A spokesman for the Fatah party of the Palestinian Authority government blamed Iran on Palestinian radio today for deliberately instigating violence in the Gaza Strip between itself and rival governing faction — and terrorist organization — Hamas.

The spokesman, Maher Miqdad, went as far as to say that Iran was sponsoring and actively pushing for a Shi’ite war using Hamas. The goal of such a war would be to eliminate any Sunni influence in Palestine so that Iran can meddle more in their affairs — internally and externally.

Iran is using Hamas to “conduct ethnic cleansing in the Palestinian Territories,” Miqdad was quoted as saying.

This is significant because it is the first such remark I’ve seen where a Palestinian government official is actually denouncing the interference and evil agenda of the current Iranian regime. Always we hear Israel or the US claiming that Iran is spreading violence around the Middle East, but with the credibility that has been lost due to the Iraq war a lot of people don’t seem to listen.

Hopefully stories like this will serve as a uniting force between Western and other Middle Eastern countries against Iran; not militarily, but diplomatically and politically. A war with Iran would not solve any of the current issues that are leading to all of the tension, but rather it would make them worse in the long run. The way to bring down Iran is to unite the world against it and force it to change its behavior or be forced to become another North Korea.