TEHRAN, 9 December 2006 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told Iranians yesterday that Palestinians would never bow to pressure to recognize Israel and would keep fighting thanks in part to support from Iran.

Addressing worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran, where he arrived on Thursday for a four-day official visit, Haniyeh said Israeli military aggression against Palestinians had increased since his Hamas government took power in March.

Iran, like Hamas, refuses to recognize the state of Israel and has sent $120 million so far this year to the Palestinian Authority toward a shortfall caused by a Western financial blockade on the Hamas-led government.

“We will never recognize the occupier of the Palestinian lands and will continue the resistance until we liberate Jerusalem ... and allow the displaced Palestinians to return to their homeland,” Haniyeh said.

“They think that the Palestinian nation is alone in this war, but they are hallucinating ... We have a strategic depth here in the Islamic Republic of Iran and throughout the Islamic-Arabic world,” he said.

Western nations and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have pressured Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace accords. Hamas’ refusal has been partly to blame for the collapse of unity government talks with Abbas.

Iran’s support for the Palestinians has grown more vocal since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in August 2005. The former Revolutionary Guardsman has called the Israeli state a “tumor” which must be “wiped off the map.”

Tehran leader Ahmad Khatami reiterated Iran’s support for the Hamas government and criticized Western financial sanctions against it in his Friday prayer sermon.

“Those liars, instead of supporting and approving it (the Hamas government), have taken their swords aloft from the beginning against a government that was appointed by the people’s votes,” he said.

Haniyeh will meet Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ahmadinejad as part of his first official trip to Iran.

Meanwhile, Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters in Gaza yesterday demanded that Haniyeh head any Palestinian unity government despite a deal for him to step aside as a way of restoring Western aid.

The public show of support across Gaza for Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, puts pressure on the ruling movement to retain him as their candidate to lead a possible new Cabinet.

That would further complicate Palestinian unity government talks that Abbas of the rival Fatah faction has said were already at a dead end. “We want you (Haniyeh) to be the prime minister. We will not abandon your leadership of the Cabinet,” Ismail Rudwan, a Hamas spokesman, told one rally of thousands of people. “We demand the leadership of Hamas retain ... Ismail Haniyeh as head of the government and head any coming government.” A similar call was made at other rallies that followed Friday prayers. Haniyeh is currently visiting Iran.

Hamas and Fatah had agreed last month that Haniyeh would not head any unity government. That job was expected to go to a Gaza academic. Unity talks have since foundered, partly over disputes over control of key ministries. Abbas’ aides say the president might decide to sack the government or call fresh elections if no solution is found.

Palestinians had hoped a unity government could lead to the lifting of Western sanctions that were imposed earlier this year on the Hamas government over its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

The embargo has prevented the Hamas administration from paying full salaries to government workers, deepening a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories.

Earlier, Israeli troops shot and wounded two Palestinians in Gaza, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he could order renewed assaults if needed to prevent militant factions posing a threat to a shaky truce.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was not aware of any shootings, adding the army was checking the reports.

Palestinian rescue workers and residents said the two men were unarmed. They were shot in separate incidents in northern Gaza, not far from border areas with Israel, they said.

Israeli forces have shot and wounded several Palestinians this week in Gaza. The army said the men were acting suspiciously along the Israeli-built border fence.