British lawmakers call for holding Israel accountable for its crimes in Gaza

[ 18/02/2009 - 10:57 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

A visiting British parliamentary delegation on Tuesday expressed shock at seeing the enormity of destruction in the Gaza Strip and called for lifting the unjust siege and holding Israel's leaders accountable for what they did against the Gaza people.

Head of the British delegation Richard Borden told a news conference held at the Ramattan press center in Gaza city that they came to Gaza to witness the impact of Israel's aggression and to figure out what happened on the ground in order to know the best means to help the Palestinians in the Strip.

Borden underlined that the delegation would report about its visit to the British house of commons, and would demand the opening of crossings and an increase in aid.

The British lawmaker added that the visiting MPs would stress before the British parliament the need for holding Israel accountable for what it did in Gaza and for getting answers from it about the reasons for targeting schools and hospitals, noting that they would meet with Israeli officials to obtain these answers.

The lawmaker said that he and his colleagues were extremely shocked when they saw the size of destruction in reality not as shown on TV screens in Britain.

In another context, a number of Islamic intellectuals, activists and scholars participated in a ceremony for the support of Gaza held Sunday by the Palestinian forum in Britain and attended by hundreds of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi, the head of the terrorism study center, talked about the meanings of victory achieved by the Palestinian resistance spearheaded by Hamas in Gaza, highlighting that faith played a major role in the victory.

Dr. Hilbawi also criticized the position of some spineless Arab regimes towards the Israeli aggression on Gaza, saying that this position did not reflect the will of Arab peoples who support the Palestinian resistance especially Hamas.

The main speech was delivered by the well-known Egyptian propagator Sheikh Wagdy Ghoneim who called for correcting concepts and not to name Hamas as a dissolved or caretaker government, and added that Hamas is considered the legitimate authority and the elected government of the Palestinian people.

Ghoneim launched a scathing attack on western democracies, the British in particular and some Arab regimes and stressed that Jerusalem, Makkah and Medina are Islamic Waqf belonging to Muslims and should be defended by all means.