In Arab countries
Thousands at pro-Palestinian demonstrations
Supporters of the religious Muslim organization “Jamaat-e-Islami” take part in a demonstration in Lahore against the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip and in solidarity with the Palestinians. photo
© KM Chaudary/AP/dpa
From Egypt to Pakistan, thousands of people demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The protest is also directed against Israel’s air strikes in response to the Hamas attack.
Thousands of people gathered in Arab and Muslim countries on Friday to show their support for Palestinians and against Israeli airstrikes on the to demonstrate in the Gaza Strip. In Egypt, for example, believers protested after Friday lunchtime prayers at the Al-Azhar Mosque, an important Islamic site in Cairo, the newspaper “al-Shorouk” reported online.
The newspaper published images of some demonstrators unfurling the Palestinian flag in the courtyard of the mosque and quoted them as chanting “With soul and blood we sacrifice for al-Aqsa,” a reference to Islam’s third holiest site in Jerusalem. In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Cairo has mediated in previous conflicts between Palestinians and Israel.
Use of tear gas
In Jordan, which also has diplomatic relations with Israel, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets. Security forces dispersed protesters trying to reach the border area with Palestinian territory in the West Bank. A video broadcast on Al-Arabiya regional television showed tear gas being used to push back protesters. Protesters also gathered in central Amman and other provinces of the kingdom on Friday to express solidarity with Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah reiterated its willingness to fight. In front of hundreds of supporters, the organization’s deputy secretary general, Naim Ghassem, expressed his support for the Islamist Hamas on Friday. “When the time to act comes, we will take it,” Ghassem said. “We are in a time of victories, not a time of defeats.”
The Shiite organization Hezbollah (Party of God) was founded in 1982 with Iranian support in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Since then she has been fighting politically, but also violently, against Israel.
Slogans against Israel and the USA
Thousands of people also took to the streets in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in solidarity with the Palestinians. At the same time, they were protesting against Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, as eyewitnesses reported. Supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had gathered in a central square in the city since Thursday evening for a rally for the Palestinian people. They waved Iraqi and Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against Israel and the USA. “We value Jerusalem and Palestine is in our hearts,” said a message to demonstrators read on behalf of the Shiite leader.
According to the Syrian state news agency Sana, a pro-Palestinian rally took place in the capital Damascus. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which has faced a 12-year armed insurgency, maintains close ties with Israel’s arch-enemies: Iran and Hezbollah.
Tens of thousands also took to the streets in Pakistan. At nationwide rallies, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Israel protest slogans, television images showed. The leader of the influential Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, Sirajul Haq, told angry supporters in the city of Lahore: “We are ready for any sacrifice and will continue to support the Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine.”
Terrorists on behalf of the Islamist organization Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, carried out a massacre of Israeli civilians in border towns and at a music festival on Saturday. More than 1,300 people died and, according to official figures, another 150 people were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with airstrikes that have so far killed at least 1,799 Palestinians. Israel has also blocked the import of food, fuel and medicine into Gaza. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States and Israel. This Friday, Hamas has called on Muslims worldwide to take action and support.