Participants in Lifeline 5 upset at Egypt's entry ban

Participants in Lifeline 5 upset at Egypt's entry ban

[ 18/10/2010 - 09:25 AM ]

AMMAN, (PIC)-- The participants in the fifth aid convoy Lifeline for Gaza expressed their dismay at the Egyptian decision to ban 17 of them from entering Egypt and crossing into the besieged Gaza Strip and demanded Cairo to reconsider this decision.

The 17 persons who were mentioned in the ban list included Jordanian nationals, five Britons especially former British MP George Galloway and spokesman for Viva Palestina Zaher Al-Beirawi, in addition to two Turkish survivors of Freedom Flotilla massacre.

Egypt's ban list raised the ire of all activists participating in the convoy because it included names of people who do not in any way pose a threat to Egypt's national security.

Galloway criticized the Egyptian decision as ridiculous and sad and blamed president Hosni Mubarak for making such "cowardly" decisions as he described.

The names of persons who are not participants in the convoy and were not on the list submitted earlier to the Egyptian authorities were also banned from entering Egypt. This confirmed that Egypt had already prepared its ban list before it even received the names of passengers from Viva Palestina.

For his part, Ala Barkan, the coordinator of the Jordanian aid mission that participated in Lifeline for Gaza convoy, expressed his deep regret at the Egyptian decision to prevent him and other participants from crossing the Egyptian territories into Gaza.

Barkan said he was not surprised at the Egyptian ban, saying that the country which is involved in besieging one and a half million Palestinians in Gaza cannot hesitate to prevent humanitarian activists from helping them.

Libya to host meeting to coordinate Gaza-bound convoys from Northern Africa

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian