Hyderabad: Palestine's Grand Mufti Mohammed A.H. Hussein and parliamentarian Abdullah M.I. Abdullah Saturday called upon India to participate in the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" (BDS) campaign against Israel for its continued illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Hoping that the new government in India will continue the country's principled stand on the Palestinian issue, they urged both the government and the people of India to participate in the global movement.
Addressing a news conference here Saturday, the two leaders cited the growing support for the campaign even from the US and several European countries.
They hoped that the campaign would finally lead to the end of the "last colonization" of the 21st century.
The grand mufti and the parliamentarian along with Palestine's Ambassador to India Adli Shaban Hassan Sadeq and Sudan's Ambassador to India Hassan E. El Talib were here to address a public meeting in support of the Palestinian cause organised by the Indo-Arab League.
Abdullah said the BDS campaign was receiving support from around the world with several countries boycotting Israeli products coming from occupied territories of Palestine and divesting their investments in firms and banks located there.
"We expect Indian people known for their justice oriented position to also support this campaign to boycott all products that come from illegal settlements," Abdullah said.
The parliamentarian hoped that the Narendra Modi government will continue India's policy on Palestine based on "principles and not interests".
Abdullah pointed out that after the new government in India assumed office, Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas sent a message congratulating Prime Minister Modi, in which he stressed the traditional relationship between India and Palestine.
Referring to the statement made by India at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) conference in Algiers last month, he said the stand taken by New Delhi "is definitely assuring that India will be positively looking at the situation".
"We are asking for more from people of India by participating in BDS campaign," he said.
The grand mufti recalled that India has been supporting the cause of Palestine since 1948 and hoped that it will continue to stand for justice and rights of Palestinians.
He accused Israel of going ahead with its plan to desecrate the Al-Aqsa mosque of Jerusalem, and alleged that Israelis were desecrating religious sites of both Muslims and Christians.
The grand mufti also said excavation underneath the mosque was weakening the mosque's base, while Israeli extremists were also making daily incursions into mosque, the third holiest place for the Muslims after Makkah and Madina.
He said Palestinians were fighting for their own state with Jerusalem as its capital. He called upon all the countries who believe in justice and human rights to stand up against the Israel's criminal actions.
He said the Palestinian issue was not a question of only Palestinians or Arabs but had international dimensions as Israelis had infringed on the rights of Palestinian people.
He said they expect world leaders including the United States to be as neutral and as objective as possible. "Unfortunately US is not neutral at all. It is biased. It is the only country in the country shying away from criticising Israel for its criminals acts," he said.
Referring the developments in the Arab world, Abdullah said unfortunately every Arab country had its own internal problem. He said it was a conspiracy of imperialists to keep every Arab country busy to keep them away from backing Palestinians but claimed that this did not work as Palestine enjoy clear and strong support of the Arabs.
The ambassador of Sudan said after the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, the world had hoped that it will be free from colonization and repression but even after 20 years since then, Palestine remained occupied by Israel.
He said India which was seeking permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council should back the cause of Palestinians to convince the world that it stand by high values set by Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.
