TEHRAN, Sept. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Seyed Ali Khamenei on Saturday underlined importance of continuing the Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "Continuation and strengthening of resistance is the only way toencounter the Zionist enemy," Khamenei was quoted as saying in a meeting with Secretary General of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad Ramadan Abdullah Shallah in Tehran.

    The supreme leader praised the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as "the great victory of the Palestinian nation and the Islamic resistance".

    "This victory showed that resistance would bear fruits, and sucha victory will be possible in other regions of the occupied lands. Resistance should be continued by the Palestinian nation and brave Palestinian youth," Khamenei added.

    Israel finished evacuating all of its 21 settlements in Gaza andfour in the northern West Bank on Aug. 23 under prime minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan.

    Iran has been strongly sympathetic to the struggle of the Palestinians for their independence and against the Israeli occupation since the country's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Enditem