Palestinian Protesters Decry Closure as ‘Policy of Hunger’
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GAZA CITY — Armed with tomatoes and flowers, about 2,000 Palestinians demonstrated Saturday against the three-week Israeli blockade that has halted exports and caused severe unemployment and food shortages.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced new steps to ease the closure.
Officials said they would reopen a freight crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel today, although trucks would have to undergo strict security checks.
Israel imposed the closure on Feb. 25, after the first of four suicide bombings by Islamic extremists that killed more than 60 people.
On Saturday, Arab workers protested near Erez, a crossing point from Gaza into Israel, waving Palestinian flags and placards that read, “No to the policy of hunger.”
Protesters chanted and some hurled tomatoes and flowers--among the region’s top exported products--over to the Israeli side.
The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, which organized the rally, said the closure unfairly punished all Palestinians and would serve to boost terrorism rather than peace.
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