not be diverted by worldly enticements. It is not possible to put out the flame of the Intifada, unless you recognize the rights of the Palestinian nation and opt for the solution to the issue of Palestine that has been presented by the Islamic Republic.
 This solution calls for holding a referendum on the future of Palestine among all the Palestinians who belong to this land, and for the establishment of a government based on the results of the referendum. The established government can then decide about the non-Palestinian immigrants currently living in Palestine.

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-Title: Khamenei.ir
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 The solution to the issue of Palestine
 
 Palestine is both oppressed and powerful

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-Title: Muslims have the upper hand in the issue of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-
 The issue of Palestine is the primary issue of the world of Islam. Fortunately, on the issue of Palestine, Muslims have gradually gained the upper hand. You should take a look at the events of the 50-day war in Gaza and see how a limited number of Palestinians -- who did not have powerful weapons, enough resources, and means of communication -- managed to defeat the Zionist regime which is the symbol of Western power in the region. Notice how they managed to impose their requests upon them and how they frustrated their effort to attack Gaza.
 This shows that we are strong on the inside. We have many capabilities, we can challenge every enemy, and we can defend ourselves. We should not underestimate our power. The power of Islam, the power of the Holy Quran, the power of faith, and the power of the Islamic Ummah is a great power. --This power should not be underestimated because it can resist oppression. We do not intend to dominate the world, rather we intend to condemn and resist the oppression of arrogant governments that bully Muslim nations. We intend to resist oppression, and we can.

combined/texts/30.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-Title: The Zionist regime against Hamas: Defeat in the form of a KO - Khamenei.ir
-
 Ruhollah Abdolmaleki, researcher in regional studies
 
 In his book All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity, Marshall Berman has a famous phrase quoted from Marx, which is also seen in the title of his book: “All that is solid melts into air.” Even though this book is an outlook on the impact of culture on the process of modernization, Berman's words were a summation of what happened on October 7. The Leader of Iran described it as the victory of a small group that “was able to burn down and put an end to” everything that the Zionist regime had boasted about to the world regarding the superiority of its military and intelligence “in a matter of hours” (“Ultimate Victory”). Therefore, Hamas fighters inflicted irreparable blows on the military and intelligence of the Zionist regime through a calculated, surprising plan.

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@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-Title: Palestine's bright future - Khamenei.ir
+Despite all enmities, Good Word of Islamic Republic is becoming stronger everyday.
 
-Thursday, January 23, 2025
+08/21/2016

combined/texts/32.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-Title: Palestine is both oppressed and powerful - Khamenei.ir
-
 Palestine is an oppressed power. Palestine is truly strong today. The Palestinian youth do not allow the question of Palestine to be forgotten and they're standing up in opposition to the enemy's crimes.
 
 Click on the image to view the large size

combined/texts/33.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-Title: Any plan to divide Palestine is doomed to failure: Ayatollah Khamenei - Khamenei.ir
-
 Our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of "recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, "recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in "1948 lands".Our magnanimous Imam announced that one of the goals of the Revolution was to liberate Palestine and to remove the cancerous tumor, Israel. The powerful waves of this Revolution, which engulfed the entire world at that time, conveyed this message wherever it reached: "Palestine must be liberated." Even the repeated and great problems that the enemies of the Revolution imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran failed to discourage the Islamic Republic from defending Palestine. One instance of the problems that they caused was the eight-year war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussein who had been goaded by America and England and was supported by reactionary Arab governments.
 
 Thus, new blood was pumped into the veins of Palestine. Muslim resistance groups started to emerge in Palestine. The Lebanese Resistance formed a powerful and new front against the enemy and its supporters. Instead of relying on Arab governments and seeking help from global organizations such as the United Nations, which were accomplices of the arrogant powers, Palestine started to rely on itself, its youth, its deep Islamic faith and its selfless men and women. This is the key to all achievements.

combined/texts/34.txt

@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
-Title: The issue of Palestine is the World of Islam’s top priority - Khamenei.ir
-
 Today, the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the world of Islam. Anyone who has a correct understanding of the issue of Palestine acknowledges that the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the world of Islam. The key to defeating the enemies of Islam is the issue of Palestine. The most important issue of the world of Islam in the present time is the issue of Palestine. Why is that? This is because Palestine is an Islamic country. They have come and occupied this country. They have taken it away from its people. The issue is not about usurping a village or city. The enemy has usurped a country and it has used it as a base for jeopardizing the security of regional countries. One should fight against a cancerous tumor.
 Notice that if a person issues a fatwa as a religious mufti saying that fighting against Zionism is haram, that helping such and such a group which is fighting against Zionism is not allowed, this is really a disaster to witness that some people in the world of Islam are acting against the interests of Islam and have friendly relations with the enemies. This is the exact opposite of the Quran's clear words: "Those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, but compassionate among each other" [The Holy Quran, 48: 29]. However, those people are strong against Muslims, but compassionate among unbelievers. They are on good terms with them, but notice what they are doing to Muslims.

combined/texts/35.txt

@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
-Title: Forgetting the issue of Palestine is the enemies’ goal - Khamenei.ir
-
 If Muslims are united, Palestine will not be in the situation that it is in now. Today, Palestine is in a difficult situation. Gaza and the West Bank are in a difficult situation, both in different ways. Today, the people of Palestine are under serious pressures on a daily basis. They want to erase the issue of Palestine from the minds of people and consign it to oblivion. They want to, as they say, busy the West Asian region, including our own countries – this is an extraordinarily sensitive and strategic region, it is a sensitive region in terms of geography, natural resources and sea passageways - with themselves.
 They want Muslims to stand up against Muslims and Arabs against Arabs. They want them to target and destroy one another so that the armies of Muslim countries – particularly those armies that are neighboring the Zionists – weaken on a daily basis. This is their goal.

combined/texts/4.txt

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-Title: Sowing discord and conflict among Muslims is enemy’s trick to make Palestine ignored - Khamenei.ir
-
 It is in such conditions that the enemy is focusing all its efforts on making the Islamic Ummah forget about Palestine. How do they want to do this? They want to do this by creating discord, waging domestic wars, promoting deviant extremism in the name of Islam, religion and Islamic sharia. They want a group of people to say takfiri things against Muslims. The existence of these takfiri orientations which have emerged in the world of Islam is good news for arrogance and the enemies of the world of Islam. It is these takfiri orientations that attract the attention of Muslims towards insignificant issues instead of letting them pay attention to the truth about the existence of the malevolent Zionist regime.
 This is the exact opposite of what Islam wants. Islam has asked Muslims to be "strong against unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other" [The Holy Quran, 48, 29]. Muslims should be strong against the enemies of religion. They should stand firm and they should not be influenced by the enemies. Being "strong against unbelievers" is the clear message of this ayah. Muslims should be compassionate towards one another, they should stay together and join hands and they should hold fast to the rope which Allah stretches out for them. This is the command of Islam.
 Now what happens if an orientation emerges which divides Muslims into believers and unbelievers, which targets a group of people as unbelievers and which pits Muslims against one another? Who can doubt the role of arrogance and the security services of arrogant and malevolent governments in creating, supporting and enriching these orientations and in equipping them with weapons? These arrogant powers sit and plan for this. The world of Islam should attend to this issue because it is a grave danger.

