In search for her mother, father, and younger sister, Maryam, with her tearful eyes and the throat choked as a result of relentless cries and wailings, pushes aside stones, dust, and bricks, with the hope of finding any of their traces. Except for mother, no one was there at home to pat her. Her mother, for over the long years of absence of her father, who was martyred, and the brother, who is behind the bars, was the sole person looking after her, with brother and younger sister giving strength to her to live a life that was full of pain and agony. And now that the homelessness that befell them has eclipsed the rest of her life. This pain, agony, homelessness, and loneliness is one that Maryam and other Palestinian children are facing since decades. Demolition of homes, occupation of lands, the killing of fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, homelessness, poverty, detention of loved ones in the detention centres of the occupiers of their land, and the lofty desires which some of them have taken to the graves along with themselves is an everyday tale of occupied Palestine. Maryam heard how the Zionists, with the support from the western imperialists, occupied her land and made millions of her compatriots homeless. She heard many stories from her father, mother, and brother about killings in Diryasin, Alramleh, Kafr Qasim, Khan Younus, Qana, Bint Jamil, Altantoureh, Sabra and Shatilla, and tens of other crimes and had seen with her own eyes the incessant bombings on the houses in the besieged city of Gaza and now she was experiencing the same in the ruins of their home.
Honestly, is there any person who sees and hears about this scene, but does not raise a voice of protest? Is it possible to stay silent before all these crimes and cruelties? The killing of Palestinian youth, women, and children, occupation of lands, destruction of homes of the Palestinians, establishing Jewish settlements and Judaization of the Palestinian land, collective punishment of the Palestinians, obstinate detentions and imprisonment of women, youth, children, and elderly people, discriminatory actions against the Palestinians including restrictions on travels, siege, poverty, joblessness, assassination, forced disappearance and the incessant bombardments on the residential areas in Gaza happen to be only a bit of the crime being committed by the criminal Zionist regime.
We must not stay silent and must raise a voice against all these crimes and oppression and heal the chronic wounds of Palestine so that the Palestinians could know and be encouraged that they have supporters who stand united with them in fighting for their lofty goals. The last Friday of Ramzan each year, which through a wise initiative taken by Imam Khomeini (RA), attained the name of Qods Day, is an opportunity for all Muslims and freemen across the world to express unity and solidarity with the Palestinians and support the will of Palestine and freedom of the Qods Sharif. It is now 40 years that each year on the last Friday of Ramzan call for freedom of Qods is heard coming out from the freedom and right-seeking throats particularly of the Muslims across the globe, with each year becoming stronger and more extensive, reaching its zenith in the blue sky with greater fervor and enthusiasm.
This year the Qods Day is different from that of the past years, as this is the first Qods Day after the decision of some of the governments to normalize (in fact, to divulge) their relations with the Zionist regime. This normalization of ties is in fact a part of the imposed plans termed as the Deal of the Century and the Abraham Accord. With the passage of time, it has become clear that these American-zionist plans have very dangerous and wide objectives, the main being: gradually making the issue of Palestine and the Qods a forgotten issue, safeguarding and strengthening the security of the Zionist regime, extinguishing the rising flames of the Intefadah of the Palestinians through creating discord among the Palestinian resistant forces and confronting the axis of resistance in the region, turning the image of the occupying Zionist regime and giving it the ‘peace-loving’ identity, diverting the public opinion from the crimes of this regime, fuelling rivalries among the Islamic countries particularly of the Middle East and drawing political and security advantages from these differences in favor of the Zionist regime, diverting the minds of the rulers and masses of the region from the Zionist regime as the main enemy of the regional nations and the main factor behind the Mideast crisis and insecurity, protecting and prolonging the existence of the illegitimate Israeli regime and supporting the expansionist aims of this usurper regime in the region and beyond.
The past revealed that the conciliatory plans for getting access to one of the main objectives, which is making the issue of Palestine a forgotten issue, have failed. In fact, these nefarious plans not only failed in making the Palestinian nation oblivious of the issue of Qods and the zionist regime crime but also augmented the sensitivity of the Muslim nations towards the Palestinian issue and their aversion to backing out from it.
Protest over the past year by the Pakistani nation and other Muslim nations against the Deal of the Century and the conciliatory plans is a testimony to this claim. Historical experience shows that when the public opinion is adamant on fighting and resistance for the liberation of Qods, the nefarious conciliatory measures for normalization of relations with the fake regime of Israel can only be effective with some reconciliation governments but cannot win the hearts of the nations. The solution of the Palestinian issue does not lie in the conciliatory unilateral measures where the indisputable rights of the real inhabitants are ignored but in that, all Palestinians who had been the real inhabitants and natives of Palestine before the colonial conspiracy at the beginning of the 20th century, including Muslims, Jews, and Christians, must take part in determining their fate. It is under this framework that the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the initiative and guideline of the Great Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Hazrat Ayatollah Khamenei, has presented a fair, logical, democratic, and civilized solution, which is holding of a referendum with the participation of all real natives of Palestine for determining its fate and political system. The issue of Palestine is an Islamic and humanitarian issue, the responsibility of which lies on the shoulders of all Muslims and the free consciences of the world, who in every way possible must stand up to support it and raise voice for its liberation. The Qods Day is the day of defending the oppressed and supporting the Palestinian and the other deprived nations.
Written by Seyed Mohammad Reza Sajjadi
Acting Consul General
Islamic Republic of Iran Karachi.
