Thu, 24 Dec 2009 | PressTV
A UN human rights expert has denounced world powers' "tragic failure" to break the long-running Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, urged Israel's European and North American allies to press for the immediate end of the blockade "backed up by a credible threat of economic sanctions", AFP reported.
"There is no evidence of meaningful international pressure being brought to bear to end the blockade or to ensure that Israeli and Hamas officials are held accountable for alleged war crimes perpetrated during the Gaza attacks," Falk said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said a three-year blockade had stopped enough food and medicine reaching civilians in Gaza, harming their physical and mental health, and was still hampering reconstruction.
"This represents both a tragic failure of responsibility by the powerful governments of the world and of the UN," he added.
Falk went on to condemn the Western powers for their failure to investigate Israel's war crimes against Palestinians during the regime's war on the strip last December.
SB/SS/RE
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, urged Israel's European and North American allies to press for the immediate end of the blockade "backed up by a credible threat of economic sanctions", AFP reported.
"There is no evidence of meaningful international pressure being brought to bear to end the blockade or to ensure that Israeli and Hamas officials are held accountable for alleged war crimes perpetrated during the Gaza attacks," Falk said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said a three-year blockade had stopped enough food and medicine reaching civilians in Gaza, harming their physical and mental health, and was still hampering reconstruction.
"This represents both a tragic failure of responsibility by the powerful governments of the world and of the UN," he added.
Falk went on to condemn the Western powers for their failure to investigate Israel's war crimes against Palestinians during the regime's war on the strip last December.
SB/SS/RE
