GAZA CITY, Jan 27, 2012 (AFP) - Visiting Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore on Friday kicked off a three-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories with a brief visit to the Gaza Strip.
It was Gilmore's first visit to the Hamas-ruled coastal territory which has been languishing under an Israeli blockade for more than five years, with the minister keen to see first hand the impact of the embargo, his spokesman said.
"Within the European Union, Ireland has been one of the most forceful countries calling for a lifting of the Gaza blockade," spokesman Philip Grant told AFP.
"He is here to see what the economic and social impact has been on the people of Gaza."
During his brief visit, Gilmore met representatives of Palestinian civil society and also talked with top officials from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Grant said.
In line with EU policy, which blacklists Hamas as a terror organisation, Gilmore was not expected to meet with any representatives of the ruling Islamist movement.
Later on Friday, Gilmore was due in Jerusalem where he would be briefed by OCHA, the UN agency for humanitarian affairs, after which he would tour the Old City and the flashpoint Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan in annexed east Jerusalem.
The visit comes nearly three months after an Irish vessel carrying 15 pro-Palestinian activists, among them an Irish member of the European parliament, mounted a high-profile attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade on Gaza.
The Israeli navy intercepted the boat and deported everyone on board in a move which sparked tensions with Dublin.
Israel has vigorously defended its right to maintain a blockade on Gaza, saying it is necessary to prevent weapons from entering the Hamas-run territory.
Two months ago, a UN report into a deadly Israeli commando raid on a Turkish-led flotilla in May 2010 found the Jewish state had acted with "excessive force" but said its naval blockade on Gaza was legal.
hmw/kir
