A Scottish Parliamentary delegation visits PLC

GAZA, (PIC)-- A Scottish parliamentary delegation bringing medical aid to the beleaguered Gaza Strip crossed Thursday the Rafah boarder crossing into the Strip and visited the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) where they held a press conference. The delegation consisted of Scottish parliament member Pauline McNeill accompanied by Salim Muhammad, Shamim Ahmad and Sadaka Khan of the Higher Islamic Coalition in Scotland. The delegation was received by PLC members Yahya Mousa and Mushir al-Masri as well as Foreign Ministry undersecretary Dr. Ahmad Yousuf. Masri, on behalf of Dr. Aziz Dweik, the PLC speaker who is in detention in an Israeli occupation jail, welcomed the delegation whose visit is a step towards breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip and an important step by the Scottish Parliament to urge other Parliaments to put pressure on Israeli occupation to release Palestinian elected parliamentarians. Masri showed the delegation the devastation caused to the PLC building by the Israeli occupation and put them in the picture on the destruction of homes, medical facilities and mosques caused by the Israeli occupation forces during the war on Gaza. McNeil, for her part, said that their visit aimed to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and that they brought with them nine truckloads of medical aid and donations from the Scottish people and government to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The delegation will stay for three days during which they will make field trip to areas destroyed by the Israeli occupation during the latest war on Gaza and will meet relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails. McNeil had visited the Strip back in November aboard one of the Free Gaza vessels.