TEHRAN - Palestinian Ambassador to Iran Salam Zawawi said that the time has come for the oppressed Palestinian people to liberate themselves and achieve their independence.

In an interview with khamenei.ir, Zawawi said, “We, as a Palestinian people, always say we have no Eid, and our Eid is when we return [to Palestine]. However, we are trying by all means and all methods to deliver, through this blessed occasion, a word to the Islamic world: O Islamic world, O Arab world, O friends of the word of truth and O advocates of freedom. Look at the occupied Palestinian people for seven decades. Isn't it time for this people to be liberated?” 

She added, “We are the only occupied people languishing under occupation in 2023 after more than seven decades of occupation. We appeal to the Islamic world to rise up against the injustice of the Palestinian people,” according to Al-Alam.

Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, underlined the need for helping resistance elements inside Palestine in a meeting with a group of Iranian officials and ambassadors of Islamic countries on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

In the meeting, the Leader dedicated much of his speech to the issue of Palestine, saying that Israel is in a state of decline and has lost its power of deterrence.

He considered the issue of Palestine as one of the most fundamental issues of the Islamic world and pointed to the gradual decline of the usurping Zionist regime. “This decline, which began a few years ago, has accelerated now and the Islamic world must take advantage of this great opportunity,” he said, according to khamenei.ir. 

Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out that the issue of Palestine not only Islamic, but also a humanitarian issue. Referring to the Quds Day gatherings and marches in non-Islamic countries, he said, “Anti-Zionist gatherings in the U.S. and European countries on Quds Day is the result of the increasing revelation of the crimes of the usurping Zionists.”

He added that the presence of a number of Europeans in support of the Palestinian people is very important, especially in countries that are dependent on the Zionists.

The Leader also called for Islamic unity in the sermon he delivered at the Eid al-Fitr Prayer. 

Zawawi said, “The Palestinian people, and the Palestinian state under occupation is incomplete with sovereignty, but we are a Palestinian state. We have more than 52 diplomatic missions in the Palestinian territories representing their countries among the Arab, Islamic and foreign countries inside Palestine. Among the gains of the struggle of the Palestinian people is their access to achieving their justice, fulfilling their word, and achieving their grievances with the recognition of the whole world and the United Nations at the head of this world by commemorating the Nakba Day in 1967, and we will commemorate the Nakba Day for the first time in the world on 15/05/2023 in their home in the United Nations. And they acknowledged that the Palestinian people are afflicted, raped, and occupied, and this is a victory for us, with the help of our brothers from the Arab and Islamic countries, our friends, and the free people of the whole world. God willing, the time has come for this oppressed people to liberate themselves and achieve their independence, the independence of the State of Palestine with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. May God grant us and you prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”