Pakistanis in mosques across the country Friday condemned Israeli "repression" after almost 80 people were killed in violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories since last week.
Prayer leaders in sermons called for concerted political and diplomatic efforts by the Muslim world in support of the Palestinians.
They invoked Allah's blessings for the success of the "heroic struggle" of the Palestinian people for the "liberation" of their land and protection of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
Palestinians living in Pakistan also staged protests in the cities of Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi, burning Israeli flags and effigies of leaders of the Jewish state.
The protesters carried banners and chanted slogans against Israeli "atrocities." They were joined by locals as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians, witnesses said.
Pakistan's main fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party organized separate rallies in major cities condemning the Israeli firing on "unarmed Palestinians" and urging the Muslim world to respond with unity.
"Palestinians will continue their struggle until they achieve their national rights," a statement released by the Pakistan branch of the Palestinians' Al-Fateh organization here said.
"Muslims cannot tolerate the Israeli inroads into the sacred Al-Aqsa sanctuary," the statement said, adding the Palestinian sacrifices would not go in vain.
The statement, accusing the United States of "favoring" Israel, called on the world's Christians to join Muslims in safeguarding the sanctity of Jerusalem – ISLAMABAD (AFP)
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