combined/texts/5.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-Title: The colonial British government is at top of usurping Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-
 More than six decades have passed since the tragic occupation of Palestine. All the main causes of this bloody tragedy have been identified and the colonialist English government is the most important cause. The policies, weapons and military, security, economic and cultural power of the English government and other arrogant western and eastern governments were put to the service of this great oppression. Under the ruthless clutches of the occupiers, the defenseless people of Palestine were massacred and forced out of their homes. Until today even one percent of the human and civil tragedy - which was carried out at that time by the claimants of civilization and ethics - has not been properly portrayed and this tragedy has not had its fair share in the media and visual arts. The owners of visual and cinematic arts and western movie mafias have not been willing to allow this to happen. An entire nation was massacred and displaced in silence.
 Certain instances of resistance emerged at the beginning, which were harshly and ruthlessly crushed. From outside Palestinian borders and mainly from Egypt, a number of men with Islamic motives made certain efforts which were not sufficiently supported and could not have an effect on the scene.
 Afterwards there were full-scale and classical wars between a few Arab countries and the Zionist army. Egypt, Syria and Jordan mobilized their military forces, but the unconditional, massive and increasing military and financial support of America, England and France for the Zionist regime overwhelmed Arab armies. Not only did they fail to help the Palestinian nation, but they also lost an important portion of their territories during these wars.

combined/texts/6.txt

@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
-Title: The Islamic Republic’s proposal for solving the issue of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-
 The solution of the Islamic Republic to the issue of Palestine and this old wound is a clear and logical proposal that is based on political wisdom accepted by global public opinion and it has been presented in detail previously. We neither propose a classical war with the armies of Islamic countries, nor do we propose throwing Jewish immigrants into the sea or intervention of the United Nations and other international organizations. We propose a referendum among the Palestinian people. Just like any other nation, the Palestinian nation has the right to determine its own destiny and to elect its own government. All the original people of Palestine - including Muslims, Christians and Jews and not foreign immigrants - should take part in a general and orderly referendum and determine the future government of Palestine whether they live inside Palestine or in camps or in any other place. The government that is established after the referendum will determine the destiny of non-Palestinian immigrants who migrated to Palestine in the past. This is a fair and logical proposal which global public opinion understands and it can receive support from independent nations and governments.
 Of course we do not expect the usurping Zionists to willingly accept this proposal and this is where the role of governments, nations and resistance organizations becomes significant. The most important pillar of supporting the Palestinian nation is to stop supporting the usurping enemy and this is the great duty of Islamic governments.

combined/texts/7.txt

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-Title: Any plan to divide Palestine is absolutely refutable - Khamenei.ir
-
 Our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of "recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, "recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in "1948 lands". It would mean leaving the cancerous tumor intact and exposing the Islamic Ummah - especially the regional nations - to constant danger. It would mean bringing back decades-long sufferings and trampling upon the blood of the martyrs.
 Any operational solution must be based on the principle of "all of Palestine for all Palestinian people". Palestine is the land that extends "from the river to the sea", not one inch less than that. Of course it should be noted that through its elected government, the Palestinian people will run the affairs of the any part of the Palestinian soil they manage to liberate, just as they did in the case of Gaza, but they will never forget the ultimate goal.
 The second point is that in order to reach this lofty goal, what is necessary is action, not words. It is necessary to be serious, not to make ceremonial gestures. It is necessary to have patience and wisdom, not engage in a variety of impatient actions. It is necessary to consider horizons that lie far ahead and to move forward step by step with determination, reliance on God and hope.

combined/texts/8.txt

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-Title: The antidote to enemy’s treasonous plots lies in the spirit of resistance among Palestinian groups - Khamenei.ir
-
 The Oslo Accords in the year 1993 and later on in complementary plans - which were imposed one after the other on compromising and careless Palestinian groups with the intervention of America and the cooperation of colonialist European governments - the enemy tried its best to discourage the Palestinian nation and Palestinian groups from resisting through the use of empty and deceptive promises and making them busy with amateur political games. The uselessness of all these accords was revealed very soon and the Zionists and their supporters repeatedly showed that they consider these accords as worthless pieces of paper. The goal of these plans was to create doubt among the Palestinians, make materialistic unbelievers greedy and cripple Islamic resistance.
 So far, the spirit of resistance among the Islamic Palestinian groups and the Palestinian people has been the antidote to all these treacherous games. They stood up against the enemy with Allah's permission and as promised by God, they benefited from divine assistance: "And surely Allah will help him who helps His cause. Most surely Allah is Strong, Mighty." [The Holy Quran, Sura al-Hajj, Ayah 40] The resistance of Gaza in spite of a comprehensive siege was an instance of divine assistance.

combined/texts/9.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-Title: One of the goals of the Islamic Revolution is the liberation of Palestine - Khamenei.ir
-
 Our magnanimous Imam announced that one of the goals of the Revolution was to liberate Palestine and to remove the cancerous tumor, Israel. The powerful waves of this Revolution, which engulfed the entire world at that time, conveyed this message wherever it reached: "Palestine must be liberated." Even the repeated and great problems that the enemies of the Revolution imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran failed to discourage the Islamic Republic from defending Palestine. One instance of the problems that they caused was the eight-year war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussein who had been goaded by America and England and was supported by reactionary Arab governments.
 Thus, new blood was pumped into the veins of Palestine. Muslim mujahid groups started to emerge in Palestine. The Lebanese Resistance formed a powerful and new front against the enemy and its supporters. Instead of relying on Arab governments and seeking help from global organizations such as the United Nations, which were accomplices of the arrogant powers, Palestine started to rely on itself, its youth, its deep Islamic faith and its selfless men and women. This is the key to all achievements.
 Over the past three decades this process has been accelerated on a daily basis. The humiliating defeat of the Zionist regime in Lebanon in the year 2006, the humiliating failure of the arrogant Zionist army in Gaza in the year 2008, the Zionist regime's escape from South Lebanon and withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of the resistance government in Gaza and in brief, changing the Palestinian nation from a group of helpless and hopeless people to a hopeful, resistant and self-confident nation - these were the outstanding characteristics of the past thirty years.

