Euro-Med Monitor Launches Petition To End Gaza Blockade

Photo: PIC

Gaza, 10 Rabi’ul  Akhir 1437/20 January 2016 (MINA) – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has launched a petition calling on Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, to exert serious pressure to end the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip and to develop its own seaport.

The petition came as Gaza marks the 10th year of the Israeli blockade,The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The 10th year of the blockade of Gaza is now complete”, says Ramy Abdu, chair of Euro-Med Monitor. “It is an ideal time to remind the world of the consequences, as well as to call on the EU to take specific action — the development of an independent Gaza seaport”.

Israel continues to control entry and exit into Gaza from its territory, as well as the Strip’s airspace and sea. Likewise, it controls Gaza’s population registry, telecommunication networks, and many other aspects of its daily life and infrastructure—making it nearly impossible for residents to support themselves and build a productive future, he underlined.

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Nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza have been mired in a miserable limbo for 10 years now—unable to make a living by freely fishing, farming or trading goods, or to leave for study abroad, medical care, work or family visits.”

Since 2008, Israel has launched three military offensives against the Gaza Strip, devastating its already-fragile infrastructure and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis created by a strangling blockade.

The Palestinians want the blockade to be lifted, Abdu continued, with unrestricted travel and trade through the Erez (Israel) and Rafah (Egypt) crossings. But those countries tend to abrogate any agreements at any bump in the road.

Thus, the only solution that has a chance for offering reliable independence for the people of Gaza is its own seaport. This would provide Palestinians in Gaza with a secure and dignified passageway to and from the outside world, free from dependence on the usually absent goodwill of Israel and Egypt, he stressed.

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Israel imposed a blockade 10 years ago, in response to a democratic election in which the Hamas party won a majority of parliamentary seats.

Click here to sign the petition: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Donald_Tusk_European_Council_President_Call_on_the_EU_to

(T/P008/R07)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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