The Mauritanian Journalists’ Union hosted a dinner on Friday evening at the “Al Rakhaa” resort near Nouakchott’s eastern entrance, in honour of Palestine’s Ambassador to Mauritania, Dr Mohamed Qassem Asaad Al Asaad, and Lebanon’s Honorary Consul in Mauritania, Mr Hussein Salameh. Several advisers and staff of the Palestinian embassy attended, alongside Union Council President Mr Ahmed Ould Tolba, Executive Board members, heads of organisations and senior figures in journalism.
In his address, Union President Mr Ahmed Taleb Ould Maâloum welcomed the Palestinian Ambassador and his accompanying delegation. He said that inviting the Ambassador, his advisers and embassy staff reaffirmed the central place of the Palestinian cause for all Mauritanians, regardless of their backgrounds or political orientations.
The President said that the Union had sought from the outset to establish strong ties with the Palestinian embassy, as the Palestinian cause could serve as an avenue to all embassies of Arab and Islamic countries, being their central cause. He praised the Palestinian people’s struggle to obtain all their rights, foremost among them an independent Palestinian state with Al Quds as its capital.
For his part, Palestine’s Ambassador to Mauritania, Dr Mohamed Qassem Asaad Al Asaad, thanked the Union President and all Union members and affiliates. He said that he now clearly understood the considerable attention the Mauritanian people give to the Palestinian cause.
The Ambassador praised the Mauritanian press’s role in supporting the Palestinian cause, stating that Mauritania had rejected all pressure to normalise relations with the Zionist entity.
The Palestinian Ambassador said that the coming days would bring important steps to establish the Palestinian people’s unity through elections in which everyone would participate and which would end the period of division. He added that the Palestinian people continue their honourable struggle and would not relinquish their rights or Al Quds as the eternal capital of the Palestinian state.
Artist Cheikh Ould Ab enlivened the event with Arabic songs praising the Palestinian people’s steadfastness. Embassy staff and journalists also took turns at the podium to give poetry readings and remarks, all emphasising the central importance of the Palestinian cause for Arab and Islamic peoples.