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+title: Biography of Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution - Khamenei.ir
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+On the 19th of April 1939, the future Leader of Islamic Iran was born in the holy city of Mashhad, in the province of Khorasan. Sayyed Ali was the second son of Sayyed Javad Khamenei, a humble and poor Islamic scholar who taught all members of his family how to lead a simple, humble way of life.
+
+"My father, though a well-known religious figure, was a bit of an ascetic. We had a hard life. Sometimes for supper we had nothing but bread with some raisins, which our mother had somehow improvised.... our house, some sixty-five square meters, consisted of a single room and a gloomy basement. When visitors came to see my father as the local cleric to consult about their problems, the family had to move into the basement while the visit went on.... Years later some charitable persons bought the small, empty lot adjacent to our house, so we were able to build two more rooms."
+
+Detailed biography of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of Islamic Revolution
+
+EDUCATION
+
+At the age of four Sayyed Ali and his older brother Mohammad, were sent to maktab, the traditional primary-schools of that time, in order to learn the alphabet and the Holy Quran. Later, he was transferred to a newly established Islamic school to continue his learning.
+After this primary schooling, Sayyed Ali pursued his studies at the theological seminary in Mashhad. "The main encouraging factors for this enlightened decision were my parents, especially my father" says Ayatollah Khamenei today.
+
+At Soleiman Khan and Nawwab religious schools and under the supervision of his father and the tutorships of some great religious scholars, he studied all the 'intermediate level ' curriculum including logic, philosophy and Islamic jurisprudence in the exceptionally short time of five years. He then started his advanced level studies called darse kharij with such eminent scholars and instructors as Grand Ayatollah Milani.
+
+THE FAMED SEMINARIES OF NAJAF AND QUM
+
+The young Sayyed Ali was only eighteen years old when he started his studies at the highest level. He decided to make a pilgrimage to the holy shrines in Iraq, and so he left Iran for Najaf in 1957. He was fascinated by the theological and academic instructions of such eminent scholars such as Ayatollah Hakim and Ayatollah Shahrudi. He attended their lessons and was willing to stay there and continue his studies in order to profit from these excellent teachers. However his father made it known that he preferred his son continue his advanced studies in the holy city of Qum. Thus, respecting his father's wish, he returned to Iran in 1958.
+Diligently and enthusiastically he followed his advanced studies in Qum from 1958 to 1964 and benefited from the teachings of great scholars and grand ayatollahs such as Ayat. Borujerdi, Imam Khomeini, Ayat. Haeri Yazdi and Allamah Tabatabai.
+
+He received the bad news that his father had lost his sight in one eye and was not able to read properly. This prompted him to return to Mashhad and while being at the service of his father, seek further knowledge from him, from Ayatollah Milani and other important scholars residing in Mashhad. The young Sayyed Ali, who had now become a mujtahid by having completed his advanced level studies, began to teach various religious subjects to younger seminary and university students.
+Recalling this important point of departure in his life, the Leader says, "If there have been any successes in my life, they all go back to God's blessings favored upon me because of my dutiful caring for parents."
+
+POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
+
+"In the areas of political and revolutionary ideas and Islamic jurisprudence, I am certainly a disciple of Imam Khomeini" says Ayatollah Khamenei. He adds: "Yet the very first sparks of consciousness concerning Islamic, revolutionary ideas and the duty to fight the Shah's despotism and his British supporters, was kindled in my soul at the age of 13 when the brave cleric, Nawwab Safavi, later martyred by the Shah's regime, came to our school in Mashhad in 1952 and delivered a fiery speech against the Shah's anti-Islamic and devious policies."
+It was in Qum in 1962, that Sayyed Ali joined the ranks of the revolutionary followers of Imam Khomeini who opposed the pro-American, anti-Islamic policies of the Shah's regime.
+Dedicated and fearless, he followed this path for the next 16 years which ultimately led to the downfall of the Shah's brutal regime: persecution, torture, imprisonment and exile could not make him waver for a moment.
+
+In May of 1963 (corresponding to the holy month of Muharram), Imam Khomeini honored the young, brave cleric Sayyed Ali, with the mission of taking a secret message to Ayatollah Milani and other clergymen in Mashhad, on the ways and tactics of exposing the true nature of the Shah's regime. He fulfilled this mission properly and traveled to the city of Birjand for further propagation of Imam Khomeini's views. Here he was arrested for the first time and spent one night in jail. The following the authorities ordered him not to speak at the pulpit again. From that moment he knew that he would be under police surveillance all the time. Of course he did not submit to police threats, and as a result of his activities relating to the bloody June 1963 Uprising (15th of Khordad ), he was again arrested and transferred to Mashhad to spend ten days in prison under severe conditions.
+In January 1964 (Ramadhan 1383), according to a well-organized plan, Ayatollah Khamenei and a few close friends traveled to Kirman and Zahedan in southern Iran, to expose the phony referendum the Shah was holding for his so-called reforms. There in the course of many public speeches, he exposed the satanic American policies of the Pahlavi regime. This time, the Shah's feared intelligence agency, SAVAK, stepped in and arrested him one late evening. He was taken to Tehran by an airplane to spend two months in solitary confinement during which time he was tortured.
+Once freed, he started holding lessons on the exegeses of the Holy Quran, the Prophetic Traditions and Islamic ideology in Mashhad and Tehran. These lessons were most appreciated by the revolutionary Iranian youth. As he was sure now that SAVAK was watching him closely, he was forced to go underground in 1967. However, he was arrested again for holding such classes and Islamic discussions.
+Ayatollah Khamenei has himself explained the reasons for such measures by SAVAK:
+"From 1970 onwards, grounds for an armed movement were being laid out. Accordingly the regime's sensitivity and severity of action against me increased. They could not believe that the armed actions were not connected with a sound, Islamic ideology. They thought that there must be links between these revolutionaries and people like me because of my intellectual and diligent activities. Despite all this, after I was released, more and more people attended my classes on the Holy Quran and many were present at our clandestine gatherings."
+
+LAST ARREST AND EXILE
+
+Throughout the years 1972-1975, Ayatollah Khamenei was holding classes on the Holy Quran and Islamic ideology in three different mosques in Mashhad. These classes together with his lectures on Imam Ali's (as) Nahjul Balagha attracted thousands of conscious, politically-minded youth and students. The lectures were circulated among the people in hand-written or typed forms, in most towns and cities.
+His students traveled to distant cities to spread his lessons and ideas. All this frightened the Shah's SAVAK agents and so, in the winter of 1975, they broke into his home in Mashhad and arrested him for the 6th time and confiscated all his books and notes.
+
+Now he was detained in Tehran's notorious "Police-SAVAK Joint Prison" for many months. This had been his most trying imprisonment, and Ayatollah Khamenei has this to say about the barbarous treatment of the detainees: "These conditions may be understood only by those who suffered them..."
+In the autumn of 1975, he was freed and sent back to Mashhad and he was now completely banned from delivering lectures or holding classes.
+His clandestine activities, however, prompted SAVAK to apprehend him in the winter of 1976 and sentence him to exile for three years. This difficult period came to an end in the latter part of 1978 due to the prevailing political conditions, and Ayatollah Khamenei returned to Mashhad a few months before the triumph of the Islamic revolution. He diligently continued his political-religious activities in this momentous period of civil unrest and mass demonstrations throughout Iran.
+Thus, after nearly 15 years of bearing all sorts of torture and maltreatment at the hands of the agents of the Shah's bloodthirsty regime, he could now witness the fall of the tyrannical Pahlavi regime and the rise of an Islamic Republic in Iran.
+
+THE VICTORY OF THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION
+
+Shortly before the triumph of the Islamic Revolution (February 11, 1979) and before Imam Khomeini's victorious return to Iran from Paris, an Islamic Revolutionary Council was formed at the behest of the Imam. Ayatollah Khamenei was appointed as a member of this Council together with other important Islamic notables such Shahid Ayatollahs Motahhari and Beheshti. He, therefore, left Mashhad for Tehran to take up his new responsibilities.
+
+NEW RESPONSIBILITIES
+
+The following is a list of the services he has rendered to the Islamic Republic since that time:
+1980- Founding member of the Islamic Republic Party, together with such religious scholars and Mujahids as Shahid Beheshti, Rafsanjani, Shahid Bahonar, and Musavi-Ardebili.
+• Deputy-Minister of Defence
+• Supervisor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
+• Imam of Tehran's Friday Congregational Prayers, per Imam Khomeini's decree.
+• Elected Tehran MP in the Majlis (Consultative Assembly)
+1981- Imam Khomeini's Representative at the High Council of Defence
+• Active presence at the fronts of the Iraqi-imposed war.
+1982- Elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran following the martyrdom of President Mohammad Ali Rajai (Ayatollah Khamenei was himself the target of an assassination attempt at Abu Dhar mosque in Tehran after which he was hospitalized for a few months).
+• Appointed Chairman of the Revolution's Cultural Council.
+1986- President of the Expediency Council
+• Re-elected President of the Islamic Republic for a second 4-year term
+1989- Elected as the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the demise of Imam Khomeini.
+1990- Chairman of the Committee for Revision of the Constitution.
+
+WORKS AUTHORED AND TRANSLATIONS
+Works Authored
+
+1. Islamic Thought in the Quran (An Outline)
+2. The Profundity of Prayer
+3. A Discourse on Patience
+4. On the Four Principal Books of Traditions Concerning the Biography of Narrators.
+5. Guardianship (Wilayah)
+6. A General Report of the Islamic Seminary of Mashhad
+7. Imam Al-Saadiq (AS)
+8. Unity and Political Parties
+9. Personal Views on the Arts
+10. Understanding Religion Properly
+11. Struggles of Shia Imams (as)
+12. The Essence of God's Unity
+13. The Necessity of Returning to the Quran
+14. Imam Al-Sajjad (as)
+15. Imam Reza (as) and His Appointment as Crown Prince.
+16. The Cultural Invasion (Collection of Speeches)
+17. Collections of Speeches and Messages ( 9 Volumes )
+
+Translations (from Arabic into Farsi)
+1. Peace Treaty of Imam Hassan (AS) , by Raazi Aal-Yasseen
+2. The Future in Islamic Lands, by Sayyed Qutb
+3. Muslims in the Liberation Movement of India, by Abdulmunaim Nassri
+4. An Indictment against the Western Civilization, by Sayyed Gutb

