Ref:  36/2012

Today morning, 18 April 2012, lawyer Raji
Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), received David
Viveash, Field Office Director of the Cater
Center, and Nathan Stock, Assistant
Director of Conflict Resolution Program at Carter
Center, in PCHR’s head office in Gaza City.

They addressed the efforts exerted by the
former US President Jimmy Carter and Carter Presidential Center to achieve the
Palestinian reconciliation and put an end to the internal split.  The visitors were concerned over
non-commencement of the democratic process via conducting the elections.

Sourani talked about the human rights situation
in the occupied Palestinian territory, surveying the most prominent Israeli
violations and policies against Palestinian civilians and their property in
both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The meeting addressed in particular the fuel
and power crises in the Gaza Strip and their impact on all aspects of life in Gaza.

Sourani thanked the visitors for the efforts
that were done by the Carter Center several months ago to help Sourani enter the United States,
as he had been denied access for approximately 11 years.  The Carter
Center was one of dozens of
organizations that worked very hard and practiced pressure to allow Sourani to
visit the United States.

It should be noted that there has been a strong
relationship between PCHR and Carter
Center for years.  Carter
Center is a non-governmental and
non-profit organization that was founded in 1982 by the former US President
Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Smith Carter.  The Carter Center
has helped improving the quality of life for people in more than 70 countries.  The Center is managed by a Board of Trustees, comprised
of many prominent business persons, educators, former government officials and public
figures.