Egypt and Israel deny entry of medicine into besieged Gaza Strip

[ 17/08/2008 - 08:14 PM ]

RAFAH, (PIC)--

The Israeli occupation government, and the Egyptian authorities have denied a van loaded with medicine entry into the besieged Gaza Strip although it remained stranded for 26 days at the borders, Egyptian legal activist Iman Badawi confirmed.

According to Badawi, who accompanied the van since it entered the Egyptian territories, "the van that was driven by Khalil Al-Mees and his Scottish wife, and crossed 12 European countries carrying medicine to the beleaguered Gaza Strip was denied entry by the Egyptian and the Israeli authorities".

Badawi was quoted by the Saudi Al-Sharq Al-Awsat news paper as saying that the Egyptian authorities informed them that Israel denied the van entry through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing point, while Egypt refused to allow them into the Strip through the Rafah crossing point because "it (Rafah crossing point) was only for the passage of people and not for trucks".

Egypt has been refusing to open the Rafah border point despite repeated appeals from various Palestinian factions, Arab institutions, and international societies to open it.

More than 237 Palestinian citizens died because Israel and Egypt refused to open the crossing point and to allow them receive medical treatment abroad.

Al-Mees, for his part, asserted that the main goal of his [noble] step was to attract the attention of the world to the tragic conditions in Gaza Strip, and the catastrophic conditions the 1.5 million Palestinian citizens were living due to the blockade.

Many European activists and popular organizations from 12 European states, and supporting the cause of the Palestinian people had participated in collecting the medicine for the Gaza Strip, and to reject the Israeli siege on it.

In a related matter, the Gaza-based Palestinian center for human rights has urged on Sunday the international community to immediately rescind the Israeli economic blockade on Gaza Strip, asserting that the siege had destroyed the Palestinian economy.

"The Israeli [unjust] siege constituted big blow to the already deteriorated Palestinian economy, and led to total paralysis in all aspects of economy there as it inflicted catastrophic losses on the Palestinian economy", the center asserted in report it issued in this regard.

The center also accused the Israeli occupation government of banning Palestinian products from the Strip to be exported abroad, pointing out that only 10% of limited products were allowed to be exported abroad.

But to the opposite, the center underlined, the Israeli occupation government reduced fuel, foodstuff, and construction materials supplies sharply leaving the 1.5 million Palestinian individuals in extremely bad conditions.

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