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The Socialist Forum of Ghana, in collaboration with the Islamic Youth and the Association of Pan-Islamic Co-operation, have organised a forum to mark the Al- Quds Day, on the theme �Palestine is still an issue�. The forum aimed at showing solidarity with the Palestinian people especially in the wake of the recent assault by the Israeli army on Gaza, and generally to oppressed people around the world. In his speech Dr. Gamel Nasser Adam, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, said the Mandate system devised by the victorious powers in Britain and France to give some pretense to legality to their post military occupation and rule over the former Middle Eastern Arab provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire. He explained that the purpose of Britain�s mandate over the Palestine was to give effect to a unilateral promise made by the British government in 1917 in the so-called Balfour Declaration to the World Zionist Organisation to establish a �Jewish National home� in Palestine. Dr. Nasser Adam said in order for a Jewish state to be established, it was essential to carry out a policy of constant evictions, persecution and terrorism against the natives of the land, the Palestinians. He said today as the assault on Gaza continued, about 800 Palestinians had been killed and about 30 Israelis had died, mostly military combatants. The Senior Lecturer, who was also the Guest Speaker, said in cities and towns around the world the voice of the people had been heard rejecting the imperialist and Zionist assault on the Palestinian people. He said as such it was a tragedy that while these protesters were kicking against the massacre of Palestinian civilians, some members of the Ghanaian clerical community were associating with the Israeli authorities with reports of them receiving food donations for the Ramadan from the Israeli Embassy in Accra. Dr. Nasser Adam therefore commended the National Chief Imam for showing good leadership when his office issued an emphatic statement distancing itself from the act and taking appropriate measures against the individual at the heart of this unfortunate act. Mr. Randy Abbey, delivering a solidarity message on behalf of Sheikh Dr. Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, the National Chief Imam, said as the periodic bloodshed continued in the Middle East, the search for an equitable solution must come to grips with the root cause of the conflict, being the claim of land. He said the Almighty Allah created the Earth and Man, placed man on earth to have dominion over it; therefore it was of divine importance for all to pray to Almighty Allah and seek his intervention �to give us wisdom to resolve the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis, according to his purpose.� Mr. Abbey said it was the fervent hope of His Eminence, the National Chief Imam and the wish of the Almighty Creator that unconditional peace should prevail in the whole world for all to be in mutual peaceful co-existence. The Day is celebrated by Muslims all over the globe to consecrate the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, and was initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and oppose Zionism as well as Israel�s control of Jerusalem.