European campaign calls on EMPA to lift siege on Gaza people

[ 13/10/2008 - 04:49 PM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)--

The European campaign to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip called on the Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly (EMPA) which is holding its meetings in Jordan to shoulder its humanitarian and moral responsibilities towards one and a half million Palestinians besieged in the Strip.

In a letter addressed to head of the EMPA Hans-Gert Poettering, the Brussels-based European campaign highlighted that the countries participating in these meetings should pressure the Israeli side politically and economically to lift its unjust siege on the impoverished Gaza people.

"The conferees of the Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly which includes 49 countries have to pay very careful attention to what is happening in the Gaza Strip because of the Israeli siege which has resulted so far in the death of dozens of patients while the international community stands idly by," the letter said.

The letter underlined that the avoidance of raising the issue of the Israeli siege on Gaza gives the impression that the member counties of the EMPA approve and support the unjust Israeli siege on Gaza.

The letter stressed the need to swiftly open the Rafah border crossing which is located in the southeastern point of the Mediterranean and ensuring the freedom of movement, pointing out that the closure of the Gaza crossings resulted in the death of 250 Palestinian patients since a year.