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+title: Palestine belongs to Palestinians - Khamenei.ir
+description: We believe that all Palestinian lands belong to the Palestinians. Those who tried to wipe Palestine off the map of the world made a mistake. Such a thing will not happen. Palestine will survive. The usurpers have occupied Palestine for a few decades, but there is no doubt that Palestinian lands will be restored to the people of Palestine and to the world of Islam. And this will happen. The people of Palestine are vigilant. Palestine cannot be partitioned. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians entirely. The Islamic Republic presented the solution to the Palestinian issue several years ago. The solution to the issue of Palestine is not the kind of solutions that America and other such countries present. Such solutions will prove ineffective. The solution is to hold a referendum among the people of Palestine. Any government that receives the majority of the votes in the referendum will rule the entire Palestinian lands. Then that government will decide what to do with the Zionists who immigrated to Palestine. And this depends on the decision of the government that will be elected by the people of Palestine.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+We believe that all Palestinian lands belong to the Palestinians. Those who tried to wipe Palestine off the map of the world made a mistake. Such a thing will not happen. Palestine will survive. The usurpers have occupied Palestine for a few decades, but there is no doubt that Palestinian lands will be restored to the people of Palestine and to the world of Islam. And this will happen. The people of Palestine are vigilant. Palestine cannot be partitioned. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians entirely. The Islamic Republic presented the solution to the Palestinian issue several years ago. The solution to the issue of Palestine is not the kind of solutions that America and other such countries present. Such solutions will prove ineffective. The solution is to hold a referendum among the people of Palestine. Any government that receives the majority of the votes in the referendum will rule the entire Palestinian lands. Then that government will decide what to do with the Zionists who immigrated to Palestine. And this depends on the decision of the government that will be elected by the people of Palestine.

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@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+title: Defending Palestine is a must for all Muslims - Khamenei.ir
+description: The enemies of the world of Islam have always tried to make maximum use of denominational, tribal, geographical and regional differences. And today, they are using modern instruments to fulfill their purpose. We should pay attention to this and we should awaken.
+They want to busy us with one another so that they can distract our attention from the main point. They want to pit Muslim ethnicities, nations and denominations - including Shia, Sunni and other Islamic denominations - against one another so that the issue of Israel will be forgotten. The issue of occupying Palestine should have made us get close to one another. But they are using it to make us drift away from one another. They create discord in the world of Islam and pit governments against one another by using the issue of Palestine.
+The issue of Palestine is a clear issue. There is no Islamic denomination that has any doubts about the fact that jihad is wajib for Muslims whenever an Islamic land is under attack. All Islamic denominations share this belief and there is no ground for disagreement on this matter. However, the enemies cast doubt on this matter which all Muslims believe in. They create division among Muslims, they provoke denominational and tribal prejudice and they fuel its fire so that they can freely pursue their goals.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+The enemies of the world of Islam have always tried to make maximum use of denominational, tribal, geographical and regional differences. And today, they are using modern instruments to fulfill their purpose. We should pay attention to this and we should awaken.
+They want to busy us with one another so that they can distract our attention from the main point. They want to pit Muslim ethnicities, nations and denominations - including Shia, Sunni and other Islamic denominations - against one another so that the issue of Israel will be forgotten. The issue of occupying Palestine should have made us get close to one another. But they are using it to make us drift away from one another. They create discord in the world of Islam and pit governments against one another by using the issue of Palestine.
+The issue of Palestine is a clear issue. There is no Islamic denomination that has any doubts about the fact that jihad is wajib for Muslims whenever an Islamic land is under attack. All Islamic denominations share this belief and there is no ground for disagreement on this matter. However, the enemies cast doubt on this matter which all Muslims believe in. They create division among Muslims, they provoke denominational and tribal prejudice and they fuel its fire so that they can freely pursue their goals.

