CAIRO: State security forces at the Cairo International Airport have refused a Palestinian journalist and blogger and her two children entry into Egypt on Wednesday
Leila Al-Haddad arrived from the United States late Tuesday and was planning on crossing into Gaza through the Rafah border with her five-year and one-year old children.
Al-Haddad was planning a visit to Gaza to see family members and renew her visa to the United States. Despite carrying a letter from the Egyptian consulate in Washington explaining her situation; she is being threatened with forced deportation by state security.
“State security told her that Palestinians will not be allowed into Egypt unless the Rafah border crossing is open, Saeed Farouky, documentary filmmaker and a friend of Al-Haddad’s told Daily News Egypt over the phone. “Reports say it would be open tomorrow [Thursday] so she is trying to wait.
Al-Haddad spends her time with her children between Gaza and the US as her husband, a Palestinian refugee, is denied the right of return to Palestine.
“My husband is a Palestinian refugee denied his right of return to Palestine, and thus our right to family life. Together, we endure a lot, and the personal becomes political, Al-Haddad wrote on her blog “Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother.
Leila is describing and updating her situation using Twitter.com from the airport. “I am recording my ordeal and journey, she wrote.
