RNA - Quds Day is held annually on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan during which demonstrators call for the liberation of Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation and apartheid. It was proclaimed in 1979 by the late Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution, as a religious duty for all Muslims to rally in solidarity against Israel and for the liberation of Al-Quds.
This year the protesters take to the streets to name and shame Israel for killing Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border, to bring the world's attention to the endless sufferings in occupied Palestine and besieged Gaza, to reiterate Palestinians can and will liberate the Holy Land, and to denounce US President Donald Trump for moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Al-Quds and calling it Israel’s capital.
According to Fars News Agancy, the worldwide rallies set on creating awareness about the fact that pro-Israel currents and lobbies in the West try to distort real Islam, create a false image that Islam is a religion that provokes violence and hate against Jews, that the rallies are a clear exhibit of Antisemitism, and that Israel represents the Jewish community the world over.
Far from it, Israel is a cadence of falsehood and falsehood is bound to perish. The racist regime works for the destruction of humanity and peace in the region, and the international civil society should look into the plight of the Palestinians very seriously as it still matters after so many decades of Israeli occupation and state terrorism.
Now besides the Israeli massacre in Gaza we are witnessing the largest number of illegal Israeli settlement units being built on Palestinian lands. And it is important to say that Palestinian protection is not a matter of solidarity or generosity, Palestinian protection is an obligation under International Law – The Geneva Convention and many international instruments of binding nature.
We are still witnessing many remarkable examples of solidarity with Palestinians in today’s world. But at the same time, we are seeing more and more countries being aligned with Israel under pressure from the United States and Zionist lobby in Washington. We are seeing more and more Palestinians being imprisoned and, this is particularly worrying, especially when associated to forms of political populism, Islamophobia, racism, in which Palestinians become a target, many times being accused of being part of the terror threat when Palestinians are not terrorists - they are the first victims of Israeli-sponsored terror. They are fighting state-sponsored terror and occupation, and that is why they are being killed and imprisoned on a daily basis.
This is the reason why it is important to make on the International Quds Day very strong appeals to the international community. These strong appeals are absolutely necessary for the right of the Palestinians for freedom and self-determination to be again fully respected:
- The UN member states are not doing it, to re-establish the integrity of the international protection for Palestinians, which means to have the right, obviously, to have their country back again and manage their own affairs, but managing them also in a protection-sensitive way, and not refusing entry to it seeking recognition and protection.
- Recognizing that there is no two-state solution for the Palestinian plight; the solution is political and through referendum, and it is related to the solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; to ask all international actors and states to pressure the Israeli occupying regime to comply with international law and stop genocide of the indigenous population.
- Humanitarian support for Palestinians in Gaza is still largely underfunded. That means the majority of them live below the poverty line - that most of them have no jobs and no hopes or perspective to have a dignified life. It is absolutely crucial that humanitarian appeals are fully funded and that international solidarity is expressed in relation to the people of Gaza.
And finally, all UN member states must increase their pressure on the Zionist regime to end occupation, and recognize the fact that its apartheid cannot last forever. But on this path, the member states should also take tough action against the US embassy relocation. The world states showed an initial reaction to Washington, but their UN voting against Washington's flagrant violation of the UN approval should just be the beginning and not a curtailed action. Washington's unilateral policies that come in every aspect, including on the Palestinian issue, should be punished, otherwise all the world nations would be forced to pay a heavy price for thei silence, the EU, Canada and China have just come to realize the price of their earlier inactions and they will be forced to pay even more. Washington should be forced to come back to its senses as it is no more just the Palestinians and their genuin supporters, but the entire world is eventually developing this notion that the United States' bullying practice of foreign policy costs everyone.
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