The two-day "4th International Conference for Support of Palestine, The Model of Resistance, and Gaza, the Victim of War Crimes" in Iran's capital began on Wednesday with an address by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Iran's top authority said on Wednesday U.S. President Barack Obama was pursuing the same wrong path as George W. Bush in supporting Israel.

"Even the new president of America, who has come to power with slogans about changing Bush's policies, is defending state terrorism by talking about unconditional commitment to Israel's security," Khamenei said.

Khamenei said Obama was following the same "wrong path" of his predecessor in the White House.

"Another big mistake is to say that the only way to save the Palestinian nation is by negotiations," Khamenei said.

"Negotiations with whom? With an occupying and bullying regime, who does not believe in any other principle other than force? ... Or negotiations with America and Britain who committed the biggest sin in creating and supporting this cancerous tumour ... ?" he added.

"The way to salvation (for Palestinians) is standing firm and resisting," the supreme leader said.

Khamenei also said the Holocaust was used to usurp Palestinian land and said the West and Israel showed the weakness of their cause by not allowing anyone to question the Holocaust.

"The continuation of the Zionist regime even on one inch of the land of Palestine, because of the nature of that regime, means the continuation of crime, occupation, threat and insult to the nations," the president told the conference.

"The political and military leaders of the occupying regime that played the role in the disaster of Gaza must be put on trial. This is the first step that should be taken," Khamenei said.

"Support and help to Palestinians is a mandatory duty of all Muslims. I now tell all Muslim brothers and sisters to join forces and break the immunity of the Zionist criminals."

He repeated a call for a referendum among Palestinian Muslims, Jews and Christians around the world to determine what government to establish on all land that now includes Israel.

"Anti-Zionism international front"

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed formation of an international front against Zionism, referring to Israel.

The president made the proposal during his speech at the conference.

President Ahmadinejad said "an anti-Zionism international front should put mobilizing and rendering support to Gaza and Palestine at the top of its agenda and earnestly work to take Zionist war criminals before an eligible court."

He said "the world looked at Zionism not as a religion but as a "manner" full of evil and satanic objectives and means".

He said "he believed holding of a free referendum was the only solution to the crisis of Palestine."

Arrest warrants against Israelis

The Tehran summit comes just two days after a global donors meeting in Egypt pledged to donate around 4.5 billion dollars to rebuild Gaza.

"The (Tehran) conference is to discuss the issue of aiding Palestinians and also find a solution to the Zionist regime's adventures against Palestinians," Ali Larijani, speaker of Iran's parliament, told FARS news agency.

It also criticised the Egypt conference.

"Those who participated in that conference and staged that puppet show approved the Zionist regime's atrocities in Gaza," Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, the secretary general of the Iran conference said, according to Fars agency.

The summit in Tehran also comes three days after Iran's chief prosecutor Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafbadi called for arrest warrants to be issued against 34 Israeli political leaders and 114 military commanders.

He mainly targeted outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for committing war crimes.

Agencies