The Head of the People's Committee for Refugees Jamal Al-Khoudary called on the Arab, Islamic and international parliaments to put more pressure on the Israeli occupation to break the blockade imposed on Gaza for years and end the colonial expansion in Jerusalem and West Bank. 

In his speech given during a meeting held held via video conference with Inter-Parliamentary bodies, he called on the Arab, Islamic, Palestinian and International parliaments to play a bigger role in supporting the Palestinian cause. 

"In the latest Israeli war on Gaza, the Israeli occupation felt the amount of international and parliamentarian sympathy with Palestine and noticed the huge Arabic and international calls for rebuilding Gaza so quickly. Hence, it tended to tighten the blockage, prevent the entry of building materials and basic needs into the Gaza strip," Al-Khoudary said. 

He appreciated the Arab and International parliamentarians for their solid positions on supporting the Palestinians and called them for playing a wider role in participation with the Palestinian parliamentarians to draw a new phase of practical steps to support the Palestinian cause. 

He also confirmed that the Legislative Council must play a role in this critical phase where the Palestinians are being exposed to various types of brutality by the Israeli occupation. 

"The West Bank suffers from settlement, apartheid wall, colonial expansion. In Jerusalem, there is Judaization and targeting everything Palestinian. The occupied territories live in harassment and targeting. And Gaza is under severe blockade and repeated aggression," Al-Khoudary added. 

"Gaza lives now the riskiest phases of the blockade as the Israeli occupation prevents the entry of basic needs into the city, and seizes goods estimated at more than $100 million through Karem Abo Salem crossing," he commented. 

He noted that this risky policy caused great losses to the economic sector and the traders, noting that more than 90 percent of Gaza's factories are closed as a result of Israel's prevention of allowing the building materials to enter the city. 

He eventually stressed that this severe blockade violated all UN conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 4th Geneva Convention, and was considered a collective punishment on Gaza.

Source : Safa