GAZA CITY: A delegation of the Elders group of retired world figures on Saturday visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and called Israeli restrictions on the Palestinian enclave both illegal and an obstacle to peace.
"Mary Robinson, Ela Bhatt and Lakhdar Brahimi say the isolation of Gaza is not only illegal collective punishment, but also an impediment to peace," a statement from the group said after they spent the day in the enclave.
Robinson is Ireland’s former president and UN high commissioner for human rights, Bhatt is an Indian women’s rights campaigner, and Brahimi former Algerian foreign minister and UN envoy.
The three met local leaders, rights activists, business people, women’s organizations, UN officials and the Gaza authorities, the statement said.
"I was last here in 2008, just before the Gaza war. The situation has deteriorated to a shocking extent since then," delegation leader Robinson said.
"This is not a humanitarian crisis — it is a political crisis and it can be solved politically.
"It is unconscionable and unacceptable that Israel and the international community have not lifted the blockade fully to allow Gazans to rebuild their lives and be part of the interconnected world that we take for granted."
Israel imposed closures on Gaza after Palestinian militants seized an Israeli soldier in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006. Israel and Egypt tightened them the following year when Hamas seized power from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel began to ease its restrictions earlier this year, allowing in all purely civilian goods, after an international outcry over a May 31 commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine Turkish activists were killed.
The statement said the Elders were briefed by UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) officials on providing basic services such as water, power, housing, education and health to the population of the densely populated territory.
"Holding 1.5 million people in what is effectively an open prison is deepening the sense of anger and injustice of the Palestinians. We are here to show solidarity with them. This situation is a disaster," Brahimi said.
Hamas premier Ismail Haniya’s office said he had briefed the delegation and said: "It is a national necessity to put an end to Palestinian divisions."
On the US-brokered peace process with Israel, Haniya poured scorn on the talks as "negotiations for the sake of negotiation and not to achieve Palestinian rights."
Brahimi, meanwhile, said marginalizing Hamas from the peace process was counter-productive.
"Whether you agree with Hamas or not, they represent an important constituency among Palestinian people and sooner or later they will have to play a role in deciding their future," he said.
"We were encouraged to hear from Hamas that they are committed to progress on intra-Palestinian reconciliation," Brahimi added.
The delegation, which was joined by former US president Jimmy Carter in Cairo on Sunday, is also to visit Syria, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank.
"The aim of their visit is to encourage support across the region for the current final-status negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinians, an earlier Elders statement said.
Direct peace talks which resumed in Washington at the start of September have run into the ground over Israel’s refusal to renew restrictions on Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
