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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Who owns the keys to the Gaza "prison"?

Two interesting stories today, first from the Free Gaza mailing list, where they describe how two of their members who came on a boat last year have been continually denied in their attempts to go to Egypt via the Rafah crossing.
The two British women informed the Embassy that they would remain in the crossing until an explanation was given as to why they had been denied entry based on unjustifiable and potentially false grounds. The Egyptian officials at the border asked how they entered Gaza, and on explaining that they arrived on the Free Gaza Movement Boats they were told, “So, you don’t need us to answer. You already know why you’re not being allowed out.”
Of course, such a story does not make it onto the Free Gaza webpage, which is dedicated to only vilifying Israel.

The other story is from Ma'an:
The de facto government security forces confiscated the passports of a Fatah member in the Ministry of Finance and his wife and prevented to two from exiting the Strip via the Erez crossing, a Fatah statement said.

The incident was allegedly based on factional affiliation. Fatah officials have reported several cases where members were prevented from exiting the Strip.
So we see Egyptians not allowing people to leave Gaza, Hamas not allowing people to leave Gaza - and Israel blamed for running a "prison."