CAIRO, November 29. /TASS/. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an international conference to protect the rights of the Palestinians.

He made the appeal on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

"The Gaza Strip is under existential threat as its civilian population is facing deliberate and systematic attacks. We call for an end to tacit annexation, settlement practices and racial discrimination throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory," Abbas was quoted as saying by the Palestinian news agency WAFA. "It is time to hold an international peace conference, impose international will and recognize our people's right to exist."

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is marked on November 29. It was established by the UN General Assembly on December 2, 1977. The date was chosen because on this day in 1947 the UNGA adopted one of the key documents of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement: the resolution on the partition of Palestine. It provided for the establishment of two independent states on the territory of Palestine: an Arab state and a Jewish state, and also established a special international status for Jerusalem.