Gaza deportees demand return to their homes

[ 28/07/2010 - 09:00 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Deportees from the West Bank and 1948 occupied Palestine to the Gaza Strip have asked the world community and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to pressure Israel into allowing them back to their homes from where they were forcibly evicted. The deportees were participating in a march organized by the ministry of prisoners in Gaza and the higher national committee for support of prisoners to denounce the Israeli deportation policy as stipulated in the military order 1650. The march headed from the Palestinian legislative council to the ICRC offices where the deportees addressed a press conference asking the Red Cross to stand alongside their case. They handed Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the ICRC, a message explaining their suffering as a result of the Israeli measure. It cited the case of Mohammed Atawne who said that he was married 16 years ago to a young woman in Beersheba and completed all legal procedures to obtain an ID card that enabled him to live in the 1948 occupied land. However, he said that two and a half years ago the Israeli authorities suddenly forced him back to Gaza at the pretext he had relatives there leaving behind his wife and three sons. For his part, Kellenberger promised to read the message and to seriously follow up their issue. He said, "We know that many families were disintegrated as a result of this measure and we will try to help those families that suffer a lot as a result of their relatives deportation to Gaza".