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+title: Imam Khomeini’s Biography - Khamenei.ir
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+Introduction
+
+Imam Ayatollah Seyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was a Muslim cleric and Marja, and the political leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Following the Revolution, Imam Khomeini became Grand Leader of Iran — the paramount figure in the political system of the new Islamic Republic — until his demise.
+
+Imam Khomeini was considered a Marja-e taqlid to many Muslims, and in Iran was officially addressed as Imam rather than Grand Ayatollah; his supporters adhere to this convention. Imam Khomeini was also a highly-influential and innovative Islamic political theorist, most noted for his development of the theory of velayat-e faqih, the "guardianship of the jurisconsult."
+
+Imam Khomeini
+
+Early Years
+
+Family and early years
+
+Ruhollah Mousavi was born to Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Musavi and Hajieh Agha Khanum, also called Hajar, in the town of Khomein, about 300 kilometers south of the capital Tehran, Iran, possibly on May 17, 1900 or September 24, 1902. He was a Seyyed from a religious family that are descendants of Prophet Mohammad, through the seventh Imam, (Imam Mousa Kazem). His paternal grandfather was Seyyed Ahmad Musavi, whose third wife, Sakineh, gave birth to Mostafa in 1856. Imam Khomeini's maternal grandfather was Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari, a high-ranking cleric in central Iran whose Fatwa for banning usage of Tobacco in opposition to a monopoly granted by Shah to a British company, led to cancellation of the concession.
+
+Imam Khomeini's father was murdered when he was five months old, and he was raised by his mother and one of his aunts. Later, when he was 15, his mother and aunt died in the same year. At the age of six he began to study the Quran, Islam's holy book. He received his early education at home and at the local school, under the supervision of Mullah Abdul-Qassem and Sheikh Jaffar, and was under the guardianship of his elder brother, Ayatollah Pasandideh, until he was 18 years old. Arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Esfahan, but he was attracted, instead, to the seminary in Arak, which was renowned for its scholastic brilliance under the leadership of Ayatollah Sheikh Abdol-Karim Haeri-Yazdi (himself a pupil of some of the greatest scholars of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq).
+
+In 1921, Imam Khomeini commenced his studies in Arak. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri-Yazdi transferred the Islamic seminary to the holy city of Qom, and invited his students to follow. Imam Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved, and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom before being exiled to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq. After graduation, he taught Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia), Islamic philosophy and mysticism (Irfan) for many years and wrote numerous books on these subjects.
+
+Although during this scholarly phase of his life Imam Khomeini was not politically active, the nature of his studies, teachings, and writings revealed that he firmly believed from the beginning in political activism by clerics. Three factors support this suggestion. First, his interest in Islamic studies surpassed the bounds of traditional subjects of Islamic law (Sharia), jurisprudence (Fiqh), and principles (Usul) and the like. He was keenly interested in philosophy and ethics. Second, his teaching focused often on the overriding relevance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day. Third, he was the first Iranian cleric to try to refute the outspoken advocacy of secularism in the 1940s. His now well-known book, Kashf-e Asrar (Discovery of Secrets) was a point by point refutation of Asrar-e Hezar Saleh (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi. Also he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatollah Hassan Modarres —the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during 1920s.
+
+Imam Khomeini became a Marja in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi.
+
+Early Political Activity
+
+In this time he could represent his religious-political ideas openly. Because the deaths of the leading, although quiescent, Shia religious leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Borujerdi (1961), and of the activist cleric Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962) left the arena of leadership open to Imam Khomeini, who had attained a prominent religious standing by the age of 60. In addition, although ever since the rise of Reza Shah Pahlavi to power in the 1920s the clerical class had been on the defensive because of his secular and anticlerical policies and those of his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, these policies reached their peak in the early 1960s with "White Revolution."
+
+Opposition to White Revolution
+
+Imam Khomeini first became politically active in 1962. When the White Revolution proclaimed by the Shah's government in Iran called for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women, profit sharing in industry, and an anti-illiteracy campaign in the nation's schools. Most of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, Westernizing trends by traditionalists, especially the powerful and privileged religious scholars (Ulama) who felt keenly threatened. The Ulama instigated anti-government riots throughout the country. They found the White Revolution a sustainable ideological framework to support a particular relation of domination, in this case the monarchy of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. This was above all a hegemonic project intended to portray the Shah as a revolutionary leader through the utilization of social and historical myths reinterpreted through the prism of contemporary, often conflicting ideological constructs, such as nationalism and modernism.
+
+In January 1963, the Shah announced a six-point program of reform called the White Revolution, an American-inspired package of measures designed to give his regime a liberal and progressive facade. Imam Khomeini summoned a meeting of his colleagues (other Ayatollahs) in Qom to press upon them the necessity of opposing the Shah's plans. Imam Khomeini persuaded the other senior Marjas of Qom to decree a boycott of the referendum that the Shah had planned to obtain the appearance of popular approval for his White Revolution. Imam Khomeini issued on January 22, 1963 a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Two days later Shah took armored column to Qom, and he delivered a speech harshly attacking the ''ulama'' as a class. Imam Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programs, issuing a manifesto that also bore the signatures of eight other senior scholars. In it, he listed the various ways in which the Shah allegedly had violated the Constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of comprehensive submission to America and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (March 21, 1963) be cancelled as a sign of protest against government policies. In the afternoon of Ashura (June 3, 1963), Imam Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feiziyeh Madreseh seminary in which he drew parallels between Yazid and the Shah and warned the Shah that if he did not change his ways, the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
+
+Following Imam Khomeini's public denunciation of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as a "wretched miserable man" and his arrest, on June 5, 1963 (Khordad 15, on the Iranian calendar), three days of major riots erupted throughout Iran with nearly 400 killed. Imam Khomeini was kept under house arrest for 8 months and was released in 1964.
+
+Also this was a turning point in political viewpoint of Islam. The clergies had supported Shia monarchy since establishment of Safavids and this was the main source of legitimacy of monarchs. Shia clergies had advised them to be just and obey Ja'fari jurisprudence. Also monarchs didn't enforce religious rules which restricted or threatened religious life and institutions and defended the Shia territory of Iran. But Reza Shah transformed the Iranian monarchy into a modern dictatorship. The modernizing programs of Pahlavi dynasty restricted and threatened religious life and made clergies be against monarchy and finally Imam Khomeini decide to fight with them and build another state comparable to religious rules.
+
+Opposition to capitulation
+
+During November of 1964, Imam Khomeini made a denunciation of both the Shah and the United States, this time in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted to American military personnel in Iran by the Shah. In Nov. 1964 Imam Khomeini was re-arrested and sent into exile.
+
+Life in exile
+
+Imam Khomeini spent over 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964, where he stayed in the city of Bursa for less than a year. He was hosted by a Turkish Colonel named Ali Cetiner in his own residence, who couldn't find another accommodation alternative for his stay at the time. Later in October 1965 he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until being forced to leave in 1978, after then-Vice President Saddam Hossein forced him out (the two countries would fight a bitter eight year war 1980-1988 only a year after the beginning of Imam Khomeini’s leadership in Iran and the start of Saddam Hussein’s term in Iraq) after which he went to Neauphle le Château in France.
+
+Logically, in the 1970s, as contrasted with the 1940s, he no longer accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Iranian Constitution of 1906-1907, an idea that was clearly evidenced by his book Kashf-e Asrar. In his Islamic Government (Hokumat-e Islami) — which is a collection of his lectures in Najaf published in 1970 — he rejected both the Iranian Constitution as an alien import from Belgium and monarchy in general. He believed that the government was an un-Islamic and illegitimate institution usurping the legitimate authority of the supreme religious leader (Faqih), who should rule as both the spiritual and temporal guardian of the Muslim community (Umma).
+
