IRAN’S Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has called for an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Committee on Palestine at the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) to discuss ways to stop Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Qalibaf made the remarks during a phone conversation with Ibrahim Boughali, the speaker of the People’s National Assembly, the Lower house of Algeria’s parliament, and the head of the PUIC, which is composed of parliaments of the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Iran’s parliament ‘is fully prepared to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Committee on Palestine at the level of the parliament speakers of Muslim nations to discuss practical ways to support the oppressed people of Palestine,’ Qalibaf said.
According to Qalibaf’s remarks, ‘The meeting was supposed to be held earlier, but it was postponed due to some reasons.’
Referring to Washington’s unwavering support for Tel Aviv and the US vetoing of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the Iranian parliament speaker stressed that Muslim nations must ‘demand a practical action from countries’ to prevent Israel’s atrocities.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that social order in the Gaza Strip is ‘teetering on the edge of a possible implosion’ as a result of Israel
For his part, Boughali appreciated Iran’s support for the Palestinian cause and welcomed the proposal to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Committee on Palestine in Tehran, calling for more serious cooperation among the Muslim nations to stop Israel’s brutal aggression on Gaza.
‘The US behaviour was predictable’, he said, noting that Washington has ‘always defended the Israeli crimes’.
However, he noted that the American people ‘seriously oppose this inhumane behaviour, condemn it, and call for an end to the genocide’ in Gaza.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Boughali slammed some Arab regimes that have normalised ties with Tel Aviv despite being aware of its crimes, noting that the move aimed to undermine the Palestinian cause.
He, however, noted that the Palestinian resistance and the steadfastness of the people in Gaza have managed to revive the support for Palestine.
‘We now see that even European countries and many Latin American countries condemn the inhumane behaviour of the Israeli regime,’ Boughali said.
The UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed US-brokered normalisation agreements with Israel in 2020, drawing condemnations from Palestinians who slammed the deals as ‘a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people’.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed over 19,000 Palestinians and injured 50,900 others.
Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under ‘complete siege’ by Israel.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has warned the United Nations refugee chief of the Israeli regime’s plan to forcibly relocate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is subject to an unrelenting Israeli war.
The top diplomat made the remarks to Filipo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on Thursday in Geneva, where he attended the Global Refugee Forum 2023 earlier during his stay.
Speaking to Grandi, Amir-Abdollahian expressed concern about the Israeli regime’s ‘dangerous’ measures aimed at bringing about an exodus of Palestinians from the northern part of Gaza to the southern parts of the coastal sliver and from there to neighbouring countries.
Palestinian and other regional officials have warned that through its unbridled aggression, the Israeli regime pursues a policy of resettling the people of Gaza in Egypt.
Amir-Abdollahian urged that the UNHCR and other responsible international organisations refrain from adopting discriminatory approaches towards refugees from various countries and the countries that host them.
He, meanwhile, pointed to the Islamic Republic’s hosting of millions of foreign refugees, and the extensive services that the country renders to them, despite suffering from oppressive and unilateral United States-imposed sanctions.
The foreign minister emphasised Tehran’s demands for support from the United Nations in light of the situation.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has highlighted the United States’ direct role in the massacre of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the regime is unable to continue its bloody onslaught against the territory without Washington’s full support.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a Wednesday meeting with acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on the sidelines of the Global Refugee Forum 2023 in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The top Iranian diplomat said the US played a major role in the Gaza carnage, stating that the Israeli regime is seeking to evict Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to compensate for failure to achieve any of its declared goals in the months-long aggression on Gaza.
The Tel Aviv regime has resorted to mass killings, a complete siege of Gaza and escalation of criminal acts in the West Bank for that purpose, Amir-Abdollahian said, noting, ‘It is necessary for Muslim countries to fervently and strongly support the Palestinian nation.’
For his part, Mikati referred to the Gaza crisis as the prime issue of both the Muslim and the entire world.
Iran condemns the UN Security Council’s failure to adopt a draft resolution seeking a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, stating that the move once again showed US is playing the main role in the massacre of Gazans.
Last Tuesday’s United Nation General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip reflected that the majority of the international community is in favour a truce in the war-torn Palestinian territory, the Lebanese prime minister noted.
Late on Tuesday, the resolution passed with 153 countries voting in favour, and 23 abstaining. The United States and Israel were among the 10 votes against the non-binding resolution.
Israel waged a war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a ‘complete siege’ on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to more than two million Palestinians living there.
In a separate meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, Amir-Abdollahian also called for closer joint efforts to support Palestinians in the face of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
‘It’s necessary to boost massive efforts to support the Palestinian people, support their resilience and to send humanitarian aid,’ he said.
The top Iranian diplomat also hailed Jordan’s efforts to stop the Israeli regime’s genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories, and ensure a ceasefire in Gaza.
Amir-Abdollahian went on to denounce the occupying Tel Aviv regime’s sinister plots to implement its expansionist schemes and displace Palestinian people.
Safadi, for his part, highlighted that his country will neither accept Israeli expansionist plans nor will allow them to come into fruition at the expense of Palestinian people and regional nations.
He noted that Palestinians in Gaza do not fall prey to Israeli bombardments alone, but also lose their lives as a result of lack of food and medicine as well as destruction of houses and hospitals.
Peace will prevail only when the Israeli occupation ends and Palestinian people establish their own sovereign independent state, the Jordanian foreign minister underlined.
Moreover, the Iranian foreign minister said the country does not favour the ongoing Israeli military campaign against the Gaza Strip to expand across the West Asia region, describing the regime’s atrocities in the war-torn territory as genocide.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a Wednesday meeting with Vatican’s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on the sidelines of the refugee forum.
He highlighted that the Holy See can play a significant role in the settlement of the months-long crisis in Gaza.
Iran regards Hamas as a freedom-seeking Palestinian movement that is struggling against the Israeli occupation, Amir-Abdollahian said, stressing that the unfolding developments in Gaza amount to genocide which the international community cannot tolerate anymore.
The Iranian foreign minister stated that Tehran does not favour the expansion of Gaza war across the region, emphasising that Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews should be able to choose their own political system through a referendum for self-determination.
For his part, Parolin voiced concern about the status quo in Palestinian territories, saying the Holy See supports efforts aimed at ensuring a ceasefire in Gaza.
He also pointed to the Vatican’s push for the delivery of humanitarian aid supplies to Palestine, stressing the need for a political solution to the conflict.
