TEHRAN - Hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets across the country after Friday prayers to show their anger over the miserable conditions in the Gaza Strip.

About 1.5 million Gaza residents have been suffering as Israel have blocked all food, medicine and fuel shipments to the coastal territory.
Iranian demonstrators blasted international bodies such as the UN, human rights organizations and the Islamic states especially Arab countries for failing to act in the face of Israel's inhumane behavior.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told worshipers in Tehran that the UN Human Rights Council was established to defend human rights.
Criticizing the UN rights body for being inactive, he asked: “Are 1.5 million people in Gaza not humans?
Releasing statements and expressing regret does not solve any problem, Khatami noted.
The cleric called on 57-strong Organization of the Islamic Conference to mobilize Muslims against Zionists.
Majlis speaker Ali Larijani who had joined the protestors along with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the silence of the Arab countries on the agonies of Palestinians would “hurt” these countries as he said political and religious activists are losing their patience over the inaction of their governments toward Israel.
“If the leaders of these countries remain silent, they in a sense have expressed their illegitimacy,” Larijani told ISNA.
Egypt as the only country which borders the Gaza Strip refuses to open its border to send relief aids to Gaza.
Mostapha al-Savaf, the editor of the newspaper Palestine in Gaza, says the Cairo officials are not unhappy with what he called a “gradual execution” of 1.5 million Gazans in order to prevent the victory of Islamists in Egypt.
Al-Savaf told the Mehr News Agency that the pressure on the people in Gaza is meant to force the Hamas movement to “soften” its position toward Israel.
The intensification of the Gaza siege happened despite the fact that the Israeli President Shimon Peres participated in the UN Interfaith Dialogue conference on November 12-13 which was initiated by Saudi Arabia.
Lebanese University professor Yassin Souyeh says, “All Arab regimes are acting in line with the interests of the usurper enemy (Israel) by keeping silence about the crimes” in the Gaza Strip.
It seems that Arab leaders don’t like to “see” or even “hear” the “bitter realities” in the Gaza Strip, Souyeh told the MNA.
The collective punishment of Palestinians began after they voted overwhelmingly for Hamas in democratic parliamentary election in January 2006.
The Hamas government and Gaza residents came under pressure from all sides after the election. The European Union and the U.S. which always advise other countries on democracy and human rights also cut their financial help to Palestinians in order to depress Palestinians for electing Hamas as their government.
Western countries claim Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East which observes human rights. However, these countries closed their eyes to the sufferings of children and women in Gaza who suffer from the brutal measures of Israel.
After the January 2006 election, the Fatah faction, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also put extreme pressure on the Hamas government. Even an agreement by Hamas to form a unity cabinet with Fatah did not satisfy Fatah to lessen its pressure on Hamas. And finally the PA chief dismissed the government of Ismail Haniya.
------Zionist crimes aimed at manipulating Palestinian elections
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters the recent crimes perpetrated by the Zionist regime are meant to manipulate the elections in Palestine.
Abbas's term ends on January 9. However, the Fatah faction plans to postpone presidential elections until parliamentary election in January 2010. Hamas has warned that any extension of Abbas’ presidency will be illegal.
Abbas has threatened to call snap elections in the new year if his Fatah party cannot resolve a fractious split with Hamas.
Hamas has said that under the Palestinian constitution Abbas does not have the power to dissolve parliament before its term expires in January 2010.
------Israel on the road to extinction
Ahmadinejad said that the disappearance of the Zionist regime is imminent.
The Zionist regime has perpetrated its recent criminal acts as it is fully aware that the game is over and that it is on the road to extinction, Ahmadinejad predicted.
“The Zionist regime has lost all its motivation and philosophy of existence so that all of the global powers and supporters have become uncertain of supporting this regime”, Ahmadinejad noted.
He pointed out that the regime’s increasing attacks on the Gaza strip is just an effort to extend its term for some time.