Ghanaian Muslims have expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine who have been under Israeli occupation for seven decades. The Shia Muslim community organized a conference at the Ahlul Bait (as) Institute of Ghana on Thursday, 07, 2018 to show solidarity with the Palestinians and condemn Israel’s decades-long occupation and atrocities against the Palestinian people.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the conference, it called on the Israeli regime to halt all attempts to Judaize the occupied territories and the destruction of Palestine’s national and historical identity. Thus the Shia Muslim community used the occasion to express thanks to the Argentinian Football Association and the National team players for calling off a pre-World Cup exhibition match with Israel in protest against illegal occupation and killing of Palestinian women and children.

The occasion of Yawm al-Quds is a legacy of the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ruhullah al-Musawi Imam Khomeini, that has been pursued and adopted by Muslims in other countries to support the Palestinian struggle against Israel. Thus, on International Quds day, conferences and peaceful rallies are held to mark the Day, which falls on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

At the Ahlul Bait Institute in Madina, Accra, academicians, policy makers, civil society and the like from all walks of life gathered for the annual event which usually marks students chanting slogans calling for the international community to protect the Palestinian people.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, the National Imam of Shia Muslims in Ghana Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Kamaludeen said “the message of Quds Day is that of solidarity with the Palestinians,strong condemnation of the occupying regime of Israel and a strong call for the international community to protect the land of Palestine and her inhabitants from Apartheid just as it did to salvage Apartheid South Africa”. He adds that “the call for the total liberation of Palestine is a dream of every justice –seeking person irrespective of religion, race, class or social status”.

He underlined the importance of this year’s Quds Day “given the defeat of the foreign backed terrorists in Syria and Iraq who wish to introduce socio-political, economic and religious change through suicide bombing, beheading and crucifixion of innocent people using religious texts to justify their acts of brutality”.

The Imam also condemned the US unilateral recognition of Jerusalem which is a subject of final status negotiation as capital of the regime of Israel. It was an irresponsible decision that had the potential to mar the trust and peaceful coexistence that had existed between the US and the Muslim world.

During the conference in Madina, Accra, Muslim youth also put on display pictures and exhibitions depicting the inhuman torture and organized assassinations that the Palestinians have been subjected to. Leader of the Majma` Ahlul Bait (as) Sheikh Abu Jaja also emphasized the importance of Quds Day as he stated:
“Apart from defending an oppressed nation (Palestine) that has been driven out of its home and rendered refugees, we also call on the US to stop endorsing the conscious broad day light massacre of the Palestinian women and children.

Israeli impunity continues unabated because the international institutions have deliberately failed to foil the regime’s plots by taking firm and practical measures.”

”. The only solution to the Palestinian issue, the communiqué said, is facilitating the return of all displaced Palestinians to their homeland and holding free, fair and transparent elections for the nation to decide its fate.