Middle East News
Jordan Gaza activists stage protest at Egyptian embassy
Jul 20, 2010, 18:47 GMT
Amman - About 150 Jordanian activists demonstrated before the Egyptian embassy in Amman on Tuesday to protest Cairo's refusal to allow a humanitarian convoy to reach the besieged Gaza Strip, according to a prominent unionist.
'We staged a one-hour sit-in before the embassy with an intensive presence of security forces,' Ahmad Armouti, president of the Trade Unions Council, told the German Press Agency dpa.
'We are determined to continue our efforts to ensure an Egyptian permission for another convoy to travel to Egypt to break the Israeli and Arab blockade of the Palestinian territory,' Armouti said.
The aid convoy, which included 25 trucks loaded with humanitarian materials, returned to Amman earlier Tuesday from the Red Sea port of Aqaba.
The convoy had spent a week waiting there while seeking Cairo's permission to be ferried to the Egyptian town of Nweibeh prior to travelling by land to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
Armouti said that the Jordanian government played a 'positive role' trying to convince Cairo to allow the entry of the convoy.
Some unionists had earlier alleged that the Amman government 'colluded' with Cairo to prevent the aid convoy from reaching the Gaza Strip.
'The Egyptian refusal cannot be justified, because what is at stake is a symbolic attempt by the Jordanian people to break the unjust siege of the Gazan people,' Armouti said.
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