TEHRAN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Muslims worldwide to hold massive Al-Quds Day rallies Friday in solidarity with Palestinians.
Al-Quds Day rallies are recollection of the "Israeli atrocities on the oppressed people of Palestine" over the past decades, the ministry said in a statement.
It urged regional Muslim countries, including Arab states, to overcome division and unite against Israel. The Jewish state is considered by Iran as its arch enemy in the region.
"The day is for remembering the inalienable historical fact that the occupying regime of Israel is the main source of crisis," it said.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday also called on Muslims to participate in Friday's rallies, saying that "the regional differences favor Israel and terrorism."
"The cause of Palestine should not be forgotten," the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Rouhani as saying.
Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan slammed Israel for "inciting insecurity in Muslim countries and elsewhere," the Tasnim news agency reported.
"A world free of violence and extremism would be a world free of the Zionist regime (of Israel), and this is what the Islamic world will be shouting on the Al-Quds Day," Dehqan was quoted as saying.
Al-Quds Day, an annual event falls on June 23 this year, is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Iran along with several Arab countries.
