Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told ABC Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority was a country before the United Nations existed. He also rejected the PA’s recognizing the “Zionist regime.”
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Ahmadinejad declared, “Palestine was a country; that is nothing new. Prior to the United Nations even being formed, Palestine was a country. We have always been on the side of the Palestinian nation. We have had relations with the Palestinian government. They have an embassy in Iran.”
Stephanopoulos did not question Ahmadinejad’s statements but challenged him to agree with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ position that recognizing the PA as a country involves recognizing Israel.
The idea clearly upset Ahmadinejad. "Why? Why does it have to be like that? We do recognize Palestine – but we will not recognize the Zionist regime. Why do they set conditions when some nation wants to be independent in its own homeland – it has to recognize an occupying and illegal government? Is that fair?... It’s the right of Palestine to recognize another nation or not. Not a condition of the independence of the Palestinian nation. That’s unfair. That’s being imposed.
“I don’t know if there is such a law that says if a nation wants to form a government it has to recognize another group. Is there such a law? Or is it a demand? If it’s a demand by the US government, it has to allow the Palestinian government once it’s formed to choose freely."
Ahmadinejad also promised he would make good his promise to free American tourists Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer although Stephanopoulos said that many Americans expected they would return to the United States with the Iranian president, who arrived for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly later this week.
“In the name of G-d, the compassionate, the merciful, G-d willing they will be released very soon. There is a judicial process that has to be completed and hopefully it will be,” he stated.
When asked if could guarantee their return, Ahmadinejad retorted, “There are some Iranians who are imprisoned in the United States and did not have the right to a full judicial review. But when we said we will release them, we will release them, as a humanitarian gesture.”