European campaign: Lifeline convoy not the last

[ 10/03/2009 - 02:11 PM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)--

The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza Strip has declared that the British lifeline convoy would be followed by others until the siege is totally lifted.

Dr. Arafat Madi, the head of the campaign, said in a statement in Brussels on Tuesday that the success of the convoy in reaching Gaza after passing over 8,000 kilometers was a victory for all "living consciences" in the world.

He appealed to the official European regimes to use their influence in the Middle East to deter the Israeli massacres, aggressions, oppressive policies and inhuman practices against the Palestinian people, who have lived through long years of suffering.

In the Gaza Strip, Adel Zu'arub, the spokesman of the government committee to break the siege, warned in a press release on Tuesday that humanitarian conditions in the Strip would further deteriorate if the siege persisted.

He called for more such convoys to contribute in breaking the siege, adding that the people of Gaza were facing "slow death" as a result of the siege.

Galloway: We will deliver aid to Haniya gov't For his part, Respect MP George Galloway, who arrived in Gaza at the head of the lifeline convoy, told a press conference in central Gaza city on Monday that the convoy would be delivered to the legitimate Palestinian government of premier Ismail Haniya.

He said that Haniya is the premier of all freedom loving peoples in the world.

The British MP said that the delegates accompanying him in the convoy have collected donations from various British cities and from Arab countries they crossed en route to Gaza.

The convoy includes 280 figures, who arrived aboard 200 trucks loaded with foodstuff, medicine, medical equipment and clothes, other than 20 ambulance vehicles and a fire fighting vehicle.

The government of Haniya welcomed the arrival of the convoy to Gaza Strip where one and a half million Palestinians are living under siege.

British activists promise to back Palestinian prisoners' issue

[ 10/03/2009 - 10:11 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

A group of English and Scottish activists on Monday met in Gaza with relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails and listened to their suffering.

Mohammed Al-Katari, the undersecretary of the prisoners' ministry that hosted the meeting, welcomed the guests and said that such foreign delegations serve as a link to convey the woes of the Palestinian people to the outside world.

He elaborated on the Palestinian prisoners' suffering in occupation jails as a result of quelling measures and deprivation of basic needs. He said that such practices should be exposed before the world community.

Members of the delegation stressed that they would exert all efforts possible to convey the question of those prisoners and to organize support rallies.

The families of prisoners briefed the guests on the conditions of their next of kin in occupation jails and how they have been deprived of visiting them for almost two years, demanding an equal international attention for their imprisoned relatives with the Israeli captive soldier.

Meanwhile, a second Scottish solidarity convoy headed by MSP Pauline McNeil would move to Gaza within the few coming weeks, according to the Palestinian activist Rami Abdo.

He said that the convoy would carry medical supplies, adding that it was being prepared for over the past six months.