Palestinians urge Arabs to ease Gaza siege

Ma'an
Hundreds of Palestinians carried out a sit-in west of Gaza City after the Popular Committee Against the Siege urged the Arab League, meeting in Libya over the weekend, to end the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

Protestors carried flags representing every Arab country expected to attend, and affirmed close ties between the Arabs and their role in supporting the Palestinian cause....

Jamal Al-Khudari, who heads the committee, in a news conference at the end of the rally demanded that the Arab League support occupied Jerusalem and besieged Gaza, in addition to demanding that the Arabs increase their own demands.

Al-Khudari added that "the regional and international atmosphere encourage an Arab decision to confront Israeli challenges in Jerusalem and break the Gaza siege." He said "Palestinians demand that the league take real decisions and action on the ground."

He urged the Arab League "to offer support to all categories of Palestinians including unemployed workers, students, those deprived of education, the needy and families, families of those who were killed and injured, and the families of the prisoners, all the way down to supporting projects for the disabled and micro-development projects."

Al-Khudari also demanded that the Arab summit "form a delegation of senior officials to visit Gaza, which has been besieged for 1,000 days, to take a firsthand look at the disastrous impact of the siege and the war's effect on health, social, environmental and humanitarian issues."

On rebuilding Gaza, Al-Khudari said that "the summit should begin to rebuild Gaza, setting budgets that were previously allocated to be implemented which will have a positive impact on the Palestinians."  Full story