TEHRAN Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said here Tuesday that the popular Intifada or uprising was the only way to liberate Palestinians from the racist Israeli regime's oppression.

"Today only the continuation of Intifada... could unravel the tangle of the Palestinian people," he told at the end of a theology class.

According to IRNA, the Leader also criticized the Islamic countries for being indifferent to the rage of Zionist regime's atrocities in the occupied Palestinian lands under the violent policies of hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"Unfortunately, the Islamic world today does not fulfill at all its obligation toward Palestine," he said.

"Today, the hearts of the Islamic nations are filled with spite and enmity against the Zionist regime and its supporters, but they (the Islamic nations) are not allowed to explicitly express their support for the Palestinian people," Ayatollah Khamenei added.

There is a group of people who want the name of Palestine to be forgotten and Palestinian Muslims' way of struggle to come under question, the Leader said.

Israeli troops have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since the beginning of Intifada about 17 months ago.

The Zionist army has adopted new tactics in recent months in its fierce crackdown on Intifada. Israeli F-16s have raided Palestinian targets amid virtual imprisonment of chairman Yasser Arafat, battle tanks and armored vehicles have regularly rolled into camps and most recently residents of Palestinian towns have been rounded up en masse by the Israeli troops.

The Islamic Republic does not recognize the Zionist regime. Iran instead politically and morally supports freedom-seeking struggles against Israeli occupation.