NAM urges collective efforts to end Israel's occupation of Palestine

The Non-Aligned Movement has condemned the illegal policies of Israel, calling for collective efforts to end its occupation of Palestinian territories.

"We condemn the illegal policies and practices by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian people, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of illegal settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes and properties, the acts of collective punishment against the civilian population, including the imprisonment and detention of thousands of civilians, disruptions of normal flow of people and traffic through various security checkpoints, closures and barricades, as well as the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip," foreign ministers of NAM member states said in a statement at the end of their two-day meeting in the Azeri capital city of Baku on Friday.

The NAM statement called for collective efforts to bring a complete end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, saying the regime must withdraw to territories it occupied before 1967.

The statement also condemned the killing and injuring of hundreds of Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip during Land Day protests on 30 March by Israeli regime forces, and called on Tel Aviv to immediately end all such "grave breaches of the law."

The statement came as thousands of Palestinian protesters gathered in locations near Gaza’s fence with the occupied territories to mark a six-week rally dubbed the “Great March of Return,” which began last Friday.

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The March 30 protests turned violent when Israeli military forces used lethal force to disperse the protesters, shooting and killing 20 unarmed demonstrators and injuring over 1,100 others.

NAM voiced support for the Palestinian people’s "inalienable rights" to self-determination and freedom in their independent state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital, adding, "We condemn and reject any notion and attempt to alter the status of East Jerusalem al-Quds into the capital of Israel, and call for countries with diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv to refrain from relocating their missions to Jerusalem."

Israel lays claim to the entirety of Jerusalem al-Quds as its “capital” while Palestinians want its eastern part as the capital of a future state for themselves.

Last December, US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital and vowed to relocate the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.

Palestinian leaders have warned that the planned relocation would draw strong reaction in the region and deliver a death blow to any prospect of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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