The Egyptian authorities have held and expelled dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who plan to participate in a march intended to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, said airport officials and protest organizers.
Thousands of activists around the world on Friday planned to head to the Egyptian border crossing with Palestinian territory as part of the World Marche in Gaza, demanding the entry of humanitarian aid in the blocked territory.
But Egyptian officials have attracted international visitors who plan to participate in walking, holding them at Cairo airport and hotels in the Egyptian capital for interrogation, and arresting and deporting dozens on Thursday.
An Egyptian official told the Associated Press that the authorities had expelled more than three dozen activists, most of whom had European passports, when they arrived at Cairo International Airport in the past two days.
The official, who spoke anonymously because he was not allowed to inform the media, said that the expelled activists intended to go to northern Sinai “without obtaining required authorizations”.
The reuters news agency said that at least 73 foreign nationals had been expelled during a flight to Istanbul on Thursday, with 100 others at the airport awaiting deportation.
Australia activists, France questioned
Saif Abukeshek, spokesperson for the World Marche in Gaza, told AFP news agency that more than 200 activists had been detained at Cairo airport or interviewed in city hotels.
Among the detained persons were nationals of the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Algeria and Morocco.
He told AFP that the plainclothes officers had gone to Cairo hotels on Wednesday with names, questioning activists, searched their business and confiscating their phones in some cases.
“After interrogations, some were arrested and others were released,” he said, adding that some had been expelled after being detained at Cairo airport.
A group of Greek activists said in a statement that dozens of their contingent had been held at Cairo airport “despite all legal travel documents, not having violated a law and followed all the legal procedures for entry into the country”.
The organizers of the march said in a statement that they had followed the directives set out by the Egyptian government and said that they would march as expected.
“We are impatient to provide additional information that Egyptian authorities need to ensure that walking continues peacefully as planned at the Rafah border,” the statement said.
Abukeshek told AFP that the group was still planning to walk on Friday at the Gaza border.
“ Moral pressure ” to lift the blocking
The walkers plan to travel by bus for the city of El Arish in the Sinai peninsula before walking around 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the border with Gaza. They intend to join a convoy of activists who left Tunisia on Monday, traveling by land to support the action.
The organizers say that they aim to “create international moral and media pressures” to open the border crossing in Rafah and raise the aid blockade on Gaza, which the United Nations described as “the most swallowed place of the earth”.
Israel imposed a total blockade in March as part of his war in Gaza, in which he now killed more than 55,000 Palestinians. It allowed limited aid to flow last month, but the distribution was plagued by problems, including fatal Israeli violence against assistance seekers, and experts say that volumes are well below what is necessary.
The world march for Gaza is the second attempt by international activists to break the headquarters of Gaza this month, after the Madleen ship tried to go to Palestinian territory by sea with aid on board.
The ship, who had Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, the member of the French European Parliament Rima Hassan, and the journalist of Tel Aviv Tribune Mubasher, Omar Faiad, were seized on Monday by Israeli forces while traveling in international waters.
Egypt denounced the restrictions using aid to Gaza and says that its side of the border crossing of Rafah remains open, but that the Palestinian part has been blocked by Israel since the war broke out.
Cairo has warned that only those who have permission will be authorized to travel the itinerary scheduled for March.
“Egypt has the right to take all the measures necessary to preserve its national security, including the regulation of the entry and movement of individuals on its territory, in particular in sensitive border areas,” said its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
Israel, whose diplomatic ties with Cairo are a significant problem in Egypt, called on the Egyptian authorities to prevent the march from reaching the border.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called activists “jihadist demonstrators” on Wednesday, saying that their presence on the border “would endanger the security of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be authorized”.
