This year’s World Quds Day is commemorated under circumstances in which we are witness to one of the biggest cases of murder and genocide in history. The deep humanitarian catastrophe of the past six months in Palestine and particularly in Gaza, regrettably, manifests another painful and unfortunate side of the historical breach of the rights of the oppressed but steadfast Palestinians in an occupied territory in violation of the international law. It is also a manifestation of the open imposition of force and coercion as well as various internationally-known murders and crimes against the original and authentic inhabitants of Palestine by the illegitimate and impermanent Israeli regime.
These days, not only the inculpable Palestinian women and men as well as unhoused and innocent children are being slaughtered by Israeli criminals, but also hospitals, medical and relief centers, mosques and churches are not spared from the evil of the authorities and troops of this fake and beast-tempered regime.
The actions of the Zionists can be undoubtedly considered as being in violation of the most evident fundamentals of human rights and conspicuous manifestation of combined crimes against humanity, genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
Continued genocide and perpetration of various types of war crimes in the Gaza Strip, the mass murder of more than 33,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom women and children, in just six months, alongside repeated prohibition and prevention by the forged Israeli regime of the delivery of humanitarian aid, food and medicine to the entire Gaza Strip, and the use by the regime of hunger as a weapon against the Gaza residents, aimed at murdering women and children and forcibly displacing them to Sinai and Jordan lands have set the alarm bells ringing for the occurrence of the most unprecedented human catastrophe of the present century.
It is now crystal clear to all that one of the dangerous objectives of the Israeli regime in imposing a full blockade on the Gaza Strip and preventing the delivery of urgent and sufficient humanitarian assistance to its residents is to create conditions for the social and civil collapse of Gaza and eliminating all signs of life as well as historical and civilizational identity of Palestine. Efforts to forcibly displace the Gazans constitute yet another evidence of the malicious policy of the murder Zionist regime to deliberately destroy the Palestinian nation and identity.
Today it is incumbent more than any other times to bring to the spotlight of the international community, the Security Council of the United Nations and the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court the elements which prove there is an ongoing genocide and mass murder in Gaza by the Zionist regime. It is now necessary to take effective preventive and punitive actions.
We have conducted extensive consultations in international forums with the UN Secretary General and the International Committee of the Red Cross for humanitarian cooperation as well the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to emphasize the necessity of the cessation of hostility and delivery of food and medicine. We see that the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross have taken important steps; however, due to the full alignment of the White House and some other western governments with the Israeli regime, such humanitarian efforts have not yielded appropriate results so far.
It is a great regret that despite the passage of about six months from the brutal attacks of the usurper Zionist regime in Gaza, we are witnessing persistent inaction by the international community and particularly by the United Nations and its Security Council whose main responsibility is to ensure international peace and security. The United States is evidently one main side to blame for the continuation of war and obstruction of efforts to cease it. On the other hand, the Islamic Cooperation Organization was expected to mobilize its various political and economic capacities as well as tools of pressure to play its deterrent role in stopping the war; however, in spite of holding various meetings, this organization has failed to play an effective and expected role in this respect.
We remain hopeful that in view of the efforts of the Muslim states and practical responsibility of the world community, urgent humanitarian aid is sent to Gaza to save its oppressed people from starving and famine before the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
We also hope that with the blessing of this holy month, we will see stronger regional, Muslim and international unity and consolidation and global efforts to support the oppressed Palestinian nation more effectively than ever and serious, effective and deterrent regional and international measures are taken to end continued brutality of the apartheid and terrorist Zionist regime against the Palestinians.
There is no doubt that despite the painful human conditions and the war situation prevailing in the Palestinian lands, the Muslim people of Palestine and the residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank stand with strong will and faith in defense of their homeland and their natural and internationally-recognized rights and will continue resistance against the occupying regime and its criminals with determination.
The whole world is grieving the situation in Palestine and the painful conditions its people are experiencing—conditions which mirror all the hardship of humanity and the world’s free humans.
We are confident that at this historical moment, all the freedom-loving and peace-loving people of the world demand the preparation of the necessary grounds by the international community, especially the United Nations and Islamic countries, to take practical steps towards lasting peace, guaranteeing the violated rights of the Palestinians and ending the terrible crimes of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Believing in the necessity of fulfilling the full rights of the Palestinian nation and ending the biggest and most painful occupation of the present century, the Islamic Republic of Iran has proudly stood by the Palestinian people for several decades.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing the importance of the Palestinian issue as the most important issue of the Muslim world, and the need for the international community to deal with the occupation of Palestine as the real and fundamental root of the crisis in the West Asia, as well as the Zionist regime as the lead cause of insecurity and instability in the region, believes in the necessity of fundamentally solving this chronic historical crisis and the deep wound on the body and conscience of humanity and the Muslim world.
The World Quds Day, as the initiative of Imam Khomeini (PBUH), the great founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for the responsible attention of the world to the Palestinian issue, provides a significant opportunity for the fortification of unified and global solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine and expression of hatred and disgust for the Zionist usurper regime. It also aims to condemn the supporters of this fake and criminal regime and a great opportunity to pay responsible attention to the real roots of the old and painful Palestinian crisis.
The Zionist occupiers and the notorious supporters of this regime, focusing on the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation – which was an inevitable reaction by the Palestinian nation to all kinds of crimes, murder, suppression and violations of their natural rights, as well as insult to the Holy Quds and Muslim sanctities – are seeking to accuse the resistance movement and the Palestinian nation of initiating the ongoing war against Gaza. They clumsily try to divert the world’s public opinion from the truth and the real root of the Palestinian crisis, while the real root of the crisis lies in the 75-year occupation of the Palestinian territory by a fake and rootless regime as well as the violation of the fundamental, lawful and natural rights of a noble nation.
As long as the main root of the crisis is not given serious attention and responsible action is not taken to treat it, lasting peace and security will not be formed in the region and the world.
The World Quds Day provides an opportunity for thinking a viable, responsible and real solution.
Emphasizing the natural and inherent right of the Palestinian nation to legitimately resist oppression and occupation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, has responsibly presented a democratic initiative for the Palestinian issue which has been registered in the United Nations. Iran believes that the oldest and most painful crisis of the present century in the region and the world can be resolved through a referendum with the help of the United Nations among the original inhabitants of Palestine, including Christians, Muslims and Jews.
( Writer is a Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran)
