Ref: 80/2011

On Tuesday, 22 November 2011, the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) received a delegation from the
Spanish Agency for International Cooperation headed by the Department Manager
of Cooperation with the Mediterranean and the Arab World, José Luis
Martín-Yagüe, in PCHR’s head office in Gaza City.

PCHR’s Deputy Director for Program
Affairs, Hamdi Shaqqoura, met with the delegation.  He talked about PCHR’s work and different
units as well as the regional challenges PCHR addresses in light of ongoing
changes in the region.

Additionally, Shaqqoura briefed the
delegation on the human rights conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory,
particularly the Gaza Strip.  He indicated
how the deterioration of human rights conditions results from the ongoing closure
imposed on the Gaza Strip for years. 
Shaqqoura stressed the necessity to increase efforts on putting an end
to the closure, since the pretext given by Israel to justify its collective
punishment imposed on the Gaza Strip population has ceased with the release of
Shalit. This necessarily requires taking immediate action to end the closure
and its consequential suffering caused to the Palestinians.

The meeting also addressed internal
Palestinian issues and Palestinian reconciliation.  Shaqqoura placed emphasis on the necessity to
immediately take the needed measures on the ground to pave the way for free and
transparent elections in the framework of the Cairo agreement that was established
last May.