A number of Arab and Muslim parliamentary delegations withdrew from the 120th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union currently held in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, when the Israeli Knesset representative went up to the stage to deliver a speech.
About 15 delegations including those from Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Malaysia, Indonesia, Venezuela, Morocco, Libya, Algiers, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon as well as the Arab Parliament representative left the session, in a move that came to protest Israel's recent offensive against the Palestinian Gaza strip in which more than 1300 Palestinian people were killed and over 2000 people were injured.
The withdrawals were also aimed at protesting Israel's aggressive policies and arrogance as the Jewish State used to dismiss international resolutions and initiatives that call for brining peace to the region.
However, Yemen's News Agency Saba reported that the Yemeni delegation led by Parliament Speaker Yahya Al-Rae is continuing the assembly proceedings and subcommittee meetings.
Over 1000 legislators from around the world are discussing the topics of peace, international security, sustainable development, business and trade, democracy, human rights, the Middle East and the role of women in political stability and their contributions to social development besides the issues of Limiting the Spread of Nuclear Weapons, climate change and freedoms.
The participants also dealt with the issue of human trafficking, urging strict measure to combat child and women trafficking and implementing the UN pacts on trafficking in human beings.