An international campaign was organized by Palestinian and foreign activists to lift Israel’s nearly 17-year siege of the Gaza Strip.
Under the slogan &ldquoOpen Gaza’s Ports&rdquo the campaign is organized in over 20 Arab and European countries to highlight the Palestinian people’s humanitarian suffering in Gaza and to call for opening Gaza’s seaports.
The general coordinator of the Palestinians Abroad campaign to lift the siege on Gaza Ziyal Al-Aloul stated that the campaign’s main objective is to raise awareness of the Palestinian people’s legal entitlement to an airport and a seaport.
Speaking to the PIC reporter Al-Aloul explained that the campaign is one of the initiatives that started worldwide to end the unfair Israeli siege on Gaza.
He added that the campaign had already begun in Jordan Kuwait and Gaza and would shortly begin in Denmark Lebanon Italy and then Algeria and Spain.
Chairman of the campaign Wael as-Saqqa also clarified that the campaign would be organized soon in over 20 Arab and European countries to highlight the Palestinian people’s humanitarian suffering in Gaza and to call for opening Gaza’s seaports.
Saqqa called for joining the campaign which he said started on September 22 and would continue until the end of the same month.
The Israeli blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip has been in place since 2007 when Israel imposed an airtight land sea and air blockade on the coastal enclave.
Israel controls Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters as well as two of the three border crossing points the third is controlled by Egypt.
According to Yasser Al-Satri deputy chairman of the Committee of Palestinians Abroad to Break the Siege on the Gaza Strip the campaign was launched in response to numerous health humanitarian and human rights reports that raised concerns about the extremely challenging living conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Satri emphasized the importance of opening the ports and crossings in the Gaza Strip in order to regularly permit the entry of fuel food and medical supplies into the Strip.
The campaign comes as unemployment rates in the besieged enclave reached an unprecedented level reaching nearly 70% among young people while about 64% of families suffer from food insecurity.
