Al-Quds Day Demands Cutting Kenyan-Israeli Ties

Kenyan Muslims joined the world in commemorating the Al-Quds Day, with calls to cut diplomatic ties between the East African country and Israel over its ongoing onslaught against the blockaded Gaza Strip.



"What is happening in Gaza is a crime against humanity," MP Yusuf Hassan told participants in the event organized by the Iranian Embassy in Kenya.



"It's the civilians who are been killed," he said.



"It is time that Kenya and the world act to stop the deaths of innocent children and women," added the Kenyan lawmaker.



The Al-Quds Day is commemorated worldwide on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in solidarity with the people of Palestine and to protest Israeli aggression on the holy city, home to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site.



Muslims worldwide, including in Nigeria, often mark the day with either processions or prayers in support of the Palestinian course.



This year they are also protesting an ongoing Israeli onslaught against the blockaded Gaza Strip which has killed 865 Palestinians – mostly civilians, and wounded 5730 others since July 7.



This year's Al Quds Day theme came from a famous "e for late South African president and liberation leader Nelson Mandela: "Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian."



The Friday sermons in Kenyan mosques were dominated by the ongoing killings in Gaza with imams making invocations for the people of Palestine.



MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir said he had presented a notice of motion to the speaker of the Kenyan Parliament to discuss the Gaza conflict.



"I expect that parliament will next week debate Kenya's way forward in the Gaza conflict," he told AA.



"I will be pushing to have Kenya cut diplomatic ties with Israel to protest the killing of civilians," said the Mombasa lawmaker.



Kenyan Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed on Monday said she was appalled by the ongoing conflict.



"I feel strongly to see innocent children and women dying in the conflict," she said in response to a question by AA during a one-hour session to discuss foreign policy issues with reporters via social media.



In recent years, Kenya has become a close ally of Israel.



The two countries cooperate in matters relating to security, especially after 2002 attacks in Mombasa that targeted an Israeli-owned hotel and a chartered Israeli plane.



By Yassin Juma



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Nayrobi