PanARMENIAN.Net

Israeli President urges Iranian people to reclaim their place among
"enlightened nations"
21.03.2009 11:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Israeli President Shimon Peres has recently issued a
special message to the Iranian people, ahead of the Iranian holiday
Nowruz, which symbolizes the start a new year, urging the Iranian
people to reclaim their place among "enlightened nations," Haaretz
reported.

"With great pleasure, I offer you this blessing on your holiday, a day
of renewal that brings with it happiness and hope of a new day, of
better days and a blessed new year," Peres began.

"Unfortunately, the relations between our two countries have hit a low
point, stemming from ideas that compel your leaders to act in every
possible way against the state of Israel and its people. But I am
convinced that the day is not far off when our two nations will
restore good neighborly relations and cooperation in thriving in every
way," he went on to say.

"At the start of the new year," he concluded his blessing, "I urge
you, the noble Iranian people, on behalf of the ancient Jewish people,
to reclaim your worthy place among the nations of the enlightened
world, while contributing a worthy cultural contribution."

The message, part of which was recorded in Farsi, was broadcast on
Israel Radio’s Farsi channel, which enjoys a wide audience in the
Farsi-speaking world.

"Things in Iran are tough," said the president at the start of the
address that preceded the blessing. "There is great unemployment,
corruption, a lot of drugs and a general discontent? You can’t feed
your children enriched uranium, they need a real breakfast. It cannot
be that the money is invested in enriched uranium and the children are
told to remain a little hungry, a little ignorant."

"[I suggest] you don’t listen to [Iranian President Mahmoud]
Ahmadinejad, it is impossible to preserve a whole nation on incitement
and hatred, the people will become tired of it," the president
continued.

"I see the suffering of the children and ask myself ? why? [Iran] is
such a rich country with such a rich culture, why do they allow a
handful of religious fanatics take the worst possible path, both in
the eyes of god and in the eyes of man?" Peres asked.

"I think that the Iranian people will topple these leaders," Peres
went on to say, "these leaders who don’t serve the people ? in the end
the people will realize that."

The president also addressed Ahmadinejad’s address at an international
conference questioning the Holocaust in 2006, saying "since when is he
an expert on the Holocaust of the Jews? Was he in Auschwitz? What does
he know? Every day he speaks and speaks? They are destroying their
people, but they won’t destroy us so fast. We’ve heard, over the 4,000
years of our existence, many speeches, many anti-Semites, many people
who wanted to destroy us – we survived and they didn’t."