MEDICAL aid and 518 international activists finally entered Gaza on Wednesday night, following protests against the Egyptian government’s refusal to let them in led to clashes in the divided border town.
An Egyptian soldier was shot dead during the clashes, Egyptian state television reported, and at least 12 Palestinians were injured during the demonstration which was called by the Hamas government of the Strip against perceived Egyptian complicity in the Israeli-led blockade and attacks on the Viva Palestina convoy.
Following the demonstration, some 50 people broke away from the crowd of hundreds, and pelted Egyptian troops with stones.
The soldiers opened fire on the crowd, wounding two people, according to medics. Ten people were also hurt in a stampede of protesters fleeing the gunfire. Ambulances raced to the scene to retrieve the wounded.
Hamas security officers then moved in on pick-up trucks and formed a cordon between the protesters and the border. Through loudspeakers they ordered the demonstrators to disperse, warning that provocateurs were trying to escalate the protest into a clash with Egypt.
Egyptian security officials declared a state of alert on the border, and hundreds of troops were sent to the area known as Salah Ad-Din.
Despite the violence, Egyptian officials then opened the Rafah border for the convoy, allowing dozens of vehicles, activists and medical aid into the Gaza Strip.
Organisers said in a statement following the entry that the group was met by large crowds.
The 220 trucks and ambulances, filled with tons of medical aid, will be handed over to Gaza hospitals.
Convoy spokeswoman Alice Howard said the convoy members had been given 48-hour permits for Gaza.
The previous night, (last Tuesday) more than 50 international activists on the convoy were wounded in clashes with riot police in the Egyptian port town of Al-Arish, some 40 kilometers from Gaza.
Police threw stones and trained water cannons on the 500-strong Viva Palestina convoy, including British MP George Galloway.
Members of the convoy had blocked the entrance to the Al-Arish port after the Egyptian government demanded that some of their aid vehicles enter Gaza through an Israeli checkpoint.
British MP George Galloway, who was travelling with the convoy, said Israel was likely to block the shipment of aid.
‘It is completely unconscionable that 25 per cent of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza’, Galloway said.
Hamas angrily denounced the violence. ‘This attack shows that there is no Egyptian will to end the blockade or even deliver aid to the besieged people in the Gaza Strip,’ their spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
Israel sealed its borders with Gaza following Hamas’ June 2007 takeover of the territory, causing shortages of vital goods, including fuel and all but 36 types of food items. Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are also largely banned from travelling.
Egypt has come under fire recently for playing a role in the blockade, including building a steel wall along its border with Gaza to cut off smuggling tunnels dug to import goods made scarce by the siege.
The wall has also strained relations between Hamas and Egypt.
Egypt however dismissed Hamas’ criticism on Tuesday.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Husam Zaki said Fawzi Barhoum’s comments ‘were sarcastic.’
He told the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, ‘Barhoum’s comments about Egyptian security violating sovereignty of 40 countries who have representatives in the Lifeline convoy mean that Barhoum has no idea about the meaning of sovereignty, and if he has any idea, I hereby tell him that Egypt’s sovereignty is above all.
‘Does sovereignty mean demolishing the main gate of Al-Arish terminal? Or does it mean damaging platforms to use the tiles as stones to pelt Egyptian security forces?’ Zaki said.
He added, ‘I am sure that if Egyptian authorities had allowed entry of the fancy private cars which are part of the convoy, he would have changed his mind. If these cars which will eventually serve the upper class in Gaza were allowed, he wouldn’t have said what he said.’
Parallel
l Hamas government security has called on their Egyptian counterparts to open a parallel investigation file into the shooting of an Egyptian soldier during the Rafah border riots on Wednesday.
The Hamas investigators said they had already opened a file and were looking into the incident to ensure it would not be repeated, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank publicly expressed its regret over the death of the soldier, calling the act ‘irresponsible’ and aimed at foiling Egyptian unity mediation efforts.
The riots began after Hamas officials in Rafah called a demonstration to condemn the Egyptian attacks on the relief convoy which consisted of 500 international activists travelling to Gaza with 220 cars and ambulances loaded with medical aid.
The Palestinian ambassador to Cairo and to the Arab League, Barakat Al-Farra, fiercely condemned what he called ‘irresponsible behaviour of Hamas officers against our Egyptian brothers.’
In a statement, Al-Farra said ‘The regrettable events at the borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip were planned and carried out by Hamas militias killing one of the brave Egyptian soldiers with a perfidious and cowardly gunshot.
‘This represents utmost lowness and meanness of Hamas militias who direct their guns to Egyptian soldiers instead of directing them to Israeli soldiers who are besieging the Gaza Strip.’
Senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Salah Bardawil, applauded Egypt for its decision to open the crossing for the convoy, and recalled what he described as the ‘historic role’ Egypt has played supporting the cause of Palestine.
He called on the Egyptian leadership to make the mission of Viva Palestina 3 as easy as possible in order to help ease the suffering of the Gazan people. He also called on Egypt to reconsider the erection of an iron wall under the borders between Egypt and Gaza, and to open the Rafah crossing.
Bardawil also expressed regret over the death of the Egyptian soldier during what he called a peaceful demonstration at the Rafah border, and called for self-restraint and cautioned the media to avoid incitement ‘that would only deepen the crisis.’
Meanwhile in Jordan, the Islamic Labour Front condemned the ‘Egyptian assaults against the Viva Palestina 3 convoy,’ as ‘ugly and disgraceful.’
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also released a statement following the Rafah border events calling on Egypt and Hamas to investigate the incident so it could be avoided in the future.
And an alliance of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Europe called for demonstrations in front of the Egyptian embassies in a number of European capitals to protest against the Egyptian security authorities’ assault on the convoy.
The alliance, a grouping of fourteen European organisations, said that the rallies would take place at the same time in a bid to pressure Cairo into halting the blackmail against the Lifeline convoy and to protest against the savage assault on its members.
In a press release, ta alliance predicted that thousands would attend the sit-ins including Palestinian and Arab communities in addition to foreign sympathisers and human rights groups.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Turkish people gathered in front of the Egyptian consulate in Istanbul after midnight on Tuesday to denounce the Egyptian assault, which injured many of the international solidarity activists.
A number of angry protestors threw stones at the consulate building and threatened to storm the premises if the Egyptian authorities attacked the convoy again.
The convoy includes five Turkish lawmakers and tens of Turkish trucks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu telephoned his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit several times on Tuesday night and urged him to release members of the aid convoy blocked at El-Arish following the violent clashes.
Different participants in the convoy also told satellite channels on air that the Egyptian attack on them was carried out unexpectedly following a sit-in staged by the convoy at the port terminal in protest at the Egyptian refusal to allow more than fifty aid cars into Gaza.
The youngest European activist, Israa Abu Rashid, who participated in the convoy of Freedom for Gaza, said that the Egyptian security forces, after confiscating their buses and aid vehicles and only allowing them to walk on foot, attacked the convoy participants and physically assaulted her and her mother.
The young activist added that an Egyptian officer tried to snatch the Palestinian flag she was carrying and kept beating her in order to force her to let go of it, while on the other side of the street, she saw other officers beating her mother too.
‘I came to Egypt holding feelings of love for and affiliation to my country Palestine, and I was anxious to see my country and people, but Egypt prevented me from realising my wish,’ she said.
And she added that what prompted her to participate in the convoy were the scenes of children under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel during its war on Gaza.