Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hosted the leaders of 10 Palestinian factions in Tehran on Thursday. Iran’s goal was to make headway in the Fatah-Hamas conflict and thereby strengthen its hold in the Palestinian Authority and steal the show from U.S. efforts at Middle East diplomacy.

The Al-Khaleej newspaper, published in the United Arab Emirates, reported Wednesday that Palestinian terrorist leaders attending the summit would include Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’s political leader; Nawaf Hawatma, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and Ahmad Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Significantly, Farouk Kadoumi, a senior Fatah leader in exile, was also expected to attend the session.

Kadoumi’s attendance at the meeting would mark the first time Hamas and Fatah representatives have held discussions since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip three months ago. It would also, as debkafile says, “be a feather in Iran’s cap” (September 5). debkafile reported:

Iranian leaders believe if they can pull off their bid to reconcile the quarreling Fatah and Hamas, they will be entitled to claim a seat at the international Middle East regional conference convening in Washington in November. Last week, six Arab oil emirates led by Saudi Arabia agreed that all the parties affected by the Palestinian-Israel conflict should be invited. This would open the door to Iran, Lebanon and Syria. The decision was Riyadh’s backhanded way of turning down the U.S. invitation to attend the conference.

With Washington lacking support in the Middle East for its diplomatic efforts, Iran is attempting to seize the initiative. “Iranian leaders figure that even if they cannot wangle an invitation to the Washington conference, they can try and steal the show from U.S.-initiated Middle East diplomacy, including the ongoing talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas” (ibid.).

Tehran’s idea of Middle East “diplomacy” mostly involves the destruction of Israel. That, however, is one thing all the Palestinian factions seem to be able to agree on.

After a separate meeting between Ahmadinejad and Kadoumi earlier in the week, the Iranian leader praised Fatah for persisting in “armed struggle.” Of the “Palestinian problem,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Iran’s Mehr news agency: “The only way to treat it is through the resistance of the Palestinian nation, along with faith, unity and an unwavering stance.”

While results of the meeting yesterday are yet to emerge, the fact that Iran hosted the Palestinian terror leaders shows both that Tehran is indeed the nucleus of Palestinian terrorism and that it desires to be the king of the Middle East.