The last time I travelled from Cairo to rafah, it took over 7 hours because of checkpoints, now the journey takes less than 5. Once you leave Cairo there are a lot of military on the road but no police checkpoints, in fact we did not get stopped until we reached Rafah town.

So, we arrive at Rafah Border early hours of the morning , and the “Fun” begins. Power play, Politics, Mind games , humiliation , degradation , CORRUPTION are all words that anybody who has ever been at the Border will associate with it.

5 minutes turns in to 2 hours, just to be asked for more paperwork , you hand in the paperwork and it is decided after another 2 hours, that is NOT the paperwork they need, you are asked to get a letter from Irish embassy faxed to the border, but amazingly they refuse to give you the number of the fax machine,so we go into Rafah and get the letter faxed there,and once again they will not accept the fax being sent to somewhere in Rafah town, then there is  more paperwork from  the Egyptian Authorities needed and it goes on and on , In fact at one point,  we were told we could not enter ” For our own safety”………

While we are waiting at the “loosely termed” Cafeteria , you do get the chance to meet some amazing people of different nationalities. I remember once looking around our table and there was Derek , myself and Jeff, Mohammed from IHH, Ashraf and Abdullah from Gaza but living in  Kuwait , a german photographer and a lady from Gaza city. At the end of day one, the german guy had decided to return to Cairo, The Palestinian lady was Forced to return to Cairo  and Ashraf , Abdullah, and the 3 of us headed to a cheap hotel in El Arish for some food and sleep, Mohammed from IHH had finally gotten in to Gaza after almost a week of sitting at the border.

So, the story is basically the same for the next few day’s, arrive at the border, wait at the cafe, drink tea, speak to many other people but get refused at 5pm each day, Friday the border is always closed so by Sunday, Christmas day, we leave Rafah. Ashraf and Abdullah had eventually been allowed entry by Saturday evening

We need to return to Cairo to see the Egyptian authorities  so Christmas day 2011 we spend in a shared taxi with 6 other people and a 5 hour trip back to Cairo, we have chicken shawarma on the side of the road for christmas dinner and book in to our little hostel near Tahrir again.

We spend the next few day in Cairo trying to find the correct offices and individuals to sort out the paperwork but without much luck. We head to the Irish embassy who are  extremely helpful and they get us sorted but things are now moving very very slowly in Egypt since the revolution and we end up staying for over 3 weeks in Cairo until we finally get the paperwork we HOPE will allow us to cross.

We spend our time in Cairo chatting to people about the Revolution, playing and talking to the street children or visiting Tahrir square, we were lucky enough to be in Tahrir square on January 25th , the anniversary of the revolution ( we also managed to do the touristy bit and visit the Egyptian Museum)  until finally  Saturday 28th January 2012 we head off again towards Rafah

We arrive to see the same crooks and bandits as the last time offering dollars sheckles and of course to bring you in through the tunnels at ludicrous rates,thankfully they recognised us and didn’t bother us.

This time we meet  Sven from the Icelandic Palestine association and a Palestinian lady and her german husband trying to get in to register their marriage in Gaza. Surprisingly, we don’t actually get delayed too long this time and get through the first gate pretty quickly. We arrive at the travel hall where we sit with many others for the next few hours,,,,,,,, passports get stamped, departure tax is paid, obligatory bus tickets for the less than one minute bus ride is paid, short trip to the other side and we are in………,

Question answered , WE WANT OUR BOAT BACK……

Children run in a marathon organized by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip on 5 May 2011

8 December 2011 –

Posted by Kev

Of the 27 human rights defenders captured during Israel’s illegal takeover of the Freedom Waves to Gaza vessels on Friday, 4 November, 20 remain in Givon prison and the whereabouts of one is unknown.

Israeli officials have been claiming that all 27 people aboard the MV Saoirse and the MV Tahrir have been released or are awaiting deportation. This is not true. Irish Ship to Gaza can confirm that six people have been released or deported. These are Majd Kayyal (Palestinian from Haifa), Lina Attalah (Journalist from Egypt), Casey James (Journalist from the US), Aimane Zoubir (Journalist from Morocco), Captain George Klontzas (Greece) and Captain Zacharias Stylianakis. No Irish citizens have been released or deported.

The whereabouts of British journalist, Hassan Ghani of PressTV is unknown. On Saturday prison authorities told lawyers that Hassan was not at the prison, yet we know that he has not yet been released. Freedom Waves organisers demand that the Israeli authorities reveal where Hassan Ghani is being held, and that he be allowed access to a lawyer.

The Israeli authorities have tried to pressure the human rights defenders that remain in Israeli prison to sign a voluntary deportation agreement (waiver of right to see a judge) in order to be deported immediately. All of the Irish abductees refused to sign, not because they want to come before an Israeli judge, but rather because the waiver states that they came to Israel voluntarily and entered the country illegally, which is patently untrue in light of the fact that Israeli naval ships violently seized the Saoirse and Tahrir, and forcibly transported them and all on board to Ashdod. Israeli authorities have ignored requests by the group’s lawyer to deport the activists immediately without having to sign a form that contains falsities meant to absolve Israel of responsibility for illegal abduction of foreign nationals in international waters.

Because they have refused to sign the waiver, they will according to Israeli law be detained for 72 hours and then brought before an immigration judge, who will rubberstamp the deportation order. After this mock legal process, deportation will commence. For the first 24 hours of their abduction, none of the activists, crew, or journalists, were allowed to call a lawyer or family members. On Sunday, a few were able to make one one-minute phone call.

NOTE: Various accounts from prisoners have come out contradicting Israel’s claim of a peaceful takeover of the boats. Some activists were tasered and beaten, and at least one of the captains abused during interrogation. For some of the accounts that we have been able to obtain, please see: www.tahrir.ca andwww.irishshiptogaza.org.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

Laurence Davis 086 360 5053

Claudia Saba 086 393 8821

6Nov2011

– call received directly from Israeli prison

Posted by Kev.

News from embassy officals in Tel Aviv. The Irish passengers are dissappointed but not surprised at Israel’s actions and are in good spirits. An Irish embassy offical visited them last night at the port and today (Saturday) at the immigration dentention centre in Ramle. They are refusing to sign the deportation waiver so there is a stay on their dentention for the standard 72 hours. The embassy expects them to be released early on Tuesday morning, possibly around 3am/4am, when the deportation order will come into effect. As Saturday is Sabbat, there are no immigration officals at work so it will be Sunday before they begin to book flights. It is unlikely that they will return on same flight. There is no issues or delays with access for consular officials during normal visiting hours. The officals will visit them on Sunday and also on Monday. They are expected to be in tranist from the detention centre to the airport on Monday There was no violence by the Israelis this time towards the passangers when the ship was boarded. They refused to leave the ship when it docked at Ashdod until the Irish embassy rep. I spoke to was there.

Posted by Kev. No Comments