No reason for maintaining siege on Gaza, Flotilla Alliance tells UN chief

The Freedom Flotilla Alliance has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres telling him that there is no justification for maintaining the Israeli-led siege on the Gaza Strip. The international alliance, which includes activists from around the world, called on Guterres to start work on lifting the siege as a matter of urgency.

“At the moment,” explained alliance head Zaher Al-Birawi, “there is no reason to keep the siege. By handing over the control of Gaza to the national unity government, Hamas has removed the pretext for having the siege.”

The London-based activist called on all international bodies which are hesitant to break the siege because of Hamas, to go ahead and work seriously to end it. He reminded officials that the siege was imposed on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip simply for electing the “wrong” leadership in free and fair elections in 2006.

Al-Birawi also called on the Palestinian Authority to be serious about ending the siege and help to rebuild its shattered infrastructure in cooperation with donor countries, especially Egypt, which sponsored the recent Palestinian reconciliation.

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In its letter to Guterres, the Alliance called for Israel to be obliged to commit to all UN resolutions and for the international body to impose sanctions on the Zionist state if it refuses to comply with the will of the international community. It said that the so-called “Middle East Quartet” should be dissolved and replaced with an active monitoring commission.

The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip should be afforded international protection, added Al-Birawi. “Israel must respect international law and UN resolutions regarding its relationship with the Gaza Strip.”