At approximately 10:00 am on Monday 28 May 2012, the head of the Palestinian Central Elections Committee and other committee members arrived in the Gaza Strip.
 Dr.
Hanna Nasser, head of the committee; Dr.
Rami Al Hamdullah; Dr.
Khawla Ash-Shakhsheer; Mr.
Hisham Kuhail, the executive manager of the committee; and other committee members managed to enter Gaza.
 The Israeli authorities prevented committee members Ahmed Al Khaldi and Shukri An-Nashashebi from entering, refusing to issue Al Khaldi a permit and banning An-Nashashebi’s entry on the grounds that he holds a Jerusalem ID card.
  The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights welcomes the Palestinian national agreement on the work of the elections committee and the announcement of the start of the committee’s work in Gaza, including updating the voter registry.
 This step is crucial to organizing presidential and legislative elections to reestablish the legality of Palestinian Authority institutions, one of the major steps needed to reunite the Palestinian political system on a democratic basis.
  Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s prevention of two committee members’ entry to Gaza.
 It views this decision as Israel’s way of expressing its disapproval of reunification of the Palestinian political system.
 Israel’s concern is to place barriers on the path to achievement of Palestinian unity.
  Therefore, Al Mezan calls on the various Palestinian factions, political forces, and civil society organizations to make all possible efforts to facilitate the goal of reuniting the Palestinian political system and restoring the legality of its constitutional institutions, particularly its presidential and legislative branches.
 This step is of the greatest importance in realizing the legal rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right to self-determination and establishment of an independent state.
  Al Mezan calls on the international community to take all due steps to facilitate Palestinian unity and end the internal split.
 It also calls on the international community to accept the Palestinians’ right to political choice and freedom of expression.
 It calls on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to lift all barriers to unity of the Palestinian political system, including the restrictions on movement and travel between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
  End