国际英语新闻：UN chief calls for ending Gaza blockade, as Gazans despair of his visit

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip, March 21 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who wrapped up a four-hour visit to the Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip on Sunday, called for ending the tight Israeli blockade to the coastal enclave for around three years, as Gaza leaders expressed despair of his visit.

"The blockade imposed (by Israel) on the Gaza Strip is useless and unacceptable," Ban told a news conference in al-Amal neighborhood in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, as he visited the site of a project to build 150 housing units sponsored by the UN in the area, one of the two sites he visited during his short stay here.

"This policy (the blockade) mounts the suffering and hardens the population's life, especially most of the population here are young. The continuation of this policy is weakening the moderates and encourages the extremists. It also encourages smuggling and illegal trade," Ban added.

The other site Ban visited was the neighborhood of Izbet Abed Rabbo, east of Jabaliya refugee camp that was badly destroyed during the 22-day Israeli military offensive "Cast Lead" that ended in January 2009.

The residents of the neighborhood handed him a letter in both Arabic and English. The letters, of which Xinhua got a copy, said, "Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, we urge you to move as quickly as possible to end the siege and help us rebuild our destroyed houses and farms."

Upon Ban's arrival at the Erez crossing point on the border in northern Gaza Strip, when his convoy drove through the enclave, around 200 schoolchildren as well as crippled victims and patients who need urgent medical treatment waved Palestinian flags and held banners calling for an end to the blockade.

A Gaza patient who needed urgent medical treatment and went to northern Gaza Strip to see Ban, told reporters that he tried to speak to the UN chief to ask his personal help to interfere and let him travel out of Gaza for treatment.

Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2006 after an Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Gaza militants. It tightened the blockade after the Islamic Hamas movement seized control of the enclave by force in June 2007 and routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces.

"I understand Israel's concerns from Hamas and I share with them such concerns, but at the same time I can see that the ongoing Israeli blockade is increasing the civilians' suffering," Ban said, adding "it is really frustrating to see this destruction, while we are unable to reconstruct it."

During the large-scale Israeli offensive, official figures of both deposed Hamas government and other rights groups said that more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, 70 percent of whom were civilians, while more than 20,000 houses and buildings were either totally or partially destroyed.

"The Israeli government agreed to allow construction materials to finalize the UN housing project which started three years ago to house 150 families that had their homes destroyed during previous Israeli army raids on southern Gaza Strip," said Ban.

However, Palestinian political figures and leaders of Hamas in Gaza expressed deep despair following the visit of the UN Secretary General to the Gaza Strip. They called on Ban to translate his words into deeds and implement the UN resolutions related to the Palestinian cause.

Jamal al-Khudari, an independent lawmaker and the chairman of the Popular Committee to challenge the Israeli siege, said in a press statement that the visit of Ban to Gaza "dissatisfied the 1. 5 million Palestinians who are waiting for an immediate real end of the Israeli siege."

"The people here are waiting for more than what he had just said in order to change their awful reality and end the siege. His statements didn't cool down the people," al-Khudari said, adding " he (Ban) didn't even refer to the homeless people who lost their dwelling after the war."

Zawzi Barhoum, Gaza-based Hamas spokesman, said in a press statement sent to reporters that "the statements of Ban Ki-Moon should have avoided propaganda and softness," adding "such statements should be practically implemented on the ground, to reconstruct Gaza and end the Israeli aggressions."

Meanwhile, Yasser al-Waddeya, head of the Palestinian independent figures, urged Ban to keep pressure on Israel "to end the blockade and bring life in the Gaza Strip to normality."

He stressed that the international efforts should be promoted from being just statements to being actions on the ground.