Iranians mark Quds Day in support of Palestinians

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians across the country rallied on Quds Day to express solidarity with the Palestinians and condemnation on Israel for its "occupation" of Jerusalem. The people chanted slogans and carried banners and placards in a show of support for the Palestinians and opposition against Israel and the United States on this holiday. Some governmental and military officials participated in the anti-Israel rallies in the capital Tehran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the demonstrators that Israel was like a "cancer tumor" and if one cell of cancer was left inside the Palestinian territory, the situation would not improve. Iranians consider Israel' exit from the occupied Palestinian territory as the only way to resolve the Palestinian issue. The Quds Day event this year coincides with the rising unrest and bloodshed in Syria. In a statement issued at the end of the rally in Tehran, Iranian demonstrators warned supporters of the Syrian rebels against "anti-Syria and anti-resistance" plots. The way to settle the Syrian issue is not military intervention but letting the Syrian government to carry out reforms, the statement said. Quds Day (Jerusalem in Arabic), was first commemorated in Iran in 1979 and regularly falls on the last Friday of Muslims' holy month Ramadan in the country.