Muslims' Support for Palestine İs a Must and Not a Favor

The prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi has urged Friday all those supporting the Palestinian rights to join their efforts together, and to unite in this course, stressing that supporting the Palestinian rights is a duty and not a favor.

"We should gather together all those supporting the Palestinian issue from the East and from the West whether they are Arabs, Muslims or Christians, international figures or institutions if we want this issue to win the battle against the occupation", asserted Qaradawi as he addressed the International Popular Congress for Supporting Palestine.

Qaradawi also hailed the steadfastness and the exemplary patience of the Palestinian people in confronting the Israeli occupation, saying, "This [Palestinian] people had been patient and endured a lot for quite a long time, especially during and in the aftermath of the Israeli war on Gaza [last January]".

In this regard, he called on the Palestinian factions to end their division, and to unite against their common enemy which is the Israeli occupation, stressing that such unsolicited division had torn the Palestinian body.

Regarding the visit of Pope Benedict the XVI to the holy land Qardawi said: "We wished the Pope had visited the [scene] of the great holocaust in the Gaza Strip during his 8-day tour of Palestine," adding that while the Pope apologized for the Jews and repeated his apologies but refused to apologize to the Muslims over remarks he made in 2006 about the Prophet of Islam, Mohammed peace be upon him.

Furthermore, Qaradawi highlighted the continuous Israeli threats and the Judaization activities against the Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem city, stressing that Muslims and Arabs must permanently support the Palestinian people so as to keep the torch of resistance kindled.

"The [Arab and Muslim] support for Palestine is neither a donation nor is it a voluntary matter, but rather, it is a must and a religious duty that each and every Muslim and Arab should do…, and thus, we want the support for Palestine to be permanent and not intermittent … we should keep the Palestinian resistance alive, and we should protect its back," the well-known scholar underlined.

In addition to Qaradawi, around 500 Arab, Muslim, and international personalities, including former Sudanese president Abdul Rahman Sewar Al-Dahab, Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands have attended the congress.