My trip to Gaza- Thursday and Friday
Posted on January 18, 2010 at 10:17 AM
If the imposing city of Cairo wasn't enough to take in on the first day of my trip to the Middle East -anyone who has been to Egypt will remember the organised chaos of the city- the experience of getting to know the fifty or so other European MPs and MEPs who are part of our delegation has made for a very interesting start.
I was keen to seek out the leader of our delegation, British Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, for a discussion, having not had the opportunity to meet him before. Sir Gerald is a vocal critic of Israel, having previously called for economic sanctions against the country in a similar vein to those imposed on South Africa two decades ago. However, Sir Gerald is distinguished by the fact that he is Jewish himself. As an MP in Westminster, and as the leader of several delegations and subcommittees on the region, he has emerged as one of the leading Jewish critics of Israel.
As no doubt all of the parliamentarians on this delegation would agree though, the problems in the Middle East do not only lie with Israel. Sir Gerald is as much a supporter of the Hamas regime as he is of Israel, but concedes, "Hamas was democratically elected, and it is the only game in town."
It is for this reason that we will meet with Hamas this weekend, in order to discuss their position and the current state of the play in the Middle-Eastern peace process.
Following our arrival last night we began a bus-ride to Gaza this morning at 5 am, and crossed into Gaza via the Rafah crossing later this morning. We were greeted by a large welcome ceremony when we arrived in Gaza, and while the devastation of the current situation is very clear, there was nothing but warm sentiments from the locals we met.
Following our arrival we met with the Palestinian Legislative Council and several NGO's. Tomorrow will involve meetings with the former Prime Minister of the national unity government Ismail Haniya, and then the UNRWA. We also aim to visit the Al Fakhora UN School hit by Israeli army and conduct a field tour in Izbit Abd Rabu in north eastern Gaza.
I hope to blog again on Sunday or Monday detailing the second half of our trip- In the meantime any queries or comments on the subject are welcome.
