Gaza residents angered by Ban Ki-Moon visit

A state of public anger swept across the Gaza Strip, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon refused to meet representatives of the families of victims and detainees, and owners of demolished houses and confiscated lands during his long-awaited visit to the Strip which is organised in coordination with UNRWA. Sources added that Ban Ki-Moon would also not meet any officials from the outgoing Palestinian government, reminiscent of his last visit to the Strip where he refused to meet the families of Palestinian detainees, yet met the family of Israeli soldier and released detainee Gilad Shalit. The Secretary General of the Prisoners’ Commission of the National and Islamic forces and its coordinator, Atiah Bassioni, condemned the absence of representatives for affected Palestinian families in the delegation to meet Ki-Moon. Bassioni called on local officials, who were included in the delegation to meet Ki-Moon, to boycott the meeting in protest of his “biased stance to the occupation”.  In effect, some representatives of the local council decided to boycott the UN chief's meeting, including Essam Younis, head of the Mizan centre for human rights. Dr. Yousef Rezqa, political advisor to Gaza’s PM, had earlier criticised Ban Ki-Moon and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton for not including meetings with the elected government in the agendas of their Gaza visits.