EGYPT: A call for a national strike in support of Gazans

Cyberspace activists have called for a national strike to pressure the Egyptian government to open its borders with Gaza and to eventually contribute to breaking the siege around 1.5 million Palestinians.

Groups were created on Facebook to mobilize Egyptians to hold a general strike on Dec. 20 in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Facebook activists have accused the Egyptian government of contributing to the plight of the Gazans.

“History will record our dishonesty towards our neighbors and our ignorance of Palestine. ... We should take a stand. ... Let us declare a strike for one day so that our message can reach Egyptian politicians. We, the great Egyptian people, will not let the Palestinian children die. ... Where is Egypt? Egypt sent natural gas to Israel and deprived the Palestinians from light,” read the mission statement of one Facebook group.

Facebook has recently become a vibrant platform for young activists. Last spring, two national strikes were called on Facebook to protest inflation, corruption and President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Although the protests were sparsely attended, they shocked the ruling regime. Since then, the Mubarak government has been chasing Facebook activists in an attempt to silence cyber-activism.

“The siege cannot be lifted without force or pressure. This is the responsibility of the whole Ummah [community of believers] in general and Egypt in particular," read a comment on Facebook in support of Palestinians. "If protests and pressures on governments increase specially on the Egyptian government, these governments will stop collaborating with the Jews in the siege imposed on our people in Gaza.”

A blog was also created to further promote the strike.

“While foreign activists were sailing to break the siege, Egypt closed the border crossing the only Gazan gateway to the world and blocked Egyptian rescue convoys. O Egypt, is this logical?” read the blog titled “The 20th December Strike: No to the Siege of Gaza, No to the exportation of gas to Israel for the sake of Egypt and Gaza.”

—Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: A poster promoting the strike on the Internet. The Arabic text reads: 'No to the seige on Gaza; No to the exportation of gas to Israel."

Comments

[ahmed]

for sue:-
your Ideology is completely wrong honey cause as Egyptian I see you wanna make us accept the occupation of some Nabor land rather than fighting the invader, and simply we can't deny the crimes Hitler inflected on you as Jews but simply I can't see any moral or logical explanation to taking some Innocent's people land (Palestine) as compensation fore germane crimes< if any one to pay sir so the Germans not us

talking about honoring UN resolution, babe you could see how many UN resolution Israel breached since 67

using the word:- kicked out
(850,000 Jews were kicked out of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq between 1948 - 1953) not in favor for me because transfer with free well was the most prober phrase to describe it however Israel stat wanted that for demographical intentions

finally we didn't occupy Gaza strip it was part of Egypt science otaman ruling of Egypt aculaly England was occupier then Israel

[sue]

Egypt needs to remember how GOD dealt with them during the time of the EXODUS when Jews where their slaves....

[Dani]

Yeah, where is Egypt? Or rather, where were they in 1947 when instead of honoring the UN partition plan for Palestine, they invaded the state of Israel, and conquered the Gaza Strip for Egypt, not for the Palestinians. And when the Palestinians fled after being told the Jews would be thrown into the sea, and ended up needing a new home, why did Egypt not help resettle these poor people? When 850,000 Jews were kicked out of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq between 1948 - 1953, Israel gladly resettled them. Why can't any of the over 20 Arab nations do the same for the Palestinians? Instead they have prolonged their terrible situation for over 60 years as a political ploy against the state of Israel. Real nice, guys.