خبرگزاری جمهوری عربی سوریه Syrian Arab News Agency
Tehran, SANA – The Ministerial meeting of Palestine Committee affiliated to Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) kicked off Monday in Tehran with the participation of Syria’s delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Fayssal Mikdad.
In his opening speech, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the Zionist entity breached all humanitarian and international norms in its offensive against Gaza Strip as it has committed the ugliest crimes against the Palestinians by preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged civilians in the Strip.
Rouhani stressed that the Israeli army continued its previous policies in exterminating the civilians.
“The crisis which Gaza is witnessing is not but a part of a series of the Zionist entity’s crimes which aims at continuing exterminating the Palestinian people, obliterating their identity, changing the geographical fabric of the Palestinian territories and building illegitimate settlements in the occupied land,” the Iranian President said.
Rouhani held the UN Security Council responsible for continuing the Israeli aggression on Gaza as it refrained from practicing any kind of pressure on the Zionist entity to put an end to its aggression and stop its crimes against the Palestinians in the Strip.
“The inaction of the UN Security Council towards the Zionist occupation’s crimes in Palestine and Gaza is an evidence on that the Council has lost its legitimacy,” he said.
The Iranian President stressed that due to the silence of the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement is moving according to its basic criteria to stop the Israeli crimes and massacres against the Palestinian people.
Rouhani called on the NAM to put pressures on the Security Council and the UN to adopt influential steps for stopping the aggressive operations of the Israeli forces and lifting the siege imposed on the Strip as soon as possible .
He reiterated that Iran has devoted all its efforts to lift the siege imposed on the Palestinian people.
For his part, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said, during the meeting, that the Palestinian people have the right to resist the Israeli occupation based on the simplest international criteria.
Al-Maliki called for putting pressure on the international institutions, particularly the UN to end the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.
Lebanese Foreign and Expatriates Minister Gebran Bassil said ” The Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people are premeditated according to the International Court,” adding that the steadfastness of the Palestinians in Gaza is a perpetual defeat of the Israeli occupation.
Bassil also called upon the international community to support Lebanon and help it confront terrorists and takfiris.
In turn, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua called for launching a full investigation into the crimes committed by Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, affirming his country’s support for the Palestinian people’s rights and calling for supporting them.
Foreign Ministers of about 30 countries will discuss the deteriorated situation in Gaza Strip due to the Israeli continued aggression against the Strip .
Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araghchi said that more than 30 countries (including Syria) will participate in the Palestine Committee, which is affiliated to the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) in Tehran.
He said the Palestine Committee, which includes 13 NAM member states, Iran, Palestine, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Cuba, in addition to about 20 other Asian and African countries will take part in the one-day meeting.
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