Largest-ever parliamentary delegation to visit Gaza in November

Date: 23 / 10 / 2008  Time:  19:49
Gaza - Ma’an -

A European group is organizing the largest-ever parliamentary visit to the Gaza Strip next month, aimed at breaking the ongoing Israeli siege.

The European Campaign to Lift the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza announced its preparations on Thursday, saying it intends to send legislators from all over the world to Gaza in November.

Several Arab and foreign parliamentarians expressed their wish to participate in the visit aiming at breaking the siege of the Gaza Strip, organizers said in a statement.

Leaders from Rights for All, a Swiss-based organization in Geneva, said that "parliamentarians from Algeria, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan and other Arab countries will join the international parliamentarian delegation."

The head of the European Campaign said that the group will also include leaders from various other countries, namely the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Scotland, as well as Asia and Latin America.

Anwar Al-Gharbi said that the group had "received many letters of support from Arab and European parliamentarians," hoping to visit the Gaza Strip, which is entering its third year under siege.

Al-Gharbi noted that the "idea of sending a huge international parliamentarian delegation to the Gaza Strip is gaining wide Arab and Western support."

Concerning the arrangements for entering the Gaza Strip, Al-Gharbi said that “negotiations are ongoing with the Egyptian side."

"We hope to facilitate the entrance of the delegation, which will be the biggest yet for Gaza," he said.

He added that the movement has high hopes for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing to enable the delegation to enter Gaza and "see the human and medical situation" there.

"The Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse," he said. And the main objective of the planned delegation is to become familiar with the "suffering" there.

"We want delegates to understand the suffering of a million and a half Palestinians who live in a tragic situation," he said.

Due to a shortage of medicine, Al-Gharbi said that the sick are going without help, as Israel is "preventing them from traveling abroad for treatment."

The organizers also explained that the parliamentarians plan to visit the health and education sectors to review the impact of the siege on different aspects of Palestinian life. The campaign is intended to document the situation there and report back to respective countries on their role in lifting the siege, Al-Gharbi said.

Death of patient increases siege victims to 254 Palestinians

[ 23/10/2008 - 11:51 AM ]
GAZA, (PIC)--

Palestinian medical sources reported that the victims of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip rose to 254 Palestinians after the death of a 34-year-old patient called Rizq Khweiter.

The sources said that Khweiter was suffering from aortic aneurysm and spent 36 hours in hospital waiting for Israeli permission to leave Gaza for medical treatment.

The Palestinian health ministry appealed to the international community to pressure Israel to open the crossings and allow patients to receive medical treatment abroad, highlighting that the Gaza people are being exposed to genocide under the Israeli siege.

Lavrov: The Israeli siege on Gaza is counterproductive

[ 23/10/2008 - 11:40 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov severely criticized Wednesday the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, saying that the blockade is counterproductive and brings misery to innocent civilians.

Following a meeting with his Tunisian counterpart A Abdulwahab Abdullah in Moscow, Lavrov said that the Israeli siege would not help to resolve the issue of the Middle East, stressing the need for settling all Palestinian-Israeli issues through talks and stopping all settlement activities to calm the situation.

The foreign minister also called for refraining from using force in all its forms and implementing all the terms of the truce agreement.