ALL INDIA MUSLIM MAJLIS-E-MUSHAWARAT

D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025 Ph: 26946780 Fax: 26947346

Email: muslim@del3.vsnl.net.in. Web: www.mushawarat.com

Statement

 21 January 2008

Indian Muslim apex body demands lifting of Gaza siege before it is too late

New Delhi, 21 January, 2008: Statement by Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of the All-India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM), the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organizations:

“The AIMMM is horrified by the unfolding events in the open air prison of Gaza which the Israeli occupying power has condemned to slow death by imposing a complete siege. The AIMMM asks the UN and world powers to immediately take steps to lift the ever-tightening siege of Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces before it is too late.

The AIMMM notes that the last electricity generation facility in Gaza has been shut down today because of the Israeli denial of fuel and all humanitarian aid while 70 percent of all Gazans are now jobless, all factories and workshops have been shuttered due to lack of raw materials as a result of the continuing siege. The situation in Gaza is deteriorating so fast that hunger deaths will soon become commonplace. The UN Security Council must at once rise to its duty to prevent a humanitarian crisis of proportions unseen in recent times.

The AIMMM notes that the problem in Gaza is the 40-year old occupation and the rejection of the results of the free and fair elections in January 2006 by Israel and its western supporters. Moreover, 75 percent of the residents of Gaza are Palestinians made refugees by Israeli armed gangs in 1948. The blame for Israeli war crimes is shared by the UN which created the Jewish State and has since failed to force its creation to implement any one of the UN resolutions. Also to blame are the western forces which blindly support the Israeli occupation and war crimes while blaming the occupied and suppressed victims for using their natural and legitimate right of resistance.

The AIMMM calls upon the UN and world powers to move swiftly to lift the inhuman siege of Gaza and also to solve the Palestinian problem by implementing the UN resolutions in letter and spirit so that the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people since 1948 is brought to an end.”

Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan

President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat

New Delhi,

21 January 2008