Palestinians stranded in Egypt humiliated

Palestinians stranded in Egypt because of the closure of the Rafah crossing fall victim to unprecedented humiliation at the hands of Egyptian authorities, Felesteen newspaper reported yesterday.

Travelling through Egypt is “hell” due to the time it takes to get to the crossing from Cairo International Airport by road, some of the travellers said. As the crossing is closed, Palestinians are forced to stay in old and badly ventilated rooms awaiting access to the border and the opportunity to return home.

Often, they are banned from leaving the building even to buy food.

A Palestinian who has experienced life in Egypt while waiting for the border to open told MEMO: “It was an old room, which could’ve been built 100 years ago, very close to the airstrip of the Cairo International Airport. It was full of insects, mainly large mosquitoes. One bite caused three-days of suffering.”

“We begged them [the security officers] to let us sit outside under direct sunlight for a while. They allowed us only about one hour each Friday.”

He added: “They bring us food only once a day and the meal consisted of halva and bread, which we do not feed to animals in Gaza. When we ask for more food, the security officer asked the cleaners to buy us some they would then charge us the price of ten meals.”

In addition to this, he explained, there was no access to clean water and the mattresses and toilets were “very dirty”.

Following his experience, he decided not to travel through Rafah until a new president is in charge, one who respects Palestinians.