Iran calls for immediate halt to Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine

TEHRAN,Feb.6(MNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday that Israeli settlement plans in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in East Jerusalem, must be immediately stopped. Salehi made the remarks during a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) committee on Palestine in Cairo on Tuesday. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that begins on Wednesday. Iran currently holds the rotating presidency of NAM. Salehi arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to attend the OIC meeting. During the committee meeting Salehi elaborated on Iran’s views and policies toward the Palestinian issue. In November 2012, the UN General Assembly upgraded the Palestinians' status at the world body from "observer entity" to "non-member state," a move that gave rights to Palestine to sue Israel at the International Criminal Court. On January 31, the United Nations human rights investigators called on Israel to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank without preconditions, saying that its practices violated international law. Iran ready to help end Malian crisis Commenting on the Malian crisis, Salehi expressed deep regrets over the killings of Malian people and emphasized the necessity of defending the sovereignty of the western African country and called for an urgent end to the violence and resuming peace talks. He also said that Iran is ready to be involved in the peace process and giving a helping hand to Mali’s neighboring countries and regional organizations to end the violence and finding a way out of the country’s crisis.