CAIRO — Protest leaders stranded in Cairo accepted an Egyptian offer
on Tuesday to allow only 100 out of about 1,300 protesters into
blockaded Gaza after the activists staged demonstrations and a hunger
strike.
The decision split delegates from more than 40 countries
who came to Cairo planning to reach the Palestinian enclave, which
shares the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Some organisers said
Egypt’s offer was a victory after it initially refused to allow any of
the protesters into the Gaza Strip for the Gaza Freedom March, which is
scheduled to take place on Thursday.
“It’s a partial victory,”
said Medea Benjamin, an American activist and one of the demonstrations
organisers. “It shows that mass pressure has an effect.”
They
said the foreign ministry offered to let them choose 100 delegates who
would be allowed into Gaza. They were due to leave Cairo for Gaza on
Wednesday morning.
Activists have staged demonstrations and
sit-ins around Cairo to push for entry to Gaza. Dozens of French
activists camped out in front of their embassy in Cairo after being
refused passage.
The offer, however, angered many of the
activists. A French organiser rejected it as divisive and said the
sit-in in front of the French embassy would continue.
“This just
gives the Egyptian government a photo-up and the chance say we allowed
people through,” said Bassem Omar, a Canadian protester. Activists left
behind in Cairo said they planned further protests.
Egypt had
said it barred the protesters because of the “sensitive situation” in
Gaza. It has refused to permanently open the Rafah crossing since the
militant Islamist group Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, prompting
Israel’s blockade, but opens it for a few days every month.
Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said earlier at a press conference
that his country would allow some of the protesters to enter Gaza.
“We
are looking into allowing a limited number…in the coming days,” he
said. He accused other protesters of “conspiring” against Egypt and
said they could remain “on the street.”
Egypt has vigorously
contested allegations of complicity in the blockade of Gaza, which was
devastated last winter during a war between its Hamas rulers and Israel
that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Separately,
organisers of another aid convoy trying to reach Gaza — Viva Palestina
led by British MP George Galloway — said it would head to Syria en
route for Egypt after being stranded in Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba
for five days.
They had planned to drive to Gaza from the Red Sea
port of Nuweiba — the most direct route — but Egypt insisted the
convoy could only enter through El-Arish, on its Mediterranean coast.