+In early 1970 Imam Khomeini gave a lecture series in Najaf on Islamic Government which later was published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (velayat-e faqih). This was his most famous and influential work and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time):
+
+That the laws of society should be made up only of the laws of God (Sharia), which cover "all human affairs" and "provide instruction and establish norms" for every "topic" in "human life."
+Since Sharia, or Islamic law, is the proper law, those holding government posts should have knowledge of Sharia (Islamic jurists are such people), and that the country's ruler should be a faqih who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, as well as having intelligence and administrative ability. Rule by monarchs and/or assemblies of "those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people" (i.e. elected parliaments and legislatures) have been proclaimed "wrong" by Islam unless approved by the faqih.
+This system of clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice: corruption, oppression by the powerful over the poor and weak, innovation and deviation of Islam and Sharia law; and also to destroy anti-Islamic influence and conspiracies by non-Muslim foreign powers.
+
+A modified form of this Velayat-e Faqih system was adopted after Imam Khomeini and his followers took power, and he became the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or Grand Leader.
+
+In the meantime, however, Imam Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as, for example, "the Jewish agent, the American snake whose head must be smashed with a stone," became common items on the markets of Iran, helped to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign.
+
+As protest grew, so did Imam Khomeini’s profile and importance. During the last few months of his exile, Imam Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
+
+Grand Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran
+
+Return to Iran
+
+Only two weeks after the Shah fled Iran on January 16, 1979, Imam Khomeini returned to Iran triumphantly, on Thursday, February 1, 1979, invited by the anti-Shah revolution which was already in progress.
+
+Conservative estimates put the welcoming crowd of Iranians at least three million. When Imam Khomeini was on plane on his way to Iran after many years in exile, a reporter, Peter Jennings asked him: "What do you feel?" and surprisingly Imam Khomeini answered "Nothing!"
+
+In a speech given to a huge crowd on the first day of returning to Iran, Imam Khomeini attacked the government of Shapoor Bakhtiar promising "I shall punch their teeth in." He also made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: A popularly elected government that would represent the people of Iran.
+
+Establishment of new government
+
+On February 11, Imam Khomeini declared a provisional government. On March 30, 1979, and March 31, 1979, the provisional government asked all Iranians sixteen years of age and older, male and female, to vote in a referendum on the question of accepting an Islamic Republic as the new form of government and constitution. Through the ballot box, over 98% voted in favor of replacing the monarchy with an Islamic Republic. Subsequent elections were held to approve of the newly-drafted Constitution. Along with the position of the Grand Leader, the constitution also requires that a president be elected every four years, but only those candidates approved indirectly by the Council of Guardians may run for the office. Imam Khomeini himself became instituted as the Grand Leader for life, and officially decreed as the "Leader of the Revolution." After assuming power, Islam was made the basis of Iran's new constitution and obedience to Islamic laws made compulsory.
+
+Relationship with other Islamic nations
+
+Imam Khomeini intended to reconstruct Muslim unity and solidarity, so he declared the birth week of Prophet of Islam (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi'al-Awwal in Islamic Hegira calendar) as the Unity Week. Then he declared the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan as the International Day of Quds in 1979.
+
+But because of Islamic ideology of Islamic Republic of Iran, most rulers of other Muslim nations turned against him and supported Iraq in the imposed war against Iran, even though most of Islamic parties and organizations supported his idea.
+
+Iran-Iraq War
+
+Saddam Hussein, Iraq's secular Arab nationalist Ba'athist leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of Khuzestan and undermine attempts by Iranian Islamic revolutionaries to incite the Shia majority of his country.
+
+With what many believe was the encouragement of the United States, Saudi Arabia and other countries, Iraq soon launched a full scale invasion of Iran, starting what would become the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War (September 1980 - August 1988). A combination of fierce patriot resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and by early 1982 Iran regained almost all the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Imam Khomeini's stature and allowed him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership.
+
+Although outside powers supplied arms to both sides during the war, the West (America in particular) became alarmed by the possibility of the Islamic Revolution spreading throughout the oil-exporting Persian Gulf oil and began to supply Iraq with whatever help it needed. The war continued for another six years, with 450,000 to 950,000 casualties on the Iranian side and the use of chemical weaponry by the Iraqi military.
+
+As the costs of the eight-year war mounted, Imam Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. As the war ended, the struggles among the clergy resumed and Imam Khomeini’s health began to decline.
+
+Rushdie Fatwa
+
+In early 1989, Imam Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the killing of Salman Rushdie, an Indian-born British author. Imam Khomeini claimed that Rushdie's murder was a religious duty for Muslims because of his alleged blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad in his novel, The Satanic Verses. Rushdie's book contains passages that some Muslims — including Ayatollah Imam Khomeini — considered offensive to Islam and the Prophet. Though Rushdie publicly apologized, the fatwa was not revoked, Imam Khomeini explaining that "even if Salman Rushdie repents and becomes the most pious man of all time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he has got, his life and wealth, to send him to Hell."
+
+Letter to Mikhail S. Gorbachev
+
+In December 1988 (before the fall of the Berlin Wall), Ayatollah Imam Khomeini sent a letter to USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev predicting the fall of Communism and inviting him to study and research Islam. In his historical letter he wrote: "It is clear to everyone that Communism should henceforth be sought in world museums of political history."
+
+Life under Imam Khomeini
+
+Under Imam Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women. Women had to cover their hair, and men were not allowed to wear shorts.
+
+Life for religious minorities has been mixed under Imam Khomeini and his successors. Shortly after his return from exile in 1979, Imam Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except Bahai) be treated well. By law, several seats in the Parliament are reserved for minority religions. Imam Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shia Muslims (Sunni Muslims are the largest religious minority in Iran).
+
+Death and funeral
+
+After eleven days in a hospital for an operation to stop internal bleeding, Imam Khomeini died of cancer on Saturday, June 3, 1989, at the age of 89. Many Iranians mourned Imam Khomeini's death and poured out into the cities and streets. More than 10 million people from across the country attended Imam Khomeini’s funeral to form one of the largest ever funerals in the world.
+
+Following Imam Khomeini’s demise, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei came to be selected on June 4, 1989 by the Assembly of Experts to be his successor, in accordance with the Constitution.
+
+Political thought and legacy
+
+Imam Khomeini adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist would insure Sharia was properly followed (Velayat-e Faqih).
+
+Imam Khomeini believed that Iran should strive towards self-reliance. He viewed certain elements of Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. His ultimate vision was for Islamic nations to converge together into a single unified power, in order to avoid alignment with either side (the West or the East), and he believed that this would happen at some point in the near future.
+
+Imam Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; in Sahifeh Nour (Vol. 2, page 242), he states: "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence."
+
+Imam Khomeini led an ascetic lifestyle, being deeply interested in mysticism, and was against the accumulation of land and wealth by the clergy.
+
+Many of Imam Khomeini's political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution.
+
+Imam Khomeini's definition of democracy existed within an Islamic framework. His last will and testament largely focuses on this line of thought, encouraging both the general Iranian populace, the lower economic classes in particular, and the clergy to maintain their commitment to fulfilling Islamic revolutionary ideals.
+
+Family and descendants
+
+In 1929, Imam Khomeini married Batol Saqafi Khomeini, the daughter of a cleric in Tehran. They had seven children, though only five survived infancy, 3 daughters and 2 sons. His sons entered into religious life. The elder son, Mostafa, was murdered in 1977 while in exile with his father in Najaf, Iraq and SAVAK (the Imperial-era secret police) was accused of his death by Imam Khomeini. Ahmad Khomeini, the younger son, died in 1995.
+
+Imam Khomeini's grandson Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, son of the late Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, is also a cleric and the trustee of Imam Khomeini's shrine.
+
+Works:
+
+Velayat-e Faqih
+Forty Hadiths (Forty Traditions)
+Adab-e Salat (The Disciplines of Prayers)
+Jihad-e Akbar (The Greater Struggle)
+Tahrir al-Wasilah
+Interpretation of Surah Fatihah
+Serr al-Salat (Secrets of Prayers)
+Interpretation of Dawn Pray
+Interpretation of Forces of Reason and Negligence Tradition
+Hajj

