Imam Khomeini's views relating to the Palestinian problem and confrontation with the Zionist enemy can analyzed from various perspectives. Imam had undertaken serious efforts to unite the Muslim over the Palestinian issue even before the victory of the Islamic Revolution under his wise leadership in 1979.
Imam Khomeini once at sensitive juncture of history had stressed the need to continue the struggle using an oil embargo as a weapon against Israel and its supporters.
Imam had strongly supported the Palestinian cause during the struggle for the Islamic revolution.
In a message to the Muslim governments and nations on November 7, 1973 (Aban 16, 1352 AHS), he wrote:
"It is the duty of the governments of Islamic oil-producing countries to use their oil and the other means they have at their disposal as weapons against Israel and the imperialists, and to refuse to sell oil to the governments supporting Israel."
This stance of Imam Khomeini's was pursued vigorously at different periods and even after the victory of the Islamic revolution.
If we consider the special conditions which prevailed at that time and the importance and vital role oil played in industrial development, more so at a time when the Western industrialized world had not come up with any viable means of defense against the oil-embargo weapon, we can understand more fully the importance of this stance of Imam's.
Imam Khomeini always considered returning to Islam and uniting as a prerequisite to saving Palestine and blocking Zionism's expansionist plans. Consequently, while stressing that the main goal of Israel is the destruction of Islam, he repeatedly called on the Muslims to put aside all their differences, including the religious ones.
Even though the majority of the Arabs and Muslims living in Palestine belonged to the Sunni sect, Imam Khomeini, in his role as Shia jurisprudent and marja', did not refuse them any kind of help. He considered the issue of Palestine as one that was related to the very existence of Islam, and stressed it was a problem which concerned the Islamic world as a whole.
He encouraged all Muslims to extend their help to the Palestinians. Imam Khomeini saw the rule of a small number of Zionists over more than one billion Muslims of the world as something shameful and said: "How can Israel, with such a small number of people, come and prevail over these countries which possess everything and have all kinds of powers, the way it has? Why should it be this way? Is it not because the nations are divided and stand apart from their governments, and the governments are disunited, that a population of one billion Muslims with all the means they have at their disposal are sitting by while Israel perpetrates these crimes in Lebanon and Palestine?"
In the words Imam Khomeini, the great leader of the Islamic revolution, made famous, if all the Muslims came together and each one of them threw a bucket of water over Israel, it would be washed away. He said: "There is something which puzzles me and it is that all the Muslim governments and nations know what the problem is, they know that the hands of foreigners are involved to disunite them, they see that this disunity will weaken and destroy them, they see how the frail regime of Israel has stood against the Muslims, and they know that if united and each one of them threw a bucket of water over Israel it would be washed away, yet still they are helpless before it."
In defending the rights of the oppressed people of Palestine and in order to mobilise support for the Palestinian uprising from the Islamic nations, Imam Khomeini believed that instead of turning to grounds, topics and issues which had no roots in the culture of the Palestinian nation, one should take advantage of the ideology of Islam and the potentials it offered.
Declaring the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan "World Quds Day" is an example of this enlightened attitude of Imam Khomeini's. The month of Ramadan provides the Muslims with an ideal opportunity; spiritually inspired by a month of fasting and attending religious and educational ceremonies, the believers gain a readiness to turn their attention to the great responsibility borne by the ummah to free the first qibla (prayer direction) of the Muslims. Were the political and propaganda obstacles of the imperialist powers and their agents in the Islamic countries to be weakened through the efforts of the Muslims, then the World Quds Day could play a very determining role in uniting the Muslim nations as well as mobilizing and inspiring the Muslim forces for the freedom of the holy Quds.
In Imam Khomeini's view, another example of the potentials of the Islamic world was to be found through reviving the Abrahamic hajj, observing the true philosophy of hajj - which in the holy Qur'an is called "the uprising for the people" - and ensuring that the disavowal of pagans ceremonies became an integral part of the spirit of true hajj and its rituals.
Based on this view, whenever the global congress of hajj, which is the focus of attention of millions of Muslim people from all over the world and from all denominations, discovers its true philosophy and is transformed into a centre for recognising the problems of the Islamic world and revealing the treacherous plots of the enemies of Islam and their agents, then the question of Palestine and the occupation of Muslim lands by a handful of Zionists will, as a matter of course, be placed at the top of the agenda as one of the most important problems facing the Muslim world.
And through the hajj congress, the support of the Muslims of the world can be found, unanimity created and the resources of the Islamic world put to use for finding a fundamental solution to this old problem.
Indeed it is the existence of these very potentials and the enlightening messages of Imam Khomeini that have led America, Europe and Israel in past years to employ all their might against Imam's policies and the Islamic republic system.
Taking advantage of the dependency and shaky position of some of the anti-people governments in the Islamic countries, they strive to prevent the message reviving the pure Islam of Muhammad (upon whom be peace) from spreading.
And through their use of different methods of disseminating malicious propaganda against the goals of the Islamic revolution on the one hand and calumny, assassination, international pressures and the killing of pilgrims of the house of God for the crime of shouting "Death to America and Israel" on the other, they try to stem the rising tide of the Islamic revolution and consolidate the usurping regime of Israel in the heart of the Islamic world.
However, the Islamic uprising of the Palestinian people is a sign of this reality that the message of Imam and his movement for God has reached its main audience.