CAIRO: Aid convoy members denied police statements accusing them of clashing with security forces near the Egypt-Gaza border.
Police said that members of the convoy rammed a bus into a police checkpoint in Al-Midan, 25 km from Al-Arish near the border with Gaza, and overturned a police car when they were prohibited form passing through last Friday.
The convoy was transporting supplies to Palestinians stranded in Rafah.These allegations have been rejected by members of the convoy, which was organized by the Islamist Labor Party but contained members from other groups and affiliations.
Journalist and activist Nada Kassass, who is unaffiliated with the Labor Party, was one of the people traveling with the convoy.
She vehemently denied the police allegations and recounted a rather different story. Kassass told Daily News Egypt that some clashes did occur, but the police version was greatly exaggerated as none of the buses were rammed into a checkpoint nor did anyone from the convoy overturn a police car.
Kassass related that the convoy – comprised of two buses, a microbus and two cars – was repeatedly delayed at the many checkpoints along the route, with the police not allowing anybody through.
“We discovered that this complete lockdown was because they wanted to delay our passage, so that they could gather a large enough force to stop us from continuing up ahead, Kassass said, “we were stopped at four checkpoints after crossing Al-Firdan Bridge.
According to Kassass, this got members of the convoy nervous, and so they attempted to speed their journey by forcibly removing the police roadblocks and barriers and urging cars in front of the convoy to drive through.
In the case where only the convoy was prohibited from passing, members of the convoy would then prevent other cars from going through, she added.
At the Beir Sabaa checkpoint, events got more “disturbing, according to Kassass, as there was a larger force, prompting the younger members of the convoy to break down the checkpoint barriers.
Finally at Al-Midan checkpoint, Kassass continued, there was a large security force waiting for the convoy, including army soldiers and Special Forces troops. Clashes erupted despite prior agreement not to engage with any security forces. However, the clashes died down quickly and no injuries were sustained, save for one member of the convoy suffering bruises to his face.
“It was a frightening sight, but the young people in the convoy were nervous from what awaited them ahead (at Al-Midan), so we wanted to pass through before they managed to stop us, Kassass said.
The convoy was not allowed to pass and had to return to Cairo, an action Kassass criticized.
She said, “Your government is against its own people, but to also see the army there and they are coming down on you as if you’re the threat, not those across the border . They wouldn’t let us help the Palestinians, and they wouldn’t let us come near the border.
“If I was Israeli, I could travel through all of Sinai without a visa, so an Israeli has more rights than me in my country, that is hurtful, Kassass added.
“They must open Rafah, people are dying inside, Kassass said, “the convoy wasn’t just about sending much-needed supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza and on the border, but to also apply pressure for the reopening of the crossing.
Residents of the Gaza Strip have been living in isolation since Hamas took over the territory last June and the subsequent closure of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
