Iran’s parliament speaker calls for PUIC meeting on Gaza

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has called for an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Committee on Palestine at the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) to discuss ways to stop Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Qalibaf made the remarks during a phone conversation with Ibrahim Boughali, the speaker of the People's National Assembly, the Lower house of Algeria’s parliament, and the head of the PUIC, which is composed of parliaments of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Iran’s Parliament “is fully prepared to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Committee on Palestine at the level of the parliament speakers of Muslim nations to discuss practical ways to support the oppressed people of Palestine,” Qalibaf said.

According to Qalibaf’s remarks, “The meeting was supposed to be held earlier, but it was postponed due to some reasons.”

Referring to Washington’s unwavering support for Tel Aviv and the US vetoing of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the Iranian parliament speaker stressed that Muslim nations must “demand a practical action from countries” to prevent Israel’s atrocities.

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For his part, Boughali appreciated Iran’s support for the Palestinian cause and welcomed the proposal to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Committee on Palestine in Tehran, calling for more serious cooperation among the Muslim Nations to stop Israel’s brutal aggression on Gaza.

“The US behavior was predictable”, he said, noting that Washington has “always defended the Israeli crimes”.

However, he noted that the American people “seriously oppose this [Israel’s] inhumane behavior, condemn it, and call for an end to the genocide” in Gaza.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Boughali slammed some Arab regimes that have normalized ties with Tel Aviv despite being aware of its crimes, noting that the move aimed to undermine the Palestinian cause.

He, however, noted that the Palestinian resistance and the steadfastness of the people in Gaza have managed to revive the support for Palestine.

“We now see that even European countries and many Latin American countries condemn the inhumane behavior of the Israeli regime,” Boughali said.

The UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel in 2020, drawing condemnations from Palestinians who slammed the deals as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.”

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 18,787 Palestinians and injured 50,900 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.

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