July 16 2008

The Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, said on Tuesday that Tony Blair ,the Mid East envoy to the "Quartet" has cancelled his visit to Gaza strip for "security reasons",under pressure by the Israelis ”so that he won’t see the disastrous impact of the siege.”Tony Blair was scheduled to pay a visit to UNRWA schools in Gaza strip, and the director of UNRWA's operations, John Ging in Gaza strip.“In preparations of Tony Blair's visit,we arranged all needed security measures to make Blair’s visit secure and successful, we were surprised when the visit was cancelled."Haniya said."The security preparations were overlooked by John Ging, the operations manager of UNRWA,also responsible for coordinating the visit,in addition to all the journalists which was scheduled to witness and cover the event at the Erez crossing.

Hamas Movement’s spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri said in a public statement on Tuesday,that Blair's visit would have proven Hamas’s success standing firmly,in not accepting the recognition of the occupation or surrender the resistance.Zuhri added that the visit to Gaza strip also would have given opportunity for the international community, to observe in reality the humanitarian tragedy, the Gaza strip suffering due to the Israelis siege and aggression.Zuhri denied the validly of the claim, made by Blair’s office that the cancellation of the visit to Gaza was due to security threats against Tony Blair".These allegation are improper and very offensive,and contravened the meticulous security preparations that was taken by the Palestinian police to safeguard and facilitate Tony Blairs visit." .Ismail Haniya said the he had wished that Tony Blair’s visit would have revealed to the world the “destructive impacts” of the Israeli siege on Gaza strip

According to the director, general of the Gaza strip security services, and the Gaza strip police force, when Blair's security personnel a last time made a contact with security officials in Gaza , the security situation in Gaza strip was at the highest level.The Gaza intelligence and the police had checked all necessarily control systems, and Gaza security personnel were stationed across the areas scheduled for the visit.Police inspectors and engineering experts were staffed to check locations and patrolled the roads, streets, alleys and open areas.According to Tony Blair's office the security rumor came from the Israelis, Tony Blair have expressed a deep regret for the cancelling of his visit to Gaza strip.