Haniyah calls on Arab League to support besieged Gaza Strip

Date: 19 / 02 / 2008 Time: 11:57
Gaza – Ma'an –

Gaza-based Palestinian Prime Minister, Isma'il Haniyah, on Tuesday called on the Arab League to offer support to the besieged Gaza Strip.

Haniyah's demand came in a letter he sent to the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mousa describing "the daily Israeli atrocities along with the siege imposed on the Strip."

"We watched the last meeting between the Arab foreign minister and the decisions which came out of that meeting regarding Palestine in general and the Gaza Strip in particular. Our question in this regard is: What is the Arab League's standpoint on the daily killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as the Israeli preparation for a major invasion against the Gaza Strip? How will the Arab League react if they need to leash the Israeli occupation's aggression against the Gaza Strip?" Haniyah's letter read.

Haniyah also inquired about the plan the Arab League has set for implementing the decisions ratified by the Arab foreign ministers regarding the siege on the Gaza Strip. "When will the residents of the Gaza Strip feel the results of those decisions?" Haniyah asked.

"You declared the Gaza Strip a disaster area, but where is the emergency aid for that area, and how is it going to reach the Gaza Strip?" he added.

Prime minister Haniyah of Hamas appeals to the Arab league's chief

Tuesday February 19, 2008 12:19 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haaniyah of Hamas, appealed yesterday to the chief of Arab states league, Amr Mousa, for the sake of supporting the besieged Gaza Strip, where Hamas holds sway.

In a letter, sent out to Amr Mousa, Haniyah maintained " you are well-aware of the Israeli crimes being committed against our people in Gaza, the latest of which was leveling a residential building and further reducing fuel shipments to population".

The Palestinian PM confirmed that his cabinet has been closely following up a series of Arab league's meetings and decisions, particularly the latest Arab foreign ministers' meeting.

"We wonder as to why such meetings and decisions have not so far helped lift the suffering of the Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation aggression?", Haniyah wondered in his letter.

He also wondered as to what plans the Arab league might have set to make its decisions come into effect and when the people of Gaza will observe a real interpretation of such decisions on the ground?.

Haniyah's letter was concluded by one more inquiry " our people look forward to that their Arab brothers stand by them in the shadow of this plight, in a way that lifts the Israeli siege, once and for all".

In June2007, Israel imposed a strict closure on the Hamas-ruled Gaza after the movement took complete control over there amidst a power struggle with Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, who outlawed Hamas right after the takeover.

Almost one year ago, the Arab states league decided to unilaterally lift an international economic embargo, imposed on a Hamas-led government, right after the Islamist movement took power following January2006's elections.

The said decision, along with many other messages of support by the Arab countries, have not come into effect since a Hamas-led government took over control in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas has been isolated by the international community, after the movement was democratically elected by majority of the Palestinian people. United States and Israel brand the movement a ' terrorist group'

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