EGYPT: Aid convoy enters Gaza, without aid

After being stranded at the Rafah border crossing for nearly 24 hours, nine members of the Egyptian Parliament were told Tuesday that the construction materials they had hauled for hundreds of miles would not be permitted into the Gaza Strip. The politicians had little choice but to walk in alone.

Organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and two independent MPs, the convoy included several trucks carrying 1,000 tons of steel and 5,000 thousand tons of cement, items not considered humanitarian aid. The fleet was stopped numerous times on its way to Rafah for what with authorities called "security reasons." The trucks eventually were confiscated and denied entry into the Palestinian enclave.

The politicians staged a sit-in at the crossing's gates Monday and Tuesday. Pleas to the leadership of the Egyptian lower parliament, People's Assembly, to intervene failed to persuade authorities to release the confiscated goods. Convoy members accompanied by journalists eventually had to settle for entering Gaza on foot.

"We’ve suffered a lot of obstacles from security authorities since we instigated our route to Rafah," Muslim Brotherhood MP Mohamed Beltagi said. He added that his fellow convoy members were committed to entering Gaza in order to "deliver an important message of solidarity from all Egyptians against Gaza's blockade."

Egyptian officials said that only the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has the authority to ship construction materials into Gaza. Israel claims that building supplies would strengthen Hamas, the militant group that controls the strip.  

Egypt weakened Israel's blockade of Gaza by opening Rafah crossing gates last week after nine activists were killed following a raid by Israeli commandos on a six-ship Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla last week. Egypt, which also opposes Hamas, has allowed the border to be opened only a few days a month, but Arab outcry after the flotilla incident forced it to open the border of an indefinite time.  

Since then, hundreds of Palestinians have flooded Egypt. A top Egyptian security official told AFP that the crossing will remain open, adding that a decision to close it will be taken only in case "any violations occur" from the Hamas side.

Hamas has been in charge of Gaza since it successfully ousted the Palestinian authority from the strip in 2007, leading to the joint blockade by Egypt and Israel.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian MPs walking past Rafah crossing. Credit: Reuters

Comments

[James Bond]

The Palestinians are a state of mind. Jews and Arabs living in Palestine were Palestinians. With the birth of the State of Israel, Jews and Arabs in Israel became Israelis. Arabs who fled to Jordan should have become Jordanians, except Jordan wouldn't have it. Arabs who fled into Gaza should have become Egyptians, but Egypts wouldn't have it. It was more morally correct for the refugees in Arabs countries to wage war against Jews than against their "brethren" Arabs... Amazing, isn't it?

[Jehudah Ben-Israel]

The Gaza situation should and can be resolved based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 which has been the basis for all peace talks and agreements to date.

242 came about to resolve the Arab Israel conflict and to sort out the matter of the territories Israel captured during the defensive June 1967 Six-Day War, including the Gaza Strip, which was up to that point under Egypt's rule.

242 does not mention the need to set up an additional state in the region, nor does it mention new concepts such as "Palestine", "Palestinian people" or a "Palestinian state". In fact it assumes the warring parties, Egypt included, would re-assume control over the territories lost based on an agreement with Israel which was to withdraw its armed forces to secure and recognized boundaries.

Israel has done it with regard to the Sinai and Gaza. Now it is time for Arab Egypt to assert its control over Arab Gaza and incorporate it into its own, thus resolving the predicaments its residents have been facing.

Let us do so now!

[StarWar2012]

There is no solution to the Palestinian state issue. That is why it is a continuing problem.

If someone has to bite the dust, it is going to be the Palestinians, because the Israelis will not budge with Palestinian demands.