Zeenews Bureau
Tehran: Hundreds of thousands of Iranians across the country rallied on Quds Day to express solidarity with the Palestinians and condemnation on Israel for its "occupation" of Jerusalem.
The people chanted slogans and carried banners and placards in a show of support for the Palestinians and opposition against Israel and the United States on this holiday.
Some governmental and military officials participated in the anti-Israel rallies in the capital Tehran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the demonstrators that Israel was like a "cancer tumour" and if one cell of cancer was left inside the Palestinian territory, the situation would not improve.
"You want a new Middle East? We do too, but in the new Middle East ... there will be no trace of the American presence and the Zionists," Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Tehran University in an event broadcast live on state television.
"Saving the existence of the Zionist regime (Israel) is a joint commitment by most arrogant Western governments," Ahmadinejad said in the speech.
Iranians consider Israel` exit from the occupied Palestinian territory as the only way to resolve the Palestinian issue.
The Quds Day event this year coincides with the rising unrest and bloodshed in Syria.
In a statement issued at the end of the rally in Tehran, Iranian demonstrators warned supporters of the Syrian rebels against "anti-Syria and anti-resistance" plots.
The way to settle the Syrian issue is not military intervention but letting the Syrian government to carry out reforms, the statement said.
Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day was first commemorated in Iran in 1979 and regularly falls on the last Friday of Muslims` holy month Ramadan in the country.
(With ANI inputs)
