07/07/2010 Israel said on Wednesday that its moves to ease its blockade on Gaza do not include relaxing regulations on Palestinians looking to travel out of the enclave, court documents showed.
The new rules governing Israel's four-year-old blockade "did not say anything about expanding the current policy," which only allows for travel out of Gaza "in humanitarian cases," the Israeli defense ministry said in a statement to the Supreme Court.
"To be clear: this decision does nothing to expand the criteria, and it certainly does not permit passage for purposes of master's degree studies."
The statement was submitted in response to a petition filed on behalf of human rights lawyer Fatima Sharif, 29, who has been prevented from leaving Gaza to further her studies in the occupied West Bank.
"There will be no real improvement in Gaza until all persons - including students, families, workers and patients - are able to travel freely," said Heger Nomi, a lawyer working for the Israeli human rights group Gisha, which filed the petition.
Israel gave the go-ahead on Monday for the international community to import construction materials into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip provided it supervises the projects for which they are used.
The move followed intense international pressure after a deadly Israeli raid on a fleet of ships trying to deliver aid to the beleaguered territory.
The blanket ban on importing building materials has meant there has been very little reconstruction in Gaza since Israel's devastating 22-day offensive, which ended in January 2009 and killed over 1200 Palestinians, including 420 children and injured more than 5300 others.
Although almost all civilian goods are now allowed into the impoverished territory, where a majority of the 1.5 million population relies on foreign aid, the new regulations do not allow exports from Gaza.
(AFP)
Nunu holds Abbas responsible for Umrah cancellation
[ 07/07/2010 - 04:27 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Taher Nunu, spokesman for the Palestinian government in Gaza, accused the Fatah-controlled PA in Ramallah led by Mahmoud Abbas of depriving the people of Gaza of large quantities of passports and corresponding with some countries to urge them not to accept passports issued or renewed in the Gaza Strip.
“The prevention of passports reflects the mentality of exclusivity and rejection of mutual understanding,” Taher al-Nunu said during a press conference in Gaza on Wednesday, stressing that the people of Gaza have a right to receive passports, and Abbas has no right to deprive them of that, as the passports belong to the people and not to any particular government body.
“The Strip is in dire need of a hundred thousand passports immediately in light of the people’s necessity resulting from their unavailability since July 2008 by the Interior Ministry,” he added, urging all citizens in Gaza who were denied access to original passports to file claims against the Fatah authority of Ramallah to demand their guaranteed legal right according to Palestinian law.
He added, “The government of Salam Fayyad is illegal, it deals with the passport issue on biased grounds, by giving them to elements of the Fatah movement and not the rest of the Strip’s population.”
Nunu denied that the government had ever received any initiative to solve the passport dilemma, stating, “All we hear are mere statements to the media,” stressing that the government is willing to accept any initiative that would contribute to solving the problem.
The Palestinian government spokesman noted that the notion that the Saudi Arabian government refused to accept renewed passports in the Gaza Strip is not credible, considering Saudi Arabia’s acceptance of the passports during the Hajj season last year. He held the Fatah movement fully responsible for the Umrah (minor pilgrimage) cancellation this year.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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