Haniyah agrees to truce monitoring by Carter Center

Haniyah agrees to truce monitoring by Carter Center

Date: 11 / 07 / 2008  Time:  17:37
Gaza – Ma'an –

The Prime Minister of the de facto Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyah approved a proposal Friday from the Carter Center which has volunteered to monitor the commitment of the Palestinians and Israelis to the 19 June truce conditions.

The announcement of the agreement came at a press conference held by de facto government spokesman Taher Al-Nunu.

Al-Nunu gave a summary of the meeting held between Haniyah and two envoys from the Carter Center, an organization started by former US president Jimmy Carter. He added that after accepting the proposal, Haniyah updated the delegates on the current list of Israeli violations of the truce, and the efforts of his government on the issue of national unity.

Responding to the recent accusations that the Hamas arrests of the two Al-Aqsa projectile launchers, he said "we acted according to the law and in the interests of our country to achieve security." We will not, he added "allow anyone to sink the truce and endanger the interests of Palestinians."

It was reported that Haniyah urged the visiting Carter Center delegation to intervene in the matter in order to push Israel to respect its commitments by allowing Palestinians to have access to the goods and materials that they need, and to open the crossings.

Speaking about the recent Egyptian delegation's visit to Gaza, Al-Nunu said that they had spoken with Haniyah about the necessity of opening the Rafah border crossing.

Al-Nunu confirmed the de facto government's continued commitment to national dialogue, and blamed the foot-dragging of Fatah officials and their reluctance to meet with Hamas representatives in Damascus. National unity can be found, he said, around a discussion table.

Al-Khudari to Carter Center delegates: "Where are the ethics, where is the law protecting civilians?"

Date: 11 / 07 / 2008  Time:  18:34
Gaza – Ma'an –

Head of the popular committee against the siege and Palestinian Legislative Council member Jamal Al-Khudari held a meeting on Friday with delegates of Carter Center where he urged the international community to stop the Israeli attacks and to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

During the meeting Al-Khudari expressed that the current Palestinian situation has been imposed on the population via the Israeli siege. He wondered to the delegation about the international silence around the issue of the siege, and said "how can the world remain silent about a siege when it prevents a child, wearing a crisp uniform and a new backpack from going to school?"

"How can the world be silent," he continued, "while a patient waits for medicine that is not allowed through the borders, and he waits until he dies?"

"Our beach" he explained, "is polluted daily with millions of liters of waste water because the Israeli occupation has denied access to proper equipment and engineers to repair the waste station."

"Where are the ethics, where is the law protecting civilians? Where is the reality hoped for in the forth Geneva Convention?" wondered Al-Khudari.

He finished his meeting with the delegates by calling on them to take serious action, saying that actions are much more important than statements in the struggle to end the Palestinian suffering.

In response, the visiting delegates denounced the Israeli-led siege imposed on the Gaza Strip saying that there were no grounds for it to have begun in the first place.

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