IRANIAN LEADER URGES OPPOSITON TO MIDDLE EAST PEACE TALKS

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Thursday denounced the proposed Middle East peace conference as a ploy by the United States to strengthen Israel and urged the Muslim world to resist the talks."The enemy aims to dismember Palestine from the Muslim world and perpetuate the Zionist government on the occupied lands," Khamenei said in a statement carried by the official news agency, IRNA. "All Muslims are bound to participate in this Jihad [Holy War] and funnel their financial, political information, and military aid to [the Palestinians]. "The Palestinian nation should not feel ... unaided," he said.