Egyptian MP resigns in protest of steel wall

Press TV, Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:16:05 GMT

An Egyptian lawmaker has resigned in protest of parliament's agreement with the government to build a steel wall on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Tala'at Al-Sadat, a member of the Parliament Committee on Defense and National Security, told Al-Jazeera that the Egyptian government's decision to construct the wall is illegal, because the parliament committee is responsible for deciding on such issues.

The independent lawmaker, a nephew of the late President Anwar Sadat, said that the parliament speaker has ignored the body's responsibilities by siding with the government.

Sadat stated that lawmakers who oppose the decision of the Egyptian government and parliament believe that Cairo should respect its legal, political and ethical responsibilities towards 1.5 million Palestinian people who are in dire conditions.

The wall will be 10-11 kilometers (6-7 miles) long and will extend 18 meters below the surface, blocking the tunnels that Gazans use to bring food and fuel into the coastal sliver. The sliver has long been under an Israeli siege.

US army engineers have designed the wall and the US is supporting Egypt's construction of the wall, the BBC reported.

MGH/JG/DT

European institutions: Egypt's steel wall only serves Israel

[ 10/01/2010 - 11:36 AM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)--

European institutions supporting the Palestine cause have issued a statement on Saturday saying that the Egyptian steel wall along the borders with Gaza Strip was only serving the Israeli interest.

The statement said that the wall was sending a wrong message and putting a question mark on the Egyptian positions.

It noted that completion of that wall would equate between the Egyptian and Israeli stands regarding the siege on Gaza.

The statement said that the Egyptian decision was met with dismay on the part of those institutions, which hoped that Cairo would open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and not build a steel wall to block the smuggling of food and medicine to the people of Gaza.

It finally asked Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to adopt an immediate decision to cancel the building of the wall and to open the Rafah terminal permanently.

Qaddoumi rejects steel wall, asks Arabs to support resistance

[ 10/01/2010 - 10:09 AM ]

TUNIS, (PIC)--

Farouq Al-Qaddoumi, the head of the PLO's political department, has rejected the steel wall currently constructed by Egypt along its borders with the Gaza Strip and asked the Arab countries to support Palestinian resistance.

Qaddoumi, in a statement to the Tunisian daily Al-Shuruq published on Saturday, said that Gaza is already besieged from all areas and the steel wall would only increase the pressure of siege on the Gazans.

The US and the EU are pressuring Egypt to build this wall in a bid to destroy tunnels and halt smuggling of goods into Gaza, he charged.

The Palestinian leader said that the Arab countries should extend assistance to Palestinian resistance.

He advocated the convening of a session for the Palestinian national council (PLO's parliament in exile) that should be attended by all forces whether those members of the PLO or outside it in reference to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

British writer: Egypt participates in the US-led blockade on Gaza

[ 10/01/2010 - 04:04 PM ]

LONDON, (PIC)--

British writer Seumas Milne accused the Egyptian government of effectively participating in the US-led siege on the Gaza Strip, stressing that the Egyptian government’s denial of the lifeline convoy from entering the Strip was a clear evidence of that participation.

In an article published in the Guardian newspaper Thursday, Milne highlighted the suffering of the lifeline convoy led by British MP George Galloway at the hands of the Egyptian authorities at Al-Areesh port where tens of the convoy’s members were beaten up by batons at the hands of the Egyptian security men in an attempt to thwart their journey to the besieged Gaza Strip.

He also talked about "the Gaza freedom march" and the fact that from 1400 protesters from more than 40 countries Egypt allowed only 84 to reach Gaza, as well as the violent response of the Egyptian border guards to demonstrations held by Palestinians to against the wall of shame being built by Egypt on the border with Gaza.

He pointed out that while these events were big news in the middles east they were ignored by the majority of western media.

Milne argues that without Egypt closing its borders with the Gaza Strip the Israeli imposed siege on the Gaza Strip would not be effective and that by building this wall Egypt is complicit in the "US- and European-backed blockade of Gaza and the collective punishment of its one and a half million people."

He concludes that western foreign policies of supporting middle east despots and dictators is a "recipe for a war on terror without end."

Full Article