Egypte richt tijdelijke kampen in voor gestrande Palestijnse pelgrims

Palestijnen in kampen - dat is altijd goed voor een hoop media aandacht en verontwaardiging van mensenrechtenactivisten. Dat de betreffende Palestijnen niet willen terugkeren naar Gaza via een Israëlische controlepost is uiteraard volledig terecht: je laat je toch niet door die Zionistenhonden vernederen?

 

Sinds de overname van de Gazastrook door Hamas hebben de Hamas sympathisanten miljoenen aan cash geld de strook in gesmokkeld. Ook hebben Hamas strijders trainingen in Iran gevolgd. Maar ook dat alles is uiteraard hun goed recht, net als het afvuren van raketten op Israëlische burgers.  

 

Ratna

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Last update - 13:01 30/12/2007

Egypt moves stranded Palestinian pilgrims to temporary Sinai camps 
By The Associated Press 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/939761.html  

More than a thousand Palestinian pilgrims trapped in Egypt boarded buses Sunday taking them to temporary camps in the northern Sinai Peninsula until authorities decide where they will cross into the Gaza Strip, a security official said.

The Palestinians arrived in the Egyptian port city of Nuweiba in southern Sinai on Saturday after completing their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia but have resisted Egypt's attempts to have them return to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, where they must go through Israeli security checks.

Some of the pilgrims are members of the radical Islamic group Hamas, which seized Gaza in June, and they fear Israel will arrest them if they return through Kerem Shalom. Instead, they want to cross into Gaza through Rafah, which is outside Israeli control.

The 1,166 Palestinians who left Nuweiba Sunday boarded 29 buses headed for El-Arish, some 250 kilometers north of the Sinai port city and less than 25 kilometers west of Rafah, the security official said.

A total of 3,060 Palestinians have arrived in Nuweiba on two ferries, and authorities plan to send a second batch of buses to transport those who remain, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Hamas representatives had indicated Saturday that some 1,900 pilgrims were stuck in Nuweiba, but this figure apparently only included those on the first ferry.

Egypt's attempts to force the pilgrims to use the Kerem Shalom crossing have outraged Hamas supporters in Gaza, who staged large-scale protests on Saturday.

Al-Jazeera television aired interviews with the pilgrims before they left Jordan in which they showed a paper Egypt allegedly asked them to sign saying they would to return to Gaza through Kerem Shalom.

Israel fears that if the pilgrims are allowed to return to Gaza through Rafah, Hamas militants might get through and sympathizers could smuggle cash to the Islamic group.

Some 7,000 demonstrators gathered at the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing Saturday waving Palestinian and Hamas flags and demanding the pilgrims be allowed to enter.

Hamas lawmakers echoed these calls, saying Egypt has a moral obligation to bring the pilgrims home as quickly as possible by allowing them to cross through Rafah.

The leader of Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, called on the Egyptian authorities Sunday to exercise their historical duty to the Palestinians and let them return to Gaza using the Rafah crossing.

Egypt has set up 11 temporary camps in El-Arish to house the pilgrims until authorities come up with a solution to the current crisis, security officials said.