TEHRAN President Seyed Mohammad Khatami has sent a message to Pope John Paul II congratulating the leader of the Catholic Church on the two occasions of the 2000th birth anniversary of Jesus Christ and the start of the New Year of 2001, it was announced here Sunday.

In his message, the president considered as a good omen the simultaneity between this year's Christmas period and the great Islamic feast of Eid-ul-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramazan.

Islam and Christianity are the two greatest religions of the world. Harmony between the followers of the two religions could prepare the ground for peaceful coexistence of many nations in the world.

Just after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the renowned American thinker Samuel Huntington propounded the notion of "Clash of Civilizations". He argued that in the post-Cold War era the battle line of the wars in the world will be the fault line of civilizations. He also argued that the Third World will be no more a subject of Western colonialism but a mover and shaper of history. At the same time he said that unlike in the past, the world wars will not be fought merely within Europe and the West but between the Western and non-Western civilizations which he defined in terms of religion and culture, not on the basis of nation-states.

But President Khatami in one of his speeches at the United Nations General Assembly propounded the idea of "dialogue among civilizations" which was welcomed by all UN members. The United Nations designated the year 2001 the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations.

President Khatami's message to Pope in fact consolidates his notion of dialogue among civilizations, one analyst said, adding, Khatami's message goes beyond the formal exchange of greetings which takes place on the eve of Christmas.

President Khatami believes that peaceful coexistence in the world is possible through dialogue, not confrontation. Indeed Khatami's message was a response to Huntington's dictum.

In his message, Khatami also took the opportunity to once again underline further understanding among Muslims and Christians as well as other followers of divine religions.

In fact Huntington's dictum was a big challenge to all social scientists. It received the most challenging response from Khatami.

"Just see, Khatami in his message to Pope expressed the hope that through common attempts peace, faith and ethics will be further expanded in the world," an editorialist. This indicates that Khatami is not only concerned about peace in Iran but in other parts of the world, including the occupied territories where the Zionist regime is committing all sorts of atrocities against the Palestinians.

In fact as last week's Tehran Friday prayer leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said, "Christians are a chief victim of Zionist atrocities. Even Jews are subject to intimidation by the Zionists. Therefore, if the followers of all religions Christians, Muslims, Jews and the followers of other religions join hands they will be able to expose the real nature of the Zionists who are exploiting Judaism for their economic-political ends.