[ 26/01/2010 - 06:38 PM ]
BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza Strip denounced on Tuesday the Israeli occupation authority's (IOA) refusal to grant Belgian minister Charles Michel permission to visit the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Hanun, member of the campaign and head of the Palestinian gathering in Italy, said in a press release that the IOA measure was in absolute disregard of the European Union (EU) and must be met with a strong retaliation on the part of the EU.
He said that the IOA is trying to deceive the world public opinion into believing that the situation is normal in the Strip and is barring officials from entering it because they would discover the catastrophic impact of the four-year-old siege on the Strip.
Hanun advocated a Belgian and EU response to the IOA humiliation to the minister in blocking his freedom of movement and for its disrespect to the international laws.
He noted that the step came at a time when WHO revealed in a report the serious deterioration in the health and living conditions of the Gaza inhabitants especially following the latest Israeli war on Gaza.
[ 25/01/2010 - 06:15 PM ]
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Sunday blocked the travel of Belgian cooperation and development minister Charles Michel into the Gaza Strip at the pretext that the visit would give legitimacy to Hamas's rule.
The minister said, after meeting with Israeli deputy foreign ministry Danny Ayalon on Sunday, that his request to visit Gaza fell in line with efforts to support citizens in the Strip.
Michel said that the IOA position was not acceptable and that he would raise the issue with the European Union, adding that he asked Ayalon to assist in ensuring that humanitarian assistance was reaching the besieged Strip.
The IOA had recently refused to allow French external affairs minister Bernard Kouchner to visit Gaza to inspect a hospital that France had rehabilitated.
For his part, MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular anti siege committee, said that the IOA step indicated that it was exercising "terrorism".
He said in a press release on Monday that the IOA refusal to allow Michel's visit meant that it was afraid of ending Gaza's isolation from the outside world.
The IOA fears international solidarity with Gaza and visits of foreign solidarity activists because they would unmask its real image, the MP elaborated.
Khudari asked ministers wishing to visit Gaza to pressure their governments into pressuring the IOA to allow their visits as a right to inquire about the real conditions of the besieged Palestinians.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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