International Quds Day to be observed in pandemic year

Every year on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan, worldwide rallies are held to commemorate the Palestinian people’s resistance against Israel and their struggle to liberate their territories which have been occupied by Israel for decades.

According to Press TV, millions of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including Muslims and non-Muslims, take to the streets to denounce Israel’s atrocities against the people of Palestine. This year’s Quds Day rallies will be held across the world on Friday, May 22.

International Quds Day is seen as the legacy of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (God’s mercy upon him), who is revered as a spiritual leader by Muslims across the world. Back in 1979, shortly after leading an Islamic Revolution which toppled the US-backed Shah of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini named the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadhan as Quds Day.

The annual event is seen as an opportunity for freedom-seeking people across the world, regardless of faith, to voice their support for the cause of Palestine and vent their anger against the Apartheid regime of Israel, which has occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.

Millions of people in Iran and other Muslim and non-Muslim countries worldwide hold rallies in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Quds Day is a far cry from a casual Islamic religious event. It is, indeed, a human rights event open to both Muslim and non-Muslims alike.

Anti-Israeli sentiments have been gaining ground on a regular basis following Tel Aviv's onslaughts on the besieged Gaza Strip which have martyred thousands of people, many of them women and children, since 2009.

The attacks were launched amid a muted response from the so-called international community which is spearheaded by the US - Israel's staunch ally. However, they raised global awareness of Israeli atrocities against the people of Palestine. Tel Aviv is now facing charges of war crimes over its military strikes against the impoverished enclave which has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007.

ME