Reformist clerics imply Iran should back two-state solution, for Israel and Palestine
In shift that would mean recognising existence of Israel, assembly calls for ‘formation of an independent Palestinian state’
Reformists in Iran have ignited a debate about whether Tehran should be willing to shift from its deeply held opposition to a two-state solution in the Palestinian territories which would require it to recognise the existence of an Israeli state
“Death to Zionism”
“Death to Zionism” has been a staple of Iranian revolutionary thinking since 1979 and was the position effectively of the Palestine Liberation Organisation until the Oslo accords in the 1990s
one-state solution
Under the former president Mohammad Khatami and his foreign minister Kamal Kharazi, Iran proposed a referendum on a one-state solution, with only descendants of those who lived there “before the Zionist invasion” and Palestinian refugees being permitted to vote – a process that would leave Israeli Jews largely outnumbered in the vote
Iran has always seen Israel as a colonial enterprise of settlers and some of its leaders have championed outright Holocaust denial
two-state solution
Last week Iran did not attend a two-day meeting of an international coalition for a two-state solution held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
However on 21 October 2024 the assembly of lecturers and scholars at Qom Seminary, a reformist-leaning body of clerics, issued a statement calling for the,
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1. “return of the Zionist regime to its legal borders prior to the 1967 aggression 2. and formation of an independent Palestinian state”
This implied support for a two-state solution led to protests outside the assembly’s offices, in Qom, after Friday prayers
“propaganda machine”
The Tehran-based hardline daily Kayhan labelled the assembly a “propaganda machine for the enemy” and characterised its “recognition of the fabricated regime of Israel” as “despicable and shameful”
The head of the judiciary also criticised the statement, saying corrective action was required, implying closure may be necessary but reformist newspapers reported the statement sympathetically
independent Palestinian state
In response to the criticism, the seminary relented only to the extent that it clarified that it understood,
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“the heinous crimes of the Zionist state” and did not recognise Israel
but believed an independent Palestinian state would bring the bloodshed to an end
