Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, was met on Thursday by a group of protestors as he entered the Gaza Strip.Protestors threw shoes, sticks and stones at the U.N. convoy in protest, as they believe that the U.N. is not sufficiently addressing the issue of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, and accused him of showing bias towards Israel.
One protestor stated his displeasure at Ban’s expression of solidarity with the people of Sderot, a small Israel town near the border with the Gaza Strip that comes under infrequent rocket attack, yet not expressing similar feeling towards the people of Gaza, which is regularly struck with rocket fire from the Israeli Air Force and shelling from Israeli military tanks.
Ban entered Gaza on his scheduled tour of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories the same morning that eight home made rockets were fired into Southern Israel from Gaza. Ban stated that the firing of rockets was “unacceptable”.
His trip to the Middle East intends to stimulate a return to peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
