Hamid Al-Ahmar: The League Has Succeeded in Uniting Free Parliamentarians Around Palestine

The President of the League of Parliamentarians for al-Quds and Palestine, Mr. Hamid bin Abdullah Al-Ahmar, affirmed that the League has, over a decade since its founding, succeeded in establishing its presence as one of the most prominent international parliamentary organizations supporting the Palestinian cause. He noted that since its inception in 2015, the League has served as a free and active parliamentary voice defending the rights of the Palestinian people and the justice of their cause.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the League’s founding, Mr. Hamid recalled its early beginnings, which came as an initiative from the Global Forum for Muslim Parliamentarians and the Palestine Committee in the Turkish Parliament, with the participation of about 156 MPs from 25 countries. He emphasized that the idea behind the League was born out of the need for a structured and diverse institutional effort to accompany and support the Palestinian struggle both politically and through parliamentary work.

He explained that the League’s mission is to act as a follower, motivator, and coordinator of Arab, Islamic, and free international parliamentary activities in support of the Palestinian people, working toward ending the occupation and holding accountable those who have committed crimes against Palestine—its land and its people.

He added that, thanks to the support of the Turkish state and its Parliament, the League has managed over the past years to organize numerous international conferences attended by hundreds of parliamentarians from more than 75 countries. He highlighted the League’s fifth conference, held in 2024, which witnessed a large attendance of non-Arab and non-Muslim parliamentarians—an affirmation that the Palestinian cause is a universal human cause before being an Arab or Islamic one.

The President stated, “I can proudly affirm that in our last conference, held last year, non-Arab attendees made up more than half of the participants, and the proportion of non-Muslims was also relatively high. The Palestinian cause is indeed Arab, Islamic, and legitimate—but it is also a human cause, and every person of conscience and free thought cannot but stand with Palestine.”

Sheikh Hamid further explained that the League’s activities have included conferences, seminars, workshops, and solidarity campaigns, as well as official visits to dozens of parliaments around the world. The League also holds observer membership in several international and regional parliamentary unions, such as the Arab Parliamentary Union, the African Parliamentary Union, the Union of Parliaments of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States, and the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.

He pointed out that the League has succeeded in delivering the Palestinian voice to parliaments on nearly every continent, except the United States, and has bravely confronted pro-occupation lobbies within international parliamentary unions. He added: “We take pride in having contributed to making the positions and visions of Muslim and free parliamentarians within the Inter-Parliamentary Union more active and focused. We stood in direct confrontation with the pro-Israeli lobby in those international parliamentary forums.”

Regarding recent discussions about peace proposals and the cessation of the genocidal war on Gaza, Sheikh Hamid said: “We hear today talk of a peace plan, but it remains surrounded by doubts—especially regarding the sincerity of the Zionist entity in fulfilling its commitments, stopping the war, lifting the blockade completely, starting reconstruction, halting settlements, and moving towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”

He affirmed that most of the world’s countries now recognize the State of Palestine and that free peoples across the continents continue to express their solidarity through demonstrations, events, and humanitarian initiatives. He also praised the participation of League members in efforts to break the blockade and deliver aid to Gaza—some of whom were arrested by occupation forces—calling that “a testament to the deep humanitarian commitment of free parliamentarians to Palestine.”

Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar renewed his call to all parliamentarians worldwide to be “the voice of their people’s conscience and to unite their efforts to defend the Palestinian right with awareness and effective collective action,” affirming the League’s determination to continue its mission until Palestine is liberated and the perpetrators of crimes are brought to justice.