AFP - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Wednesday for world Muslims to join the Palestinian "resistance" against Israel as he kicked off a summit in aid of war-torn Gaza.His statement came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Palestinian leaders during her first visit to the region since taking office.Clinton was meeting prime minister Salam Fayyad in the occupied West Bank's political capital of Ramallah, and was later to meet Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas, a day after her talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

"The only way to save Palestine is resistance," Khamenei said in his address to start a two-day international summit organised by Tehran in aid of Gaza and the Palestinians."Support and help to Palestinians is a mandatory duty of all Muslims. I now tell all Muslim brothers and sisters to join forces and break the immunity of the Zionist criminals," Khamenei said.He also called for putting Israeli political and military leaders on trial for the December-January assault on Gaza in which 1,300 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, and 13 Israelis were killed."This is the first step that should be taken," Khamenei said.Iran does not recognise Israel and Khamenei has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution to solve the Israel-Palestinian issue. Clinton reiterated support for the two-state answer in talks this week.

Khamenei said any negotiation to solve the issue was fruitless, adding that the United States and Britain committed the "crime of creation and supporting this cancerous tumour (Israel)." "Even the new president of the United States who came to power with the motto of changing the (George W.) Bush administration's policies talks about unconditional commitment to secure Israel. This is defending terrorism by a government."Obama has vowed actively to pursue the Mideast peace process and has appointed a special envoy, veteran diplomat George Mitchell, to coax both sides back to the negotiating table.Khamenei also came down heavily on the United Nations, saying it played a "fundamental role" in the creation of a "tyrant" Israel.

He said the world body covers the "illegitimate acts of bullying powers" and "saving Palestine will not be achieved by begging to the United Nations."Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad too called for setting up a "global anti-Zionist front.""On the other hand we must seriously pursue punishing the Zionist criminals, so that by saving Palestine and the establishment of a popularly chosen government, the world gets rid of racism, lies and occupation forever," he told the conference.Musa Abu Marzuk, a top leader of the Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza and is backed by Tehran, told delegates that the movement "wanted national unity talks to succeed... but a unity which satisfies Palestinian people and not a pact which compromises their rights.

""We welcome plans to reconstruct Gaza, but if there is a condition which is against Palestinian people's principles, we will not accept it," he said in a speech delivered in Arabic.The Tehran summit comes two days after global donors meeting in Egypt pledged to donate around 4.5 billion dollars to rebuild Gaza.Iran criticised the Egypt conference."Those who participated in that conference and staged that puppet show approved the Zionist regime's atrocities in Gaza," Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, secretary general of the Iran conference, said, according to Fars agency.The Tehran meeting is being held three days after Iran's chief prosecutor Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafbadi called for arrest warrants to be issued against outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for committing "war crimes".