Jordan Islamists chide Arab countries for lack of aid to Gaza

Jul 23, 2009, 12:48 GMT

Amman - Some Arab countries are actively complicit in blocking rebuilding efforts in the Gaza Strip, alleged Jordan's largest political party on Thursday.

'There are indications that some Arab governments are implementing with precision the rules of blockade on the people of the Gaza Strip,' reported the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party.

The IAF said the charges were especially damning, given the extensive rebuilding needed after last winter's Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the Islamic extremist group Hamas.

Israeli forces invaded the salient to stop the firing of rockets by extremists from the territory into Israel. The two sides have since reached a ceasefire, but tensions remain.

'States of the world have held meetings and decided to rebuild the Gaza Strip, but so far we have not seen any serious Arab or international move towards achieving this end,' the IAF said in a statement.

The IAF, the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement, did not name Arab countries withholding aid from the Gaza Strip, but it has, in the past, accused Egypt of teaming up with Israel in its crackdown on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

It also accused the world community of 'maintaining silence on the ugliest crime in history as represented by the siege of 1.5 million Gazans.'

The IAF chided the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and nongovernmental organizations for their failure to break the Gaza blockade.