Egypt lifts 5-year blockade of Gaza, allowing Palestinians free entry

Source: Russia Today

With an Islamist president in power, Egypt has eased longtime visa restrictions on Palestinians traveling from Gaza, ending its longtime assistance in Israel’s siege of the area.

­Cairo lifted visa requirements for Gazans under 40 traveling with a family to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said Monday.

"We were officially informed by the Egyptian side of a decision to allow any Palestinian under the age of 40 to travel through Rafah with his family without a visa, starting today," said Maher Abu Sabha, director of borders within Gaza's Hamas-run government.

The move by Egypt’s new Islamist government comes despite concerns from security agencies that have long assisted Israel’s 5-year blockade on Gaza, taking a tough line on Palestinian travelers due to fears of Hamas insurgents. Even after Cairo permanently reopened the Rafah crossing in 2011, heavy restrictions were imposed.

Under the old rules, Palestinians under 40 had to be escorted by security agents to or from Gaza's border to ensure they spent no time on Egyptian territory. The rather humiliating procedure often meant detention at the border or airport for up to three days.

The new measures allow Palestinians to cross through Egypt on their own arrangements, allowing them to stay in the country for up to 72 hours as they do so.

According to an unidentified Egyptian official at the Rafah crossing, an existing list of Palestinians barred from entry is currently under review, the MENA news agency reports.

An unnamed Palestinian official in Cairo said both sides are negotiating further easing of the restrictions.

More than 20,000 Gazans are on a two-month waiting list to exit the territory, Maher Abu Sabha, said.

Egyptians want to end deal with Israel

Egyptians burn the Israeli flag and wave the Palestinian one during a demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo on April 25, 2011, calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and opening of the border with Gaza.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/176723.html

An opinion poll has shown that an overwhelming majority of Egyptians prefer that the country terminate a standing peace agreement with Israel.

The results of the poll, which was conducted by the United States-based Pew Research Center, came out on Monday, pointing to a 54% lean towards the scrapping of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, the Associated Press reported. The poll surveyed 1,000 Egyptians countrywide between March 24 and April 7.

The 1979 deal saw Israeli troops withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula -- the part of the Egyptian territory, which Israel had occupied in 1967.

It, however, enabled the stationing of Egyptian security forces there, who would closely cooperate with Tel Aviv's crippling siege of the Gaza Strip. Using the forces, Cairo would keep the country's Rafah border crossing with Gaza -- the sliver's only terminal that bypasses Israel -- closed.

The Egyptians launched a revolution against the previous pro-Israeli regime in January, putting an end to the 30-year-long rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

During the protests, Tel Aviv allowed Cairo to deploy Egyptian troops to the peninsula, despite it only being open to Egypt's police forces in line with the bilateral accord.

After the revolution, the Egyptian protesters rallied outside the Israeli embassy in the capital, setting fire to the Israeli flag and urging the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the new Egyptian government could become hostile towards Tel Aviv. He has said he is “especially concerned” over remarks made by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi, who, along with other senior officials, has reportedly called Tel Aviv, Egypt's "enemy."

Egypt's Finance Minister Samir Radwan has also stressed that Cairo does not need investments from "the enemy," commenting on the possibility of economic ties with Tel Aviv.

The recent survey also showed that only 15% of the respondents favored closer relations with the US -- Israel's oldest and strongest ally -- as opposed to 43%, who thought the two countries could use some distance.

The bilateral peace accord forms a central part of Washington's regional policy.

Egypt rejects Algerian aid into Gaza

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130065§ionid=351020202



Egyptian authorities have refused to allow an Algerian humanitarian aid convoy to enter into the Gaza Strip which has been under a crippling three-year Israeli blockade.

The ship, carrying seven tons of medicine and two tons of powder milk, docked in Egypt's Al-Arish sea port on Friday.

Fifteen people onboard the ship including Algerian lawmakers, businessmen and peace activists were seeking to break the Gaza siege by organizing the convoy.

Algerian daily Al-Khabar said that the convoy was prevented from entering Gaza despite a primary agreement singed between the Algerian Foreign Ministry and Egypt in this regard.

The daily added that the Egyptian officials only allowed three Algerian lawmakers to visit Gaza though the Rafah border crossing for a few hours.

The move came two weeks after the Israeli military attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing at least 20 peace activists including nine Turkish citizens on board the M.V. Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza after the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, won parliamentary elections in June 2007.

Some 1.5 million people in the coastal strip are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent respectively in the Gaza Strip.

Egypt has joined Israel in imposing a three-year-long blockade on Gaza, sealing its borders with the strip and effectively cutting off all links to the coastal sliver.