Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for an honorable stand in support of Palestine and its people to achieve their rights in an independent state with Al-Quds as its capital. Al-Sudani said in a speech at the ceremony held on the occasion of the Prophet's birthday at Umm al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad: "The oppressed, defenseless Palestinian people have been subjected for more than ten months to a war of extermination waged by the criminal Zionist occupation forces." He added: "The Zionist occupation has practiced the most heinous means of killing, destruction and violation against civilians, and all this is happening in full view of the world with all its organizations, institutions and major countries that are as silent as graves without the slightest sense of human and moral responsibility," indicating: "What is required of us today is that we all stand, Muslims and Arabs, in an honorable stance in which we stand up for Palestine and its people until they achieve their rights in an independent state on all Palestinian land with Jerusalem as its capital." Source: National Iraqi News Agency