TEHRAN-A ceremony to support Palestine and condemn the Zionist crimes in Gaza was held in Athens, Greece, on December 20.

At the ceremony, organized by the Cultural Attaché Office of Iran in Greece and the Palestinian Community in Greece Organization, Iranian singer Mohsen Tavasoli performed a piece titled “A Song for Palestine,” as well as other songs dedicated to the Palestinian people, Mehr reported on Monday.

Moreover, some Greek songs by Palestinian poets Mahmoud Darwish and Sahim al-Qasim were sung at the event.

Also at the ceremony, a brief history of the Palestinian cause and its importance was presented via photos and videos from the life and struggles of the Palestinian people. 

Addressing the participants at the ceremony, the Iranian cultural attaché in Greece Mehdi Nikkhah Qomi said: “We are living at a time when we witness the barbaric crimes of the Zionist regime. With the unreserved support of the Western leaders and their affiliated media, the artists and thinkers should take the responsibility for conveying the voice of the oppressed people to everyone and tell the truth”.

Also speaking at the ceremony, the chairman of the Palestinian Community in Greece Organization Abdullatif Darwish said: “Be sure that just as the Americans did not stay in Vietnam, the Zionists will not stay in the occupied territories. Victory is definitely near and this land, which we are the true owners of, will turn into the Zionists’ graveyard”.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip during the 11-week assault by the Zionist regime has surpassed 20,000 while over 53,000 others are wounded. Thousands more bodies are believed to be trapped under the rubble across the strip.

Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and forced to live in flimsy tents or on the streets in the southern part of the strip, where widespread hunger has been reported.

Israel has long urged the Palestinians to leave northern areas of Gaza but its forces have also been bombarding neighborhoods in central and southern parts of the tiny coastal enclave.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime. Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.

SS/SAB