This year’s International Quds (Jerusalem) Day will be observed online in Britain due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The International Quds Day is a legacy of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, who designated the day in solidarity with Palestinians.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the International Quds Day has been held worldwide on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

This year, the International Quds Day falls on Friday, May 22.

According to the Islamic Human Rights Commission, for the first time in its history, the Quds Day in UK will go online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The forced cancellation of the annual marches and rallies around the world does not mean forgetting the Palestinians at this important time of the Islamic year.

To mark the occasion this year, the Justice for Palestine Committee will be streaming messages from a wide array of community leaders, activists and public figures.

The online event will also include presentations reminding people of the Palestinians’ plight.

As the Coronavirus rips through countries everywhere, nowhere is the disease likely to be more keenly felt than in Palestine, particularly in Gaza where millions of people live cheek by jowl in one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Their suffering is amplified by Israel’s weaponization of COVID-19 to prevent the entry of much needed medical equipment into Palestine and the passage of Palestinians across checkpoints to access health care in Israel or outside.

Those interested can join the event on YouTube and Facebook for #AlQudsDay2020 on Friday, May 22. between 4-6pm UK time. /Iqna/

Pro-Palestine activists in Iran and elsewhere are making plans to replace street rallies with online events to commemorate this year’s International Quds Day as a deadly coronavirus pandemic has restricted social life and mass gatherings across the globe.

The International Quds Day is a legacy of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, who designated the day in solidarity with Palestinians.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the International Quds Day has been held worldwide on the last Friday of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Nosratollah Lotfi, the deputy chief of the Coordinating Council of Iran’s Islamic Propagation Organization, said the Quds Day will be marked differently in the areas designated as white, yellow and red based on the number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities.

There are three plans for the occasion: the first is holding demonstrations after Friday prayers in the cities which obtain the permission and the second involves families rallying in their cars while observing social distancing guidelines, he said.

The third option, he added, is staging a virtual rally carrying the flags of Palestine and torching the US and Israeli flags.

Separately, Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, spokesman for Iran’s elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), announced that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei will deliver a speech on the occasion of the International Quds Day, which falls on May 22.

Sharif, who is also the chairman of Intifada (Uprising) and Quds Department of the Coordinating Council of the Islamic Propagation Organization, said it was “very likely” that the capital Tehran would not be able to host this year’s demonstration.

“There are other ways through which the Quds Day can be honored on the national and international stage,” he noted. “We can properly use the potential offered by the cyberspace in this regard.”

Meanwhile, the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said that it will be taking part in the #FlyTheFlag campaign with an online rally on YouTube and Facebook scheduled on May 22 at 4-6 p.m. GMT.

International Quds Day to be observed in pandemic year
International Quds Day to be observed in pandemic year
This year, the International Quds Day will be observed in the time of pandemic.
“To mark the occasion this year, the Justice for Palestine Committee will be streaming messages from a wide array of community leaders, activists and public figures. The online event will also include presentations reminding people of the Palestinians’ plight,” the IHRC said on its website.

This year’s Quds Day is of special importance given US President Donald Trump’s pro-Israel polices that have emboldened the Tel Aviv regime.

In January, Trump unveiled his self-proclaimed “deal of the century” with the aim of legitimizing Israel’s occupation and re-drawing the Middle East map.

The scheme calls for the creation of a Palestinian state with limited control over its own security and borders. It also bars Palestinian refugees from returning to their homeland, enshrines Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allows the regime to annex settlements and the Jordan Valley.

Last year’s Quds Day was observed under the slogan “Resistance will Triumph” against Trump’s pro-Zionist measures, including his controversial recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel in 2017. /Press TV/