CAIRO: Leading members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), including head of the policies secretariat and son of President Mubarak, Gamal as well as Safwat El-Sherif, visited the Rafah border crossing and hospitals in Al-Arish Tuesday.
The delegation also comprised Assistant Secretary General for Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab and party media secretary Ali Eldin Hilal.
During a visit to wounded Gazans at Al-Arish General Hospital and the Mubarak Military Hospital, El-Sherif condemned the Israeli offensive.
“What is happening from the Israeli side is state terrorism as it is bombing unarmed civilians, he said, calling for an immediate ceasefire.
A local NDP delegation had made a pro-regime protest at the border crossing last week, but this was the first visit to the area by high-level party members.
Analysts, however, see it as too little too late.
“It is the 18th day of attacks on Gaza, it is a very late visit, said Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “We talk about a ruling party supposedly representing the majority and people are angry about what is going on in Gaza, so the party should have acted sooner.
“The NDP is not an NGO or a charity organization, Rashwan added, “it should be taking clear and frank political positions on the offensive. I’m surprised by the NDP leadership as they are not taking a political stance.
Condemnation is all well and fine but where are your solutions? You should not just be sending aid to the people of Gaza.
Egypt has come under a barrage of criticism by other Arab countries for what many see as its complicity in the offensive by refusing to open the Rafah border crossing completely. Ire has been directly aimed at the regime and President Hosni Mubarak rather than the Egyptian people.
El-Sherif hit back at those who criticized Egypt stating that they were only offering rhetoric and little else.
“They are offering destructive support through voice alone, El-Sherif said, “and they should come and see the epic efforts Egypt is making to help the Palestinian people, not via television screens or vocal cords.
Rashwan said, “What I fear is that the motivation of this visit was to try and recapture some of the gains made by opposition groups like the Muslim Brotherhood who mobilized very quickly in support of Gaza. I sincerely hope the NDP visit was not solely-politically motivated.
The visit comes on the heals of Israeli ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen’s apology for an air strike that wounded five Egyptians in Rafah on Sunday night according to the Egyptian foreign ministry.
Five Egyptians, including two children, aged two and five, and two officers were wounded by shrapnel when Israeli aircraft bombed a network of smuggling tunnels on the Palestinian side of Rafah.
Cohen went to the foreign ministry “to submit the Israeli government’s apology for the air strikes, ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in the statement.
A security official said “tens of homes were damaged by shrapnel and that earlier bombings had damaged office buildings on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.
