German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, Visits Gaza

Published today (updated) 08/11/2010 11:07

GAZA CITY (DPA) --

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle became the first member of the German government to visit the Gaza Strip in nearly four years on Monday, when he visited a girl's school in the salient and also toured a water treatment plant.

Westerwelle, who arrived in Israel Sunday, also met with local businessmen to discuss economic problems in the enclave, which has been under an Israeli blockade since the summer of 2006.

In a news conference in Jerusalem Sunday with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, Westerwelle called on Israel to allow exports to leave the Strip, saying such a move was "necessary."

Israel imposed its blockade after militants from the enclave, led by Hamas, launched a raid in which they snatched an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.

The blockade was significantly tightened in June 2007, when in a week of bloody violence, Hamas militants routed security personnel loyal to the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas, and seized full control of the Gaza Strip.

Westerwelle has said he does not intend to meet any officials from Hamas, which is subject to a western diplomatic boycott, over its repeated refusal to renounce violence or honor previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

Hamas asks Germany to exert practical efforts to end Gaza siege

 [ 08/11/2010 - 07:03 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Ayman Taha, a Hamas leader, asked German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, who visited Gaza Strip for a few hours on Monday, to turn his words on lifting the Gaza siege into practical deeds.

He urged Germany to work "more seriously" alongside all member countries of the European Union to completely end the blockade on Gaza.

The Hamas leader told the German news agency that the European delegations and figures' visits to the Strip reflected a positive international sympathy with the besieged Strip.

Asked on Westerwelle's call on Hamas to release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Taha said that his movement welcomes any German initiative in this respect, affirming that releasing Shalit was linked to meeting his captors' demands on the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Westerwelle told a brief press conference after inspecting a water treatment project financed by his country in Gaza city that his visit was of "humanitarian nature", adding, "We will not forget Gaza".

The minister, who also met with UNRWA officials and a number of businessmen, said that Berlin was ready to support any effort for concluding a prisoners' exchange deal.