‘OIC must restore Palestinians’ rights’

Iran’s Minister of Culture Ali Jannati has decried international bodies’ inaction on the Israeli regime’s atrocities in Gaza, calling on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to help restore Palestinians’ rights.

“Considering [the fact] that the Palestinian issue is the most important priority of the Islamic Ummah and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, therefore the organization is expected to take effective measures to remove and ease the sufferings and problems of the Palestinian people,” Jannati said in an emergency ministerial meeting of the OIC executive committee in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

The OIC has great potential to play a more active role in order to help people in the besieged Gaza Strip and help restore the absolute rights of oppressed Palestinians, he added.

He reaffirmed Iran’s readiness to help the Palestinian people, particularly in the blockaded enclave, and said Tehran is prepared to dispatch humanitarian aid including foodstuff and medicine to the Gazans as soon as possible.

Iran emphasizes the importance of removing the seizure of the Gaza Strip completely and reopening all border crossings to prepare the ground for the dispatch of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, the minister said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran calls for the dispatch of an investigation team to Gaza to examine the extent of this humanitarian catastrophe and bring a prosecution against the Zionist regime [of Israel] in international courts,” Jannati added.

He said Iran throws its weight behind Palestinian groups’ unity and struggles against the Israeli regime.

Israel launched the latest war against the blockaded Gaza Strip on July 8. More than 1,940 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have lost their lives and nearly 10,000 have been wounded in the Israeli military attacks. Hamas says more than 150 Israelis have also been killed in the conflict.