GFM Protests Continue in Cairo, Organizers Say Egypt Offer to Allow 100 into Gaza Not Sufficient

Gaza Freedom March Protests Continue in Cairo, Organizers Say Egypt Offer to Allow 100 into Gaza Not Sufficient

Hundreds of activists with the Gaza Freedom March are staging continued demonstrations and sit-ins in Cairo to protest the Egyptian government’s refusal to allow them to cross the border into Gaza.

Organizers say an offer by Egyptian authorities this morning to allow just 100 members of the group to go to Gaza was not sufficient. More than 1,300 people from over 40 countries are in Cairo as part of the Gaza Freedom March. They were planning to cross the border last Sunday to commemorate the first anniversary of Israel’s assault on Gaza that killed 1,400 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis. Around 50 to 80 people with the group did take up the deal and boarded a bus to Gaza this morning. Egypt’s border crossing point at Rafah is the only entrance point into the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit had hash words for the marchers saying, “Those who tried to conspire against us, and they are more than a thousand, we will leave them in the street.”

Meanwhile the demonstrations continue. On Tuesday, 40 US citizens marched to the American embassy in downtown Cairo but were quickly met by riot police who cordoned them into smaller groups. Earlier in the day, members of the Gaza Freedom March joined with Egyptian activists in a protest against Israel’s prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s one-day visit to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

We go now to Cairo where we are joined on the telephone by Ali Abunimah, he is the co-founder of Eletronic Intifada and is taking part in the Gaza Freedom March. He is author of “One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.”

Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada and is taking part in the Gaza Freedom March. He is author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. His updates on the Gaza Freedom March are at Aliabunimah.posterous.com



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