As some threw sand and stones in addition to footwear, others toted pictures of imprisoned Palestinians and signs in English reading “Ban Ki-moon, enough bias for Israel.” Ban’s convoy was able to proceed to Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, but further demonstrations met him there at stops at a school and a housing project, with protesters holding banners saying “We demand a trial for Israel’s leaders.”
And a group of local NGOs and businessmen announced they were boycotting a planned lunch with the UN leader after his staff refused to allow them to bring some relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to the meeting.
A statement signed by some of Gaza’s most prominent rights activists and businessmen said they had made “intensive efforts” to ensure relatives of Palestinian prisoners could meet Ban.
“We received an unjustified negative response indicating that the secretary-general refused to meet with representatives of families of prisoners,” the statement said.
The group expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with Ban’s decision, noting that he had met on multiple occasions with the family of an Israeli soldier who was captured by Gaza militants in 2006 and held incommunicado for five years.
