Israeli Aggression

Egyptian police has blocked the relief convoy that left Cairo Wednesday morning with humanitarian and medical aid to the Gaza Strip, and assaulted two of the convoy activists, Ikhwanweb reporter said. Opposition leaders who went with the convoy have expressed their concern to Ikhwanweb that the convoy will return to Cairo after having no other option. 

The convoy is part of a national campaign to break the siege on Gaza with the collaboration of a variety of national Egyptian trends, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Moreover, the doctors syndicate, from where the campaign was launched, is currently besieged by a heavy security blockade in what appears to be an intention by the government to crackdown on the campaign. 

The convoy (the first of two) consists of four buses, and was organized by the Labor Party  and the National Committee for Breaking Gaza Siege. It was stopped by security personnel on the entrance of the Suez Canal governorate of Al Ismailiyya.

Kefaya leader Dr. Yahia Gazzaz told Ikhwanweb that the convoy now has no other option but to return. The buses are heavily besieged by police, he said.

“Instead of assuming its duty in protecting citizens, Egyptian police has violently crackdown on our convoy, preventing our passengers from moving freely inside their homeland, and blocking any attempt to offer humanitarian and emotional aid to Gaza residents,” Gazzaz told Ikhwanweb.

Gazzaz also confirmed that police has assaulted two persons in the convoy and hit them violently without any obvious reason.

“This is absolutely a regime security apparatus, not a state security apparatus,” he said mockingly.

“The vehicles moved at 8.00 am, but we were stopped by heavy security blockade after we arrived at the entrance gate of Al Ismailiyya,” opposition leader Magdy Qorqor said in a phone call to the MB website.

“Police took the driving licenses of the drivers of the four buses and refused to return them, and then they gave us only three in an attempt to further delay our mission.”

Qorqor added that police officers asked them to submit a detailed list of the people on board, but he refused to do so, and the youth participating in the campaign went out of the buses and held a demonstration in protest.

Qorqor affirmed that the convoy does not intend to carry out any sort of violent protest.

(IkhwanWeb – Egypt)

Read More »Egypt security cracks down on relief convoy heading to Gaza cordons doctors syndicate

The Palestinian Hamas movement said today it will freeze talks on freeing a captive Israeli soldier until Egypt, which is mediating the prisoner swap with Israel, releases a Hamas fighter it is holding.

"We put the case of Gilad Shalit in the refrigerator and it will remain frozen until Ayman Nofal is released from the Egyptian jail," said Yousef Farhat, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip.

Nofal was arrested in Egypt in January after Hamas fighters used bombs to make breaches in the border wall between the Hamas- controlled  Gaza Strip and Egypt. At the time, hundreds of thousands of Gazans crossed into the Sinai freely.

Shalit, an Israeli corporal, was kidnapped in June 2006. Hamas has demanded the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in exchange for his release.

But Farhat said his organization will not speak about a prisoner swap with Israel "while Nofal is staying at the Egyptian prisons."

Recently, Hamas had suspended talks on releasing Shalit in order to press Israel to abide by an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

A few days later, Hamas offered to resume the talks on Shalit. However, its armed wing complained about the offer due to Nofal’s imprisonment.

Sapa-dpa

Read More »Hamas no talks on captured Isaraeli until Egypt releases prisoner

By Ira Chernus

(source: AntiWar.com)

A report released by the United Nations last year says that Israeli settlers, angered over the destruction of Jewish outposts, could exact revenge on up to a quarter million Palestinians in the West Bank.

It’s not just vague speculation. The report, issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territory, names 22 specific Palestinian communities, with a total population of 75,900, that are “highly vulnerable” to revenge attacks, and another 59, with about 175,000 residents, that are “moderately vulnerable.” It also names numerous road segments and junctions where Palestinians are especially at risk.

The people who wrote this report have obviously been there, observed carefully, and know what they are talking about.

Read More »Israel finds a new way to play the victim