TEHRAN — Millions of Iranians from all walks of life marched the streets on the last Friday of Ramadan to mark “International Quds Day”. The massive rallies were intended to highlight the Palestinian cause as the Islamic world’s number one priority.

Rallies were held in hundreds of cities in Iran, such as Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tabriz.

Although the rallies were supposed to begin at 10: a.m. nationwide, people flooded the streets at 9: a.m.

This year’s rallies marked a milestone in the history of support for the Palestinian people. The rallies were highly conspicuous after two years of limitations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In view of the analysts the large rallies were synonymous with a referendum to put an end to the apartheid against the Palestinians by the regime of Israel.

This great show of support for Palestinians came as the racist approach toward Palestinian worshippers has angered people across the world, especially in Muslim countries.

The marches proved that people’s heart regardless of where they live beat for the oppressed Palestinians. Moreover, the rallies showed that people shun occupation, suppression, and racism. 

Also, this is a lesson from history that injustice cannot exist forever.   

Demonstration of military power 

An hour before the start of the Quds Day march in Tehran, Iran's newest ballistic missiles called "Kheybar Shekan" and "Emad 3" were displayed.

Kheybar Shekan is the world's longest-range tactical ballistic missile with a range of 1,450 km.

Also, on the sidelines of rallies in Tehran, an exhibition was held to display the missiles of the Resistance Front.
The Qassem missile of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Ayas 250 missile of Hamas, the Fateh 110 missile of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Tashrin missile of the Syrian army, the Jamal 69 missile of the Iraqi nobles, the Quds 2 missile of Yemen’s Ansarallah, the Sajjil missile of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps are put on display.

During the march, reporters spotted Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian. He told reporters that the resistance movement is at its best condition in the region, Lebanon and Palestine.

Amir Abdollahian also announced that next week, a special meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held in Jeddah on the issue of Palestine and the recent crimes of the Israeli regime against the people of the region. 

“We strongly condemn the recent actions of the Zionist regime in desecrating Al-Aqsa Mosque. We have taken intensive diplomatic action over the past three weeks to counter this desecration. We had consultations and talks with the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and some of the foreign ministers of Islamic countries, and we requested that an emergency meeting be held in this regard,” he said, adding that next week a meeting will be held at the level of special representatives and ambassadors of OIC member states in Jeddah. 

“Fortunately, our diplomats have been stationed at the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah for about three months, and we will be active in this meeting. We hope to be able to hold this meeting at the level of foreign ministers as well,” he elaborated, wishing that someday all Iranians will pray in Quds.

The Quds Day march brings back the issue of civil society in solving the Palestinian cause. 

In a significant development, UN human rights experts called on the international community to take immediate and effective steps to protect and sustain the six Palestinian civil society groups that were designated as ‘terrorist organizations’ by the Israeli regime in October 2021.

In a press release by the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Right body, the UN experts dubbed the Israelis’ reckless act to designate civil society groups as terrorist organizations as a “disturbing designation.”

“Israel’s disturbing designation of these organizations as ‘terrorist organizations’ has not been accompanied by any public concrete and credible evidence,” said the human rights experts. “We note that the information presented by Israel has also failed to convince a number of governments and international organizations that have traditionally provided funding for the indispensable work of these six organizations.”

In October 2021, the UN experts denounced Israel’s designation of six Palestinian civil society organizations – Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International, Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees – as terrorist organizations. Israel’s designation enables it to close the organizations, seize their assets, end their work and charge their leadership and staff with terrorist offences.

Meanwhile, the Axis of Resistance has been strengthened, therefore, the Palestinian youth have been confronting the Zionist regime’s atrocities with more power. 

According to recent studies, the Palestinians can launch 3,000 missiles in an operation in the occupied territories.

Iran has always supported the resistance of the Palestinian fighters, as portrayed in the words of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran advocates and supports the camp of Resistance. It advocates and supports the Palestinian Resistance. We have always said this, we have always acted on this, and we have stood by it. We condemn the treacherous move to normalize relations [with the Zionist regime]. We condemn the policy of a normalization of relations. Some Arab governments have asked the U.S. to accelerate the matter of solving the Palestinian issue,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a live speech on Friday.