EP mission to Palestine to highlight plight of prisoners

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, Sept 17 (KUNA) -- Neoklis Sylikiotis, chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Palestine, is leading a four member EP delegation on a four-day mission to the occupied territories, The delegation will visit of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to meet with Palestinian officials, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and families of victims, his political group, called the Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), said in a press release Sunday.

The group will meet with members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and with Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction among other officials of the Palestinian Authority.

Coming on the heels of a historic mass hunger strike - the largest in Palestinian history - MEPs will visit the families of Palestinian political prisoners, to highlight their unfair conditions and call for their release, it noted. The mission will go to Khan el Ahmar, located in the so-called Area C of the West Bank on the periphery of Jerusalem. Residents there are target of systematic demolitions by the Israeli army, including EU-funded structures such as schools and homes, with the goal of expanding Israeli settlements.

They will also receive a briefing from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), followed by a visit to Aida refugee camp and the Palestinian city of Hebron. he EP mission has been denied entry to the Gaza Strip. MEPs have condemned Israelآ's denial of permits, part of Israelآ's illegal blockade policy that amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's 2-million Palestinian residents, the majority of them children, said the press release. MEPs Patrick Le Hyaric of France, Eleonora Forenza of Italy and Josu Juaristi of Spain who are included in the EP mission belong to GUE/NGL. (end) nk.rk

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