PLC condemns barring international parliamentarian delegation from entering Gaza

In a statement received by the PIC, Dr. Marwan Abu Ras, the head of the parliamentary committee to lift the siege, deplored Monday the Egyptian decision to prevent an international delegation of lawmakers from entering Gaza to participate in breaking the siege.

Dr. Abu Ras stressed that this measure makes the Egyptian authorities biased to one party against the other and raises further doubts about the idea that Egypt does not take sides in its efforts to initiate inter-Palestinian dialog.

The multinational delegation is composed of 53 lawmakers from Europe, north Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

The European campaign to lift the siege, for its part, strongly denounced the Egyptian authorities for refusing to allow delegation to make a humanitarian visit to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, considering this action an active participation in besieging the Gaza people.

Dr. Arafat Abu Madi, the head of the European campaign, said that this Egyptian decision is actual participation in the suffocating Israeli siege on Gaza which has claimed the lives of more than 255 patients so far.

Head of the international delegation, Lord Nazir Ahmed also denounced the Egyptian step stressing that the lawmakers had the right to see for themselves the tragic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.