Former Iranian Ambassador to Syria Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pour: The Egyptian Government Is Collaborating with America and Israel in the Killing of the People of Gaza

Following are excerpts from an interview with Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pour, former Iranian ambassador to Syria, which aired on IRINN, the Iranian News Channel, on December 28, 2008:

Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pour: Our problem today is not the issue of the crimes committed by Israel and America against the nations, including the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza. Our problem is the collaboration and coordination of the leaders of some Arab and Islamic countries [with Israel and the U.S.] in this matter. [The Egyptians] are accomplices in the siege on Gaza. Is the Rafah crossing in the hand of Israel? Egypt's 11-kilometer-long border with Gaza and Palestine is controlled by the Egyptian forces. There cannot be any Israeli presence there. So who closed the border – Israel or Egypt? The Egyptian government is involved in this siege.

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The Egyptian government is collaborating with America and Israel in the killing of the people of Gaza, through hunger, through lack of supplies, through the martyrdom of oppressed children in hospitals, through the lack of fuel – an essential commodity, for clinics and hospitals in particular. Egypt is an accomplice in this great crime.

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Mr. Husni Mubarak must respond to this.

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So many oppressed Palestinians are crying for help, facing genocide by the Israeli war machinery – the warplanes and warships – while you [Arab countries] not only remain silent in the face of this great crime, but you are accomplices. Why? Because the people of Gaza, the people of Palestine, voted for resistance and struggle? Would you have preferred the Palestinian people to be mercenaries of America and Israel, like you? The Palestinian people will never agree to such humiliation.