Organizers of the "Lift the Sanctions" campaign in the Gaza Strip say the movement is gaining international momentum.

It has been 11 years since Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza and one year since the Palestinian Authority (PA) imposed sanctions on the strip. At the end of May, a mass campaign took off in the Palestinian territories asking the PA to eliminate its punitive measures on the Gaza Strip that affect salaries, operational expenses, medical transfers, early retirement decisions, power cuts and allowances for the families of Palestinians killed or detained in Israel.

Since early June, dozens of activists, writers, artists, journalists and citizens have been staging peaceful protests in the West Bank to demand that the sanctions be lifted. On June 10 and 13, people protested in front of Al-Manara Square in Ramallah in the West Bank. Also on June 13, protesters staged solidarity strikes in Abu Dis village in Jerusalem and Martyrs’ Square in Nablus. Palestinian security forces clamped down on the protests and arrested several demonstrators.

Hekmat Zeid, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ adviser for provincial affairs, announced June 13 that the PA was banning protests in the West Bank, claiming the protests “disrupt the movement of citizens and disturb them.” Yet protesters demonstrated June 20 in Bethlehem in the West Bank.