Palestinians in Gaza ask for referendum to join Russia like Crimea

Rasa - A number of Palestinian activists in Gaza have proposed an initiative to ask and join Russia just like Crimea did, so that the besieged territory could be safe from Israel’s aggressions.

News ID: 722

Date: 27 March 2014 - 05:40

Rasa News Agency reports - The Arabic language Saudi newspaper, al-Hayat, wrote in a report that a group of Palestinian activists have sent letter to the Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Haniya to put up a referendum in the Gaza Strip to ask people if they agree to bid for joining Russia.

Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which 96.8 percent of the participants voted for rejoining Russia, with a turnout of 83.1 percent.

One of the letters, according to the report, says, “Moscow has announced that it protects its citizens all over the world, and we are here, exposed to the worst kind of torture, aggression and killing coming from Israel... joining Russia can protect us against Israel”.

The activists are representatives of some 50 thousands originally-Russians who are besieged in the coastal territory, the report says.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2006. Residents of Gaza are blockaded by land, sea and air.

The blockade has restricted Palestinian people's access to medical supplies, building material, food, and basically all kinds of supplies.

In September 2011, five independent UN rights experts made a report to the UN Human Rights Council which said that Israel’s siege of Gaza amounted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people and was a “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law” under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Prominent political thinker Noam Chomsky has described the Gaza Strip as “the world’s largest open air prison.”