European campaign: EU should strongly retaliate to IOA

The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza Strip denounced on Tuesday the Israeli occupation authority's (IOA) refusal to grant Belgian minister Charles Michel permission to visit the Gaza Strip.

Mohammed Hanun, member of the campaign and head of the Palestinian gathering in Italy, said in a press release that the IOA measure was in absolute disregard of the European Union (EU) and must be met with a strong retaliation on the part of the EU.

He said that the IOA is trying to deceive the world public opinion into believing that the situation is normal in the Strip and is barring officials from entering it because they would discover the catastrophic impact of the four-year-old siege on the Strip.

Hanun advocated a Belgian and EU response to the IOA humiliation to the minister in blocking his freedom of movement and for its disrespect to the international laws.

He noted that the step came at a time when WHO revealed in a report the serious deterioration in the health and living conditions of the Gaza inhabitants especially following the latest Israeli war on Gaza.

Khudari, gov't committee appreciate congressmen's letter to Obama

MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of popular committee against the siege, and the government committee against the siege issued two separate statements on Tuesday appreciating the letter sent by 54 American congressmen to president Barack Obama regarding the Gaza siege.

The lawmaker said that pressures on the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) should not stop but rather must expand.

The government committee, for its part, said that the letter though not enough was still appreciated especially when the American administration is the main supporter of the IOA.

It said that the West is now convinced that the IOA siege and starvation with international collusion and American backing had failed.

The congressmen asked Obama to pressure the IOA into lifting the siege on Gaza.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

IOA razes around 1,000 Palestinian homes in 10 years

The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has razed 969 Palestinian homes in the West Bank in the period from 1-1-2000 till 31-12-2009, the land research center said in a report on Sunday.

It added that the demolitions in 2009 rendered 560 Palestinians homeless including 296 children.

The report noted that the months of February, October and November witnessed the highest percentage of demolitions.

The center charged that the IOA targets the forced eviction of Palestinians from their homes reaching toward racial cleansing in Jerusalem.

It recalled that Israel ever since its illegal establishment on the land of Palestine in 1948 had destroyed 531 towns and villages and displaced 804,766 civilians, describing such practices as war crimes.

The center asked the world community to provide international protection for the Palestinian people in face of the Israeli war crimes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/