Palestine will not be able to join the Fifteenth Asian Games in Qatar 2006 due to the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip, media
sources reported.
Palestine’s participation was in volleyball only. The team is from Gaza and could not go through the Rafah border crossing which has been closed for the past few months.
The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) announced in Doha on Sunday, that Palestine has quit men's volleyball event of the Doha due to traveling difficulties.
The Palestine delegation just informed that there is no chance for its volleyball team to participate in the games as the border in Gaza Strip is still closed and no athletes or team officials can get out of Gaza, said Yim Hyung Bin, AVC's vice president in a press release.
Apparently, despite the Israeli pullout of the Gaza Strip, Israel still controls the terminal and it has opened it few times to allow people to go through, but never enough.
Dr. Muawiyah Hasaneen, director of the Ambulance and Emergency Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Health told IMEMC in a phone interview that hundreds of patients who need urgent medical treatment in Egypt are not able to go through the terminal due to the Israeli closure.
The conditions of many of those patients may worsen if they could not receive the needed treatment in Egypt, Dr. Hasaneen added.
