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Adv Mudenda

Herald Correspondent
A two-day international conference in support of Palestine opened here yesterday, with Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda condemning Zionist Israel for its continued violation of a series of United Nations resolutions, including the regime’s ongoing construction of illegal settlements within the Palestinian territory.

The conference, dubbed “Together Supporting Palestine” was sponsored by the Iranian government with more than 500 delegates from over 60 countries in attendance.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, officially opened the 6th conference.

“The relationship between the people of Palestine and the people of Zimbabwe is deeply and firmly rooted in our comradeship forged in our common struggles for independence and sovereignty, driven by the humanitarian motive force against oppression and ethnic supremacist misdirected political ideology,” said Adv Mudenda.

“Zimbabwe fully supports the just cause of Palestine to be a sovereign State and Zimbabwe upholds the principle that only a two-state solution is the open sesame to the current apartheid arrangement where Israel has usurped the right to self-determination of Palestinians.”

Advocate Mudenda is leading a three-member parliamentary delegation, which includes the chairman of the portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs Cde Kindness Paradza and committee member Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

Among the countries represented at the conference, whose focus is to support Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, are super powers Russia and China, including North Korea and a host of other pro-Palestine militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

Adv Mudenda said efforts to resolve the Palestinian crisis should now go beyond just UN resolutions or conferences, but must include a “concrete plan of action” to deal with the 70-year-old crisis “once and for all”.

He reminded the delegates of President Mugabe’s speech at the UN General Assembly on the 12th of September 2002, when he stated that the Palestine question should be resolved without further delay as it caused untold suffering to the people in occupied territories.

Adv Mudenda paid tribute to Iran for its unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, a move that has led Tehran to endure a cocktail of sanctions imposed by the United States and its European allies.

He narrated several attempts that were made, over the years, at international level to resolve the Palestinian crisis, which failed as succeeding Israeli governments continued to ignore or violate the agreements.

“The greatest tragedy is not the manner in which Israel has conducted itself with respect to Palestinian occupied territory, but the double standards demonstrated by some Western powers with respect to Israel,” said Adv Mudenda.

“We all know how the United States government has constantly defended Israel at international fora, protected the besmirched reputation of this gory State and prevented multilateral efforts to indict Israel for what it is – an atavistic colonial State.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the same conference that the Palestinian issue was the root cause of the current conflicts among Arab countries in the Middle East.