RAFAH: Egypt allowed a delegation of nine opposition members of parliament to cross into Gaza on Tuesday a day after turning them back, an AFP correspondent at the border reported.
But the MPs were made to leave behind the cargo of reconstruction materials that they had hoped to take with them into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
Amid the international outcry over an Israeli commando operation against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which killed nine Turkish activists in international waters last week, Egypt announced that it was opening its Rafah border crossing — Gaza’s only gateway that bypasses Israel.
The surprise move has allowed some additional aid into Gaza but only a restricted category of Palestinians such as those seeking treatment or study abroad are permitted to cross and on Monday authorities denied the MPs entry.
Seven of them are members of the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood —Egypt’s largest opposition group. The other two are members of the leftist Nasserite party.
The Egyptian opposition has long campaigned against the government’s refusal to fully open the Gaza border, even at the height of the deadly offensive which Israel launched against the territory in December 2008.
Opposition parties have accused the authorities of being complicit in the Israeli blockade through their construction of an underground barrier intended to prevent smugglers tunneling under the border.
