The last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has been named the International Quds Day, an occasion when millions of people worldwide rally in support of Palestinians.

Press TV has interviewed Mark Glenn, author and political commentator from Idaho, on the significance of this day.

The video offers the opinions of two additional guests, Dovid Feldman and Alison Weir.

The following is the text of the interview:

Press TV: To what extent is Israel, in terms of its oppression, feels the pinch, due to the fall of some of the pro-US and pro-Israeli dictatorships in the region? Let's not lose sight of the fact that Israel is facing its own internal crisis of a huge protest movement.

Glenn: I don't think Israel is feeling the pinch at all, I think that she is perfectly pleased with the downfall of these formerly pro-Israel, pro-US leaders. I think at least the initial reports coming out of Israel saying that Israel is worried about who might replace them is just an act on the part of Israel that she is perfectly content with the current instability that is reigning throughout the region and even if they lost the support of some of these countries, it is not a big deal; she still maintains the fourth largest military in the world and that there isn't an Arab country or even an association of an Arab country that could effectively stand up against it, so I don't think Israel is feeling the pinch at all.

I would like to mention the fact that the Quds Day, which is celebrated on the last Friday of Ramadan, is mainly an Islamic community. The Christians around the world need to start paying attention to this as well because Palestinians are not just Muslims; we have many Christians as well who are suffering just as badly and I think this is something that Islamic community is promoting, particularly Iran and your very honorable President Ahmadinejad.

But they need to reach out to the Christian world and make them understand that the Palestinian issue is not just an Islamic issue, and that there are many Christians there who are suffering as well and the Christians have a vested interest in it because it is not just de-Islamification and the de-Palestinazation of the region that is taking place.

When Israel feels confident enough that it no longer has to rely on the economic and military support from the West, principally from America, she would begin the process of moving these Christian shrines out of Israel as well; it is not just the destruction of these Islamic centers, it will be Christian sites as well, so all of these Christians, particularly in the US, who gave their blind support to this racist genocidal entity in the Middle East and who believe that this is part of God's plan and Israel is supposed to behave basically like a mad dog, as the former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, described Israel.

They don't realize that they are actually undermining the very foundation of their own faith because, as I said, when Israel feels confident, she will begin bulldozing Christian Churches and Christian shrines in addition to the Islamic ones.

Press TV: The 2008 Gaza war, Mavi Marmara attack and just recently the largest number of settlement construction to occur mainly in al-Quds (Jerusalem), the siege on the Gaza Strip and the attacks, not to mention occupation of Palestinian lands. How would you evaluate international response, which has not prevented Israel from stopping these illegal activities?

Glenn: There is no international response, there is an international reaction and it is very half-hearted because nobody wants to get on Israel's bad side, it is no mystery that Israel holds its very vicious dogs on this lease and the US, and now in Libya, NATO as well, nobody wants to get on Israel's bad side because no one wants to get on the bad side of Israel because, as the former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said, Israel is a mad dog.

The response is nothing. There is more concern for the suffering of the people in Darfur, which is completely justified, but you see more mobilization on the part of the world community in dealing with the suffering that is taking place in Darfur and Somalia than you see for the Palestinians. It is one of the things that historians will one day look back on and they will say to them, “What was the world thinking?” They just sat by. All of the lessons and lecturing that we have gotten since the end of World War II about Holocaust, how could people just sit by and watch things happen and do nothing. This will be applied to the situation in the Middle East and especially to the Palestinians.

Historians will sit and scratch their head in puzzlement, what were these people thinking? They allowed this genocide to continue not just for a few short years that took place under Adolf Hitler but literally for generations. So, the response on the part of the world has been nothing and it is completely understandable; we are dealing with an outlawed regime, a group of organized gangsters and they play rough and anybody who has any questions about that needs only to look at Iraq and Afghanistan and now Libya because these countries happened to get on the bad side of Israel and Israel loosened its vicious attack dogs on them.

Press TV: How important is the issue of Palestine and al-Quds (Jerusalem) as their capital for achieving peace in the Middle East?

Glenn: Not just achieving peace in the Middle East but throughout the entire world. Palestine is the issue, this is the place where the problems all began and this is the place where problems will end. Once Israel is reined in the region, we will see no more wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria or Iran or anywhere else. Once Israel is chained up and put in a cage where she belongs, to where she cannot harm anyone and do any more damage to the world peace and to world order, then you will see the world repairing itself.

So, Palestine is the issue, it always was, and it always will be the issue. I welcome the day that Christians will begin to realize that they have a vested interest in solving the problem if they truly want to live peacefully.