combined/texts_with_metadata/13.txt

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+title: Palestine, a big wound on the body of Islamic Ummah - Khamenei.ir
+description: Take a look at the conditions of Palestine in the present time. Palestine is only an example. Of course, it is a very important example, but the situation is not particular to Palestine. Take a look at Palestine and see that the Islamic Ummah suffers from a great wound which is the disaster that has befallen the great people and the historical and holy land of Palestine. What have they done to this land? What have they done to these people? What are they doing to them in the present time? Is the event of Gaza forgettable? Is it possible to erase it from the mind of the Islamic Ummah?
+The pressures, savage acts, cruelties and oppressions that have been committed against the people of Gaza continue to exist even after the 22-day war during which the Zionist government was defeated and failed to achieve its goals. But despite these crimes, the Islamic Ummah cannot defend them. The Islamic Ummah has faced this phenomenon as if it were not related to it. It behaves as though it were not its right to stand up against this usurpation. It behaves as though this oppression were not shown against it. Why are we like this? Why has the Islamic Ummah faced this situation?
+A dangerous and deadly cancer - namely, the fake Zionist and Israeli government - has been created by the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Ummah. Its supporters - who have collaborated with it in showing oppression and committing great sins - continue to support it while the Islamic Ummah cannot defend itself. This is our weakness. Why is that? We should make up for this weakness by returning to Islam and pivoting around the teachings of the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.w.a.).
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+Take a look at the conditions of Palestine in the present time. Palestine is only an example. Of course, it is a very important example, but the situation is not particular to Palestine. Take a look at Palestine and see that the Islamic Ummah suffers from a great wound which is the disaster that has befallen the great people and the historical and holy land of Palestine. What have they done to this land? What have they done to these people? What are they doing to them in the present time? Is the event of Gaza forgettable? Is it possible to erase it from the mind of the Islamic Ummah?
+The pressures, savage acts, cruelties and oppressions that have been committed against the people of Gaza continue to exist even after the 22-day war during which the Zionist government was defeated and failed to achieve its goals. But despite these crimes, the Islamic Ummah cannot defend them. The Islamic Ummah has faced this phenomenon as if it were not related to it. It behaves as though it were not its right to stand up against this usurpation. It behaves as though this oppression were not shown against it. Why are we like this? Why has the Islamic Ummah faced this situation?
+A dangerous and deadly cancer - namely, the fake Zionist and Israeli government - has been created by the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Ummah. Its supporters - who have collaborated with it in showing oppression and committing great sins - continue to support it while the Islamic Ummah cannot defend itself. This is our weakness. Why is that? We should make up for this weakness by returning to Islam and pivoting around the teachings of the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.w.a.).

combined/texts_with_metadata/14.txt

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+title: The path to liberating Palestine is nothing but resistance - Khamenei.ir
+description: The path of Quds, the path of Palestine and the path of resolving the issue of Palestine is the path of fighting. As was pointed out by the gentlemen in this meeting, there is no other path for Palestine. I am happy to see that all of you agree with and believe in this issue. Those people who do not accept this path - whether knowingly or unknowingly - are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine. If they are doing this knowingly, then this is called treachery. If they are doing it unknowingly, then this is called ignorance and negligence. In any case, it is a blow to the issue of Palestine. Such people are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine.
+Palestine has no way other than resistance. The people of Palestine should say and want this and Islamic governments should echo it. Of course, many Arab governments dismally failed their test on the issue of Gaza and other issues before that. They failed dismally. Whenever there was a talk about the issue of Palestine, they said, "The issue of Palestine is the issue of Arabs". But when it was time for action, the issue of Palestine was completely removed from their equations.
+Instead of helping Palestine and the Palestinians, instead of helping their Arab brothers and instead of being committed to their Arabic principles - even if they do not believe in Islam - all of them left the arena. They failed dismally in this test and these things will be recorded in history. The negative consequences of this action are not particular to the afterlife. Rather, they will witness the consequences in this world as well, as God's assistance to you who are fighting is not particular to the afterlife.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+The path of Quds, the path of Palestine and the path of resolving the issue of Palestine is the path of fighting. As was pointed out by the gentlemen in this meeting, there is no other path for Palestine. I am happy to see that all of you agree with and believe in this issue. Those people who do not accept this path - whether knowingly or unknowingly - are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine. If they are doing this knowingly, then this is called treachery. If they are doing it unknowingly, then this is called ignorance and negligence. In any case, it is a blow to the issue of Palestine. Such people are delivering a blow to the issue of Palestine.
+Palestine has no way other than resistance. The people of Palestine should say and want this and Islamic governments should echo it. Of course, many Arab governments dismally failed their test on the issue of Gaza and other issues before that. They failed dismally. Whenever there was a talk about the issue of Palestine, they said, "The issue of Palestine is the issue of Arabs". But when it was time for action, the issue of Palestine was completely removed from their equations.
+Instead of helping Palestine and the Palestinians, instead of helping their Arab brothers and instead of being committed to their Arabic principles - even if they do not believe in Islam - all of them left the arena. They failed dismally in this test and these things will be recorded in history. The negative consequences of this action are not particular to the afterlife. Rather, they will witness the consequences in this world as well, as God's assistance to you who are fighting is not particular to the afterlife.

combined/texts_with_metadata/15.txt

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+title: The issue of Palestine is an issue to be concerned of by all Muslims - Khamenei.ir
+description: The issue of Gaza and Palestine is our issue. It is our Islamic issue. It is the issue of all Muslims and it is our responsibility. What we are doing is our responsibility and we do not ask anyone to thank us for this. We have carried out our responsibility and we ask Allah the Exalted to help us continue carrying out our responsibilities... Any Palestinian who stepped away from resistance suffered a loss. Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Even if it were honest, it would not have any right in Palestine and therefore, its request would be illegitimate. But Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Those people who took the path of negotiations were forced to accept the enemy's impositions. If they had turned away from the path of the enemy's impositions even for one moment, they would have been either eliminated or humiliated. You have witnessed both cases. They eliminated some and they humiliated and disowned the rest.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+The issue of Gaza and Palestine is our issue. It is our Islamic issue. It is the issue of all Muslims and it is our responsibility. What we are doing is our responsibility and we do not ask anyone to thank us for this. We have carried out our responsibility and we ask Allah the Exalted to help us continue carrying out our responsibilities... Any Palestinian who stepped away from resistance suffered a loss. Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Even if it were honest, it would not have any right in Palestine and therefore, its request would be illegitimate. But Israel is not honest in its request for peace. Those people who took the path of negotiations were forced to accept the enemy's impositions. If they had turned away from the path of the enemy's impositions even for one moment, they would have been either eliminated or humiliated. You have witnessed both cases. They eliminated some and they humiliated and disowned the rest.

