The Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority to Pakistan has called for a more unified Muslim world and a stronger media to counter Israel and its influence.
Speaking at a conference on Tuesday in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, the ambassador spoke on a number of issues including the Muslim world in general and Pakistan’s relationship with the Palestinians and their cause.
The conference, named “Hunger strike for dignity,” highlighted the plight of 1,600 Palestinian prisoners who started their hunger strikes on 17 April. Ambassador Walid Abu Ali – along with many other diplomats from Muslim countries – expressed support and solidarity with the prisoners, calling for Israel to provide them with basic human rights.
He said that the “international community is deaf and blind on the suffering of two million people in Gaza,” and called on Muslim countries as a whole to do more to highlight issues in Palestine and Israel’s violation of human rights.
Abu Ali emphasised the important role that the countries’ media has to play, citing Israel’s ability to lobby strongly and its wide influence over the media as something that must be countered on an international level.
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The conference and the statements by the ambassador comes amid a wave of international support for the Palestinian prisoners, with a number of protests and rallies having been taken place around the world, as well as churches and mosques in the West Bank uniting in support for them.
Around 6,500 Palestinians have been detained in Israeli prisons without proper legal procedures or rights.