World Quds Day

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 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 international law. It is also a manifestation of the open imposition of force and coercion against the original and authentic inhabitants of Palestine by an illegitimate and impermanent Israeli regime.

Palestinian women, men and children are being slaughtered by Israeli criminals; hospitals, medical and relief centers, mosques and churches are also not spared from the evil of this fake regime.

There has been 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 are women and children, in just six months, alongside repeated prevention by the 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 displacing them to Sinai and Jordan lands.

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 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 the historical and civilizational identity of Palestine.

Today it is incumbent to show to the international community, the UN Security Council, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court that there is an ongoing genocide and mass murder in Gaza by the Zionist regime. We have conducted extensive consultations at international forums with the UN secretary general and the International Committee of the Red Cross for humanitarian cooperation as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to emphasize the necessity of the cessation of hostility and delivery of food and medicine. The secretary general of the UN and the president of the ICRC have taken important steps but 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.

The US is one of the main sides to be blamed for the continuation of the 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 and tools of pressure to stop the war but despite various meetings, this organization has failed to play an effective and expected role in this respect.

We remain hopeful that urgent humanitarian aid will be sent to Gaza to save its oppressed people from starvation and famine before the end of the holy month of Ramazan. We also hope that with the blessing of this holy month, we will see stronger regional, Muslim, and international unity 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 people of Palestine and the residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank stand with strong will and faith in defence of their homeland and their natural and internationally-recognized rights and will continue their resistance against the occupying regime.

The whole world is grieving the situation in Palestine and the painful conditions its people are experiencing. We are confident that all the freedom- 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 emphasizes 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 Zionist regime as the lead cause of insecurity and instability in the region, and believes in the necessity of fundamentally solving this chronic historical crisis.

World Quds Day, as an initiative of Imam Khomeini, the great founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, provides a significant opportunity for the fortification of unified and global solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine and the expression of censure for the Zionist usurper regime. It also aims to condemn the supporters of this fake and criminal regime and point to the real roots of the old and painful Palestinian crisis.

The Zionist occupiers and their supporters focusing on the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation -- which was an inevitable reaction by the Palestinian nation to all kinds of violations of their natural rights -- 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; 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.

World Quds Day provides an opportunity for 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 UN among the original inhabitants of Palestine, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

The writer is the minister of foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.