Urgent: Natalie stuck on the Egypt-Gaza border

Dear blog readers and followers,

The main contributor of this blog, Natalie Abou Shakra, who is also a member of the International Solidatiry Movement, is now at the Egyptian-Palestinian border, "The Rafah Border". I have just finished talking to her on the phone: She has informed me that the Egyptian authorities are not letting her cross into Egypt, although she is using a foreign passport. They are intending to "punish" her and her comrades for coming into Gaza by boat, although their mission was purely humanitarian. Natalie and her comrades have been on the border for hours now, and the Egyptian authorities are attempting to force them to go back.

Earlier this night, I have received the following SMS from her:

"The Egyptian authorities have been torturing us for days. They refuse to let us out. We are in the Egypt side of the crossing on Egyptian lands. We are not leaving and it might get violent. We have coordination we have approval from ministry of Egyptian foreign affairs."

And later on the following SMS:

"We are staying in the crossing and if they touch us, the embassy is responsible. Tomorrow if not allowed to go out, we will go on a hunger strike and contact free Gaza movement and ISM and all media outlets we know."

It is clear that the Egyptian authorities intend to punish Natalie and her comrades for their solidarity work and standing by the moral and just cause, the Palestinian cause, what they have been doing for the past 7 months in Gaza. This should not be left unnoticed. I will be contacting the relevant embassies and ministries concerned in this issue to expose this abuse. If things remain the same or get worse, I invite you all to spread the word to the media. Non-violent humanitarian activists have the right to receive utomost respect and humane treatment wherever they go. The Egyptian regime should be held accountable for the never-ending violations and abuse.

Updates will follow

Nader