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12:39 GMT
BEUSSELS, Feb 24 (KUNA) -- Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European
Parliament (EP), will be leading a delegation of EU parliamentarians on a
visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories from Wednesday till Sunday.
The delegation includes 15 EP Members belonging to different political
groups, accompanied by officials, assistants and journalists, Morgantini said
in a statement here today.
On Thursday, the delegation will go to Gaza Strip accompanied by UNRWA, the
United NationS Agency for Palestinian refugees, to visit hospitals, schools
and industrial areas in order to collect firsthand information concerning the
destructions perpetrated by the Israeli Army and about the real
life-conditions of Palestinians in the Strip.
The MEPs will also have meetings with members of the Palestinian
Legislative Council (PLC) and with Human Rights organizations in Gaza.
The Italian MEP said she considers "absolutely vital to bring our
solidarity to the civilian population which was under military aggression by
air, land and sea, and to witness the situation in Gaza in order to report it
back to the European Parliament".
The EP delegation is also expected to visit Tel-Aviv, Jaffa, Ramallah,
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, where they will have meetings with the
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and PLC members, with representatives
of political and human rights organizations and Israeli and Palestinian NGOs
in the West Bank, as well as with Members of the Israeli Knesset.
A delegation of parliamentarians led by EP President Hans-Gert Pottering,
visited Gaza on Monday while another EP delegation led by Cypriot MEP Kyriacos
Triantaphyllides, who is the chair of the EP Delegation for Relations with the
PLC, visited Gaza two weeks ago.
These visits, opine analysts, highlight the iportance the EP is giving to
the Palestine issue. (end)
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