Father Musallam calls for civil disobedience against PA to lift sanctions on Gaza

A member of the Christian-Islamic Committee in Support of Jerusalem and the Holy Places and pastor of the Latin Church in Gaza, Father Manuel Musallam yesterday called for peaceful civil disobedience against the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank until it lifts the punitive sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip.

“We have to break Ramallah’s siege imposed on Gaza. Set up your tents near Al-Moqata’a [President Mahmoud Abbas’ headquarters] for Gaza,” Musallam wrote on Facebook.

Gaza deserves that we start peaceful civil disobedience against the Palestinian Authority until the siege imposed on Gaza is lifted and all its national rights are restored.

Father Musallam warned the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and all the PA institutions and officials that the punitive measures imposed on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will force them into civil war.

Father Musallam also called on the world’s Christians to support the people of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip since Hamas won the legislative elections in 2006. Last year Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, exacerbated the blockade by imposing punitive measures against Palestinians in Gaza including stopping the payment of the salaries of civil servants and forcing a large number in to retirement.

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