http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=169604

TEHRAN (Press TV) — Hamas Political Chief Khalid Mashaal says that the Palestinian nation will neither submit to nor recognize the illegal Israeli regime.

“We will never recognize Israel or cease to fight for our land. Our battle against Israel is one of resistance to occupation,” said Khalid Mashaal in an address to ‘The Decline of the Zionist Regime’ conference at Tehran University, Press TV correspondent Saman Kojouri reported.

Referring to President George W. Bush’s speech at the Israeli Knesset, Mashaal said, “When the United States cannot even defend its own troops in Iraq, how does it propose to protect the Israeli regime from collapse?”

In his recent trip to Israel, President Bush hailed Israel as a ‘homeland for the chosen people’ and pledged that Israelis could forever count on American support against their enemies.

According to Amnesty International, Israel has not only continued to expand settlements but has also stepped up the construction of a 700km barrier inside the occupied West Bank.

The barrier limits the access of many Palestinians to their workplaces and prevents them from using educational centers and health facilities. –