combined/texts_with_metadata/16.txt

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+title: The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for the U.S. for centuries to come - Khamenei.ir
+description: The issue of Gaza is not the issue of a small piece of land. The issue of Palestine is not only a geographical issue. It is the issue of humanity and human principles. Today, the issue of Palestine is a dividing line between commitment and hostility to human principles. This issue has such significance.
+Without a doubt, America will suffer a loss in this deal. These historical eras and these ten, twenty, thirty-year historical developments are like a moment and they will soon pass. But the history and future of America will definitely suffer a loss as a result of the movement that they launched in the past 50, 60 years with regards to the issue of Palestine. The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for America for many years in the future.
+Palestine will be liberated. You should have no doubt about this. Palestine will definitely be liberated. It will be restored to the people of Palestine and a Palestinian government will be formed in this country. There is no doubt about this, but America's disgrace and notoriety will not disappear. They will continue to be disgraced.
+There is no doubt that a new Middle East will be formed based on the truths which Allah the Exalted has determined. This Middle East will be an Islamic Middle East.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+The issue of Gaza is not the issue of a small piece of land. The issue of Palestine is not only a geographical issue. It is the issue of humanity and human principles. Today, the issue of Palestine is a dividing line between commitment and hostility to human principles. This issue has such significance.
+Without a doubt, America will suffer a loss in this deal. These historical eras and these ten, twenty, thirty-year historical developments are like a moment and they will soon pass. But the history and future of America will definitely suffer a loss as a result of the movement that they launched in the past 50, 60 years with regards to the issue of Palestine. The issue of Palestine will be a source of disgrace for America for many years in the future.
+Palestine will be liberated. You should have no doubt about this. Palestine will definitely be liberated. It will be restored to the people of Palestine and a Palestinian government will be formed in this country. There is no doubt about this, but America's disgrace and notoriety will not disappear. They will continue to be disgraced.
+There is no doubt that a new Middle East will be formed based on the truths which Allah the Exalted has determined. This Middle East will be an Islamic Middle East.

combined/texts_with_metadata/17.txt

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+title: All governments are responsible with regards to Palestine - Khamenei.ir
+description: The issue of Palestine is an Islamic issue. All peoples are responsible towards Palestine. All governments are responsible towards Palestine, whether Muslim or non-Muslim governments. Any government which claims to advocate humanity is responsible towards this issue.
+However, Muslims' responsibility in this regard is a heavier one. Islamic governments are responsible and they should carry out their responsibility on this issue. Any government which does not carry out its responsibility on the issue of Palestine will suffer a loss. This is because nations have awakened and they want governments to do such things. Therefore, governments have to give in to this issue and they have to surrender.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+The issue of Palestine is an Islamic issue. All peoples are responsible towards Palestine. All governments are responsible towards Palestine, whether Muslim or non-Muslim governments. Any government which claims to advocate humanity is responsible towards this issue.
+However, Muslims' responsibility in this regard is a heavier one. Islamic governments are responsible and they should carry out their responsibility on this issue. Any government which does not carry out its responsibility on the issue of Palestine will suffer a loss. This is because nations have awakened and they want governments to do such things. Therefore, governments have to give in to this issue and they have to surrender.

combined/texts_with_metadata/18.txt

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+title: The biggest and most dreadful violation of human rights by West occurs in Gaza - Khamenei.ir
+description: Today, America and the west are lying in a blatant day on the issue of Palestine and many other issues. They are lying in a blatant way. They completely misinterpret a great disaster such as the disaster of Gaza in the 22-day war. I would like to remind you that we should pay attention to this issue. Today, Gaza and Palestine are an arena of disgrace for the west. The west with is claim to support human rights has ignored the greatest and the most disastrous violation of human rights in Gaza.
+Last year, westerners did not say a single word in favor and in defense of the people of Gaza for many days. Many days passed while we were listening carefully to see if any word in favor of the people of Gaza is uttered by the Europeans - let alone the Americans - by human rights organizations and by so-called defenders of freedom. But no word was uttered. They began to talk after the people in different countries raised their voices and held different processions and demonstrations and when the scandal heated up. However, it was just talking. The west did not show any support for the people of Gaza against such a great disaster which was taking place in front of everyone's eyes. And the west has continued to adopt the same positions until today.
+The United Nations disgraced itself. America was disgraced and it became even more disgraced. They did not show any support even after the Goldstone Report was released and everyone became aware of it. Today, the savage and criminal leaders of the Zionist regime should be put to trial and punished, but nothing is being done in this regard. No measure is being adopted. On the contrary, support for the usurping and fake Zionist regime is increasing even more than this. These things have brought shame on the west... I would tell you that today, the western civilization has been challenged on the issue of Palestine. Today, the claim of western liberal democracy has been questioned. This means that you in Palestine have brought down and dismissed this western claim which had survived for several centuries and with which the west used to rule over the entire world. Resistance - the one that you are showing - has such significance and greatness.
+language: en_IR
+
+---
+
+Today, America and the west are lying in a blatant day on the issue of Palestine and many other issues. They are lying in a blatant way. They completely misinterpret a great disaster such as the disaster of Gaza in the 22-day war. I would like to remind you that we should pay attention to this issue. Today, Gaza and Palestine are an arena of disgrace for the west. The west with is claim to support human rights has ignored the greatest and the most disastrous violation of human rights in Gaza.
+Last year, westerners did not say a single word in favor and in defense of the people of Gaza for many days. Many days passed while we were listening carefully to see if any word in favor of the people of Gaza is uttered by the Europeans - let alone the Americans - by human rights organizations and by so-called defenders of freedom. But no word was uttered. They began to talk after the people in different countries raised their voices and held different processions and demonstrations and when the scandal heated up. However, it was just talking. The west did not show any support for the people of Gaza against such a great disaster which was taking place in front of everyone's eyes. And the west has continued to adopt the same positions until today.
+The United Nations disgraced itself. America was disgraced and it became even more disgraced. They did not show any support even after the Goldstone Report was released and everyone became aware of it. Today, the savage and criminal leaders of the Zionist regime should be put to trial and punished, but nothing is being done in this regard. No measure is being adopted. On the contrary, support for the usurping and fake Zionist regime is increasing even more than this. These things have brought shame on the west... I would tell you that today, the western civilization has been challenged on the issue of Palestine. Today, the claim of western liberal democracy has been questioned. This means that you in Palestine have brought down and dismissed this western claim which had survived for several centuries and with which the west used to rule over the entire world. Resistance - the one that you are showing - has such significance and greatness.