Palestine News Network (PNN) : "Palestinians demonstrate for opening of Gaza and release of prisoners, Israelis want tightened siege"

Palestinians demonstrate for opening of Gaza and release of prisoners, Israelis want tightened siege

16.09.09 - 18:03

Gaza Strip / PNN - Hundreds of Palestinians held a nonviolent protest at the Shejaiyeh / Nahal Oz crossing in eastern Gaza City this afternoon.

Wednesday’s sit-in, organized by the Popular Committee against the Siege, demanded the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons and the opening of the crossings.

The siege on the Gaza Strip has been in place for three years, and with closed crossings and exports and most imports banned, Palestinians have long-demanded justice.

Such was the message today as the Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement continued to demonstrate. The Palestinian protest coincided with one on the Israeli side of the crossing that called for a tighter blockade on the Gaza Strip and the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

Palestinians waved the flag and held posters calling for an opening of the crossings, a lifting of the siege and an end to the suffering of the million and a half people in the Gaza Strip.

At a news conference this afternoon a spokesperson for the Popular Committee against the Siege addressed a message to the Israelis on the other side. “These demonstrations will not solve the problem and will not release Shalit, and the only solution is pressure on the government to change its intransigent positions.”

He continued, “The occupation has tried the siege on Gaza for three years, to no avail, because the Palestinian people want to be free and live in dignity.”

There are new moves to launch ships and land convoys aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza during the coming period. Several missions have been successful in delivering crucial medical and humanitarian supplies, and in bringing attention to the situation.

“The situation in Gaza is disastrous, both the health status of patients and the death of hundreds due to a lack of medicines and medical equipment. There is also an environmental disaster because of the sewage, and the blockade even bans the entry of notebooks for students,” the Popular Committee said in a prepared statement.

The international community is again being called to end its silence to the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and to take decisive actions to impose sanctions on the occupying administration.

The spokesperson of the Popular Committee against the Siege added that there should be “no link between the reconstruction of Gaza and the lifting of the embargo to any other political files because humanitarian needs and reconstruction are both part of the civil rights of our people.”

 



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