Bahraini MPs leave Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing after refusing to use Israeli-controlled terminal

Date: 11 / 02 / 2008 Time: 14:44
Gaza – Ma'an –

A group of Bahraini lawmakers has left the Gaza Strip into Egypt on Monday through the Rafah border crossing after refusing to leave through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

A Bahraini royal delegation landed in Cairo on Sunday on a mission to negotiate the passage of the Bahraini officials out of the Gaza Strip, Bahraini lawmaker Nasser Al-Faddala said.

Sources in Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, said that "great pressures have been exerted on the Egyptians to avoid opening the Rafah crossing."

The Bahraini officials had traveled to Gaza over a week ago to gather facts on the situation in the hermetically-sealed territory. They pledged to help lift the Israeli siege and to support Gaza with economic aid. After Egyptian authorities resealed the Rafah border, the Bahrainis were told to leave through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

"We will not leave Gaza except through a crossing controlled by Egyptian and Palestinian authorities; we will not leave through a crossing under control of the Israeli enemy," Al-Faddala told Ma'an on Sunday.

Bahraini delegation leaves Gaza via Rafah crossing

[ 11/02/2008 - 05:35 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Egyptian authorities on Monday allowed the Bahraini delegation led by MP Nasser Al-Fadala to leave Gaza via Rafah crossing after one week of being stranded there, Palestinian sources said.

The three-member team toured a number of Palestinian institutions in the Strip and met with many officials and public figures to get acquainted with the conditions in the besieged Strip.

The delegates could not get out of the Strip after the Egyptian authorities closed down the border terminal and did not allow them to leave.

Intensified contacts were made between the two countries. The delegates refused to return to Egypt via Israeli-controlled Karm Abu Salem crossing.

A Bahraini responsible source revealed that the Bahraini King Hamad Bin Issa had personally intervened to solve the problem.

The King sent a private jet to ferry back the delegates, who had carried with them relief material to the beleaguered Gaza inhabitants, along with a security team that went to Cairo to coordinate the departure of those delegates.

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