New demonstrations are scheduled to be launched in Ramallah and Nablus in the West Bank in protest at the sanctions imposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the besieged Gaza Strip.
A group of Palestinian activists journalists and artists have called for protest demonstrations on Wednesday at 9:30 pm at al-Manara and al-Shuhadaa circles in Ramallah and Nablus respectively.
Mass demonstrations were organized in Ramallah on Sunday and Tuesday with the participation of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and other political personalities to call on the PA president Mahmoud Abbas to lift the punitive measures on Gaza.
In April 2017 Abbas decided to wage a series of sanctions against the Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to dissolve its Administrative Committee. Although Hamas dissolved the committee in September 2017 new punitive measures were announced against the enclave.
In contrast to the PA position in Ramallah Fatah movement in Gaza demanded that the PA lift the sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip and treat the PA employees in the coastal enclave as equally as it treats their counterparts in the West Bank.
Abbas however still refuses to respond to the widespread local and international demands to lift the sanctions on Gaza after they have gravely affected the Palestinian citizens’ life at all levels according to human rights reports.
Meanwhile the PA at dawn Wednesday issued an order banning protests demonstrations and marches in the West Bank claiming that the new decision is aimed at maintaining normal life during the upcoming Eid days.
