Speaking at the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Friday, Rouhani slammed Israel's recent massacring of innocent Palestinians in Gaza and the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem-al-Quds, and offered a number of practical steps on how to counter such hostile policies.
Speaking at the summit, Rouhani said: "In order to assist the Palestinian nation and counter the destructive decision by [US President Donald] Trump, we call on Muslim governments and freedom-seeking nations to rethink their political, economic and commercial ties with the US administration, and also to sever all commercial, business and diplomatic ties with the occupying Zionist regime [of Israel] , and to boycott the products, and companies of the Zionists."
At least 62 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,700 others wounded near the Gaza fence on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem-al-Quds.
The occupied territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Donald Trump on 6 December 2017, announced Washington's recognition of Jerusalem-al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and said the United States would move the US embassy to the city.
Rouhani also offered five other suggestions, namely examination of the "illegal" relocation of the US embassy and Israel's recent crimes in Gaza at a UN General Assembly meeting, formation of an OIC expert group to formulate the required strategies, delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestine, dismantling of Israel's nuclear weapons and inclusion of the International Quds Day in the official calendars of all Islamic countries.
The Iranian president noted that Israel has been committing crimes against Palestinians for the past 70 years and said that Israel has defied all values and challenged the international community.
"While hundreds of thousands of innocent people are deprived of the most basic human rights, the Zionist regime has deceitfully presented its apartheid and racist regime as a democracy and described its religious extremism as secularism. President Rouhani went on to add: "The saddest point is that some Western countries are trying to justify the brutal aggression of the occupiers.".
Rouhani went on to argue that the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds gave Israel the green light to commit new brutal crimes against Palestinians.
Rouhani called on Muslim nations to lend unanimous support to the resistance movement against Israel and said, "If Israel is surrounded with democratic and developed countries and faces a united ummah, it will never be capable of continuing its crimes so comfortably."
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Turkey on Friday to take part in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation extraordinary meeting on Palestine.
