Ref: 31/2010

On Thursday morning, 18 March 2010, the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights (PCHR) received Ms. Dina Abu-Ghaida, Deputy Country
Director of the World Bank; Ms. Miski Burhane, Civil Development Expert in the
World Bank Mission to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and Ms. Sameera Hillis,
Projects Officer in the Human Development Department in the Mission. 

The visitors met with lawyer Iyad Alami, Deputy
Director of PCHR for Administrative and Legal Affairs, and Mr. Hamdi Shaqqura,
Deputy Director of PCHR for Program Affairs. The meeting discussed the human rights situation in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, especially Israeli violations of Palestinian economic,
social and cultural rights. 

The meeting further discussed prospects of development
in the Gaza Strip, and the impacts of the ongoing siege imposed on the Gaza
Strip on the Palestinian civilian population, highlighting the unprecedented
high levels of poverty and unemployment. 

PCHR’s representatives stressed that economic aids can
never be fruitful unless serious efforts are made to lift the siege imposed on
the Gaza Strip to allow Palestinian civilians to enjoy their human rights and
improve their living conditions. 

The meeting discussed also the status of the judiciary
in the Palestinian National Authority, indicating that the ongoing political
division impacts the judiciary as well as the executive and the legislature.