Gaza - American actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Mia Farrow said Thursday that she was outraged by living conditions in the Gaza Strip, but criticized rockets' attacks on Israel. "The reality of the Palestinian people's suffering in the Palestinian territories is absent among the American public opinionl, which always express solidarity with the Israelis," she told a news conference.
Wrapping up a two-day visit to the salient, she said she was outraged by the living conditions in the Strip, which has been under atight Israeli blockade for more than two years, while Egypt has shut the Rafah border crossing to the Sinai peninsula.
But at the same time, she criticized the launching of homemade rockets from the enclave into southern Israel. A halt to the missiles "would help the Palestinians gather international support."
Farrow arrived in Gaza on Wednesday with Egyptian actor, Mahmoud Qabil, another UNICEF goodwill ambassador. She entered from Israel through the Erez crossing in the north, while he came throughthe Rafah border post.
Asked whether she would ask fellow actors and actresses from the United States to visit in the Palestinian territories, she said some actors and actresses "are convinced that the Israelis who are suffering."
"If I'm occupying a political position, I would do my best to change the tragic situation that Gaza Strip population are living in. Dignity and humanity here are missed, and we have to work on bringing it back," said Farrow.
Israel has kept the Strip under tight siege since militants launched a cross-boirder raid and snatched an Israeli soldier in June 2006. The blockade was tightened when Hamas gunmen routed security officials loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of the enclave in June 2007.
Continued rocket attacks on its southern towns and villages led Israel to launched a major offensive at the turn of the year, bombing the Strip for a week and then sending ground troops in.
According to UNICEF, nine months after the offensive ended, some 20,000 Gaza residents are still displaced and the ongoing blockade prevents homes, vital infrastructure and 280 schools from being repaired.
