Ref: 58/2007

Date: 23 October  2007

Spanish Solidarity Activists Meet Women’s Organizations in PCHR’s Ramallah Office

On Tuesday, 23 October 2007, a 9-member delegation of Spanish solidarity activists headed by Ms. Christina Ruiz-Cortina (Director of Al-Quds Association in Malaga) met representatives of women’s NGO’s in Ramallah.

Samih Mohsin, PCHR’s field coordinator in the West Bank, welcomed the guests from both sides, and briefed them about the general situation in the OPT. In addition, he talked about the Center’s fieldwork in the West Bank documenting human rights violations at the hands of Israeli and Palestinian violators.

The Palestinian women’s civil society representatives then briefed the Spanish delegation on the violations perpetrated against Palestinian women by the Israeli occupation and the PNA. Furthermore, the talked about the role of Palestinian women in the struggle against the occupation and in the process of democratization in the OPT.

The Spanish delegation, in turn, expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people in their just struggle against the Israeli occupation and its apartheid policies, highlighted by the Annexation Wall, violation of international law, and the Judiazation of Jerusalem.

After the meeting, the participants took part in a rally organized in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israel, organized in El-Manara Square in Ramallah.

It is noted that Israeli occupation authorities banned the Spanish delegation from entering the Gaza Strip on 21 October 2007 without stating the reason for the ban. This ban came despite assurances from the Spanish Consul that the delegation’s visit to Gaza was coordinated with the Israeli occupation authorities.