Hamas slams Egyptian authorities for attacking Viva Palestina activists in Arish

[ 06/01/2010 - 10:27 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum on Wednesday strongly denounced the Egyptian authorities for assaulting Viva Palestina activists in Al-Arish seaport, saying that this attack confirmed that there is participation in the blockade on the Gaza Strip and attempt to prevent any help extended to its people.

In a press statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC), spokesman Barhoum said that this savage attack on the aid convoy activists affirmed that there are no Egyptian intentions to break the siege or alleviate the suffering of one and a half million Palestinians besieged in Gaza.

The spokesman underlined that the Egyptian authorities also infringed on the sovereignty and dignity of 40 European, Arab and Muslim countries represented by the convoy.

“This convoy came with noble humanitarian and moral goals and attacking it in this way is an inhuman and unjustified act,” the spokesman stressed.

Dozens of multinational Viva Palestina aid convoy participants were seriously injured Tuesday evening when they were brutally assaulted with batons, tear gas, stones, and water mixed with sand by Egyptian security forces at the port of Al-Arish.

Spokesman for the convoy Zahir Al-Beirawi said that the Egyptian security authorities used intentionally excessive force against the international activists and damaged more than 10 vehicles loaded with humanitarian aid.

Spokesman Beirawi pointed out that the Egyptian authorities brought cars full of large quantities of stones to use them against the activists.

The spokesman appealed to the free people of the world to intervene to prevent the Egyptian attacks on the convoy and called on the Egyptian authorities to stop this madness.

About the reasons which led to these clashes, the spokesman explained that the Egyptian authorities demanded the organizers of the convoy to give up one third of the cars loaded with aid.

He added that the organizers including head of the convoy George Galloway and 10 Turkish lawmakers held a meeting with an Egyptian negotiator sent by the authorities, but this negotiator left the meeting suddenly without telling the attendees anything.

The spokesman noted that the convoy organizers felt that there was a kind of conspiracy especially after they saw a large number of Egyptian policemen moving and surrounding the port from all sides.

Different participants in the convoy also told satellite channels on air that the Egyptian attack on them was carried out unexpectedly following a sit-in staged by the convoy at the port terminal in protest at the Egyptian refusal to allow more than 50 aid cars into Gaza.

For his part, Ali Abu Sukkar, a member of the convoy, reported that the dozens of the convoy activists were seriously and moderately injured and some others were arrested.

Abu Sukkar noted that the Egyptian authorities refused unjustifiably to allow into Gaza the most important aid vehicles which are loaded with medicines and medical equipment, adding the policemen deliberately damaged several cars of the convoy, which reflected the level of hatred and insistence on not helping Gaza people.

In another context, the youngest European activist Israa Abu Rashid, who participated in the convoy of Freedom for Gaza, told the PIC that the Egyptian security forces, after confiscating their buses and aid vehicles and allowing them to walk on foot last Thursday, attacked the convoy participants and physically assaulted her and her mother.

The young activist added that the Egyptian officer tried to take off the Palestinian flag she was carrying and kept beating her in order to force her to let the flag, while on the other side of the street, she saw other officers beating her mother too.

“I came to Egypt holding feelings of love for and affiliation to my country Palestine and I was anxious to see my country and people, but Egypt prevented me from realizing my wish,” she underlined.

She also added that what prompted her to participate in this convoy were the scenes of children under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel during its war on Gaza.