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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
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Ref: 89/2004
Date: 02 June 2004
Time: 10:30 GMT
Israeli Occupying Authorities Continue Closure of Rafah Terminal
PCHR condemns the continued closure of Rafah Terminal, located on the Egyptian border, by Israeli occupying authorities, and calls upon the international community and humanitarian organizations to immediately intervene and pressure Israeli occupying forces to reopen the terminal and end this form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians.
According to information gathered by PCHR field workers, Israeli occupying forces have continued to close Rafah Terminal since Thursday, 13 May 2004, prohibiting residents of the Gaza Strip, including patients, from traveling abroad, in violation of their right to freedom of movement. Humanitarian aid provided by Arab countries for Rafah, which has been subject to a wide scale Israeli offensive between 13 and 24 May 2004 that left unprecedented destruction, has been blocked. Rafah Terminal has been the only outlet for the Gaza Strip to the outside world since 14 February 2001, when Israeli troops destroyed Gaza International Airport.
During this period of closure, Israeli troops open the terminal partially and for short periods, in a misleading attempt to showcase that the terminal is operating normally. However, whenever decisions are made of opening the terminal, further restrictions on travel are made, allowing travel for humanitarian cases only. At least 2000 people, whose passports were stamped by Palestinian personnel at the terminal, have not been allowed to travel. Delegations of Palestinian human rights organizations, including PCHR, have been prohibited from traveling to Egypt for the second consecutive year to testify before the United Nations Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Territories.
In addition, since 18 April 2004, Israeli occupying forces have continued to prohibit Palestinians between the ages of 16 and 35 from traveling through the terminal. Hundreds of students have not been able to return to their respective universities abroad.
PCHR believes that these measures are a form of collective punishment imposed by Israeli occupying forces in violation of international humanitarian law. PCHR calls upon the international community and humanitarian organizations to pressure Israeli occupying authorities to comply with their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
Public Document
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For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: [email protected], Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
