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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Spanky gets stick in Gaza |
| 2012-02-02 |
| Palestinians tried to block UN chief Ban Ki Moon from entering the blockaded Gaza Strip and flung slippers at his armoured convoy today on the second day of his visit to Israel and the occupied territories. About 40 relatives of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails gathered at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, hoisting posters with pictures of their loved ones and signs in English and Arabic reading: "Ban Ki Moon, enough bias to Israel." Two of them threw slippers at his car, an insulting gesture associated with the Iraqi protester who won plaudits around the world after he hurled shoes at former US president George Bush at a news conference in Baghdad in 2008. The Gaza prisoners' relatives, angry that Mr Ban had refused to meet them, formed a human chain at the crossing in an effort to block his vehicle but Hamas security forces moved them away so that Mr Ban could enter. "We came here in a symbolic message to Mr Ban Ki Moon that Palestinians from Gaza want to have the right to visit their children and loved ones in Israeli jails," said Jamal Farwana, a spokesman for Gaza prisoners' families. "He should make more of an effort to release the prisoners and we wonder why every time he avoids meeting families of Palestinian prisoners." Israel holds about 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, many without charge, including 47 Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Relatives of prisoners from Gaza haven't been able to visit them in jail since 2006 when Israel imposed the ongoing blockade. |
| Posted by:tipper |