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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran set to dispatch aid for Gazans |
| 2008-12-14 |
| Iran is prepared to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip in a bid to help improve the deteriorating living conditions in the costal sliver. Along with Indonesia and Syria as members of Asian Gaza troika, Iran seeks to help the besieged people of Gaza, Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said Saturday in a telephone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart, Agung Laksono. The parliament speakers of Iran, Indonesia and Syria are to travel to the countries which neighbor Palestine to discuss initiatives for providing aid to the people of Gaza. The decision to form such a troika was made during the third Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) meeting late November in Jakarta. "Besieged Gazans have to cope with the difficult situation they are currently going through. They are denied essential supplies of food, medicine and fuel," Larijani said. The senior Iranian official meanwhile called for collective effective measures to ease the closures imposed on the coastal strip by the Israeli regime. Tehran has repeatedly called on Cairo to ease blockade by opening the Rafah border crossing for humanitarian convoys to deliver food, medical equipment and other essential supplies to the strip. Laksono acclaimed Iranian initiative to help Gazans, saying the Palestinian issue is an Islamic and humanitarian one. He added that Indonesia fully understands the gravity of the situation and voiced support for the Palestinians -- and Gazans in particular. Gaza has been faced with a humanitarian crisis ever since Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal strip in June 2007. An estimated 70 percent of Gaza has experienced lengthy power outages as Tel Aviv cut off fuel supplies to the strip's only power plant. Hospitals must rely on generators to keep life-saving equipment running. Recent reports reveal that 80 percent of the families living in the strip are fully dependent on food supplies from aid agencies. The number of children suffering from malnutrition, diarrhea, insomnia and anxiety attacks has increased to 40 percent under the current siege. School dropouts have also surged due to the dangers of commuting to and from schools in such a volatile security situation, and also since many of the Gazan families cannot afford schooling for their children any more. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 JPOST > US ANALYSTS: GAZA-BOUND IRANIAN SHIP [Red Crescent] MAY HAVE HIDDEN AGENDA [covert delivery of Al-QUDS Intel Agents-Operatives, etc]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-14 20:24 |
| #2 It'll likely be humanitarian. An attempt to both reinforce Hamas as a so-called government and tie them closer to Iran. Think of them as becoming an eventual Hesb'allah, Gaza subsidiary. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-12-14 17:11 |
| #1 Iran is prepared to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip IEDs, ammo, and DVD of Ahmadinejad dancing Lambada? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-12-14 04:32 |