Thousands of Egyptians of varying backgrounds demonstrated angrily to protest at Israel's blockade of basic supplies and medicine to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Reem Leila observed the collective response Egypt is watching with mounting alarm as the crisis in the Gaza Strip spills over onto its own territory, part of a nightmare Middle Eastern scenario in which the ever-volatile Palestinian- Israeli conflict gets dangerously out of hand. With Egyptian police deployed along the border at Rafah after it was breached by thousands of Palestinians, President Hosni Mubarak is pulling out the stops to get Israel to ease its restrictions on Gazans, but demonstrations in Cairo and Egypt's other governorates are a reminder that Gaza's suffering continues. The Press Syndicate (PS) on 26 January arranged a sit-in headed by chairman Makram Mohamed Ahmed. At the PS, which unlike previous gatherings did not witness a heavy security presence, Ahmed urged Hamas to end the estrangement between Gaza and the West Bank and to enter into a serious Palestinian national dialogue which would involve all the Palestinian factions with the aim of reuniting the Palestinian people. A statement released by the PS urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume a dialogue between the Fatah and Hamas movements and to unite the Palestinian stance behind a national platform acceptable to the majority of Palestinians. Ahmed also called on Egypt to maintain its position, which rejects the policy of starvation imposed on the Palestinian people and to continue allowing Palestinians to cross the border to secure their basic commodity requirements. "I request demonstrators to conclude the sit-in in an orderly manner after reciting prayers on the souls of the Palestinian martyrs," Ahmed stated. The sit-in, which soon turned into a protest inside the syndicate's main hall, also witnessed a heated verbal exchange between Ahmed and Nour El-Hoda Zaki, a journalist with the Nasserist newspaper Al-Arabi, who objected to the phrasing of the statement, describing it as feeble, lacking significance and failing to condemn Israel. The protest, organised by the syndicate board, was attended by vice- chairman of the board Abdel-Mohsen Salama, head of the liberties committee Mohamed Abdel-Qodous, Salama's deputy Yasser Rizk, and head of the Writers' Union Mohamed Salmawy who urged solidarity with Gaza, saying, "we support the PS in this national cause, and we call on Palestinians in Gaza and Palestine to hold on." The unfolding events in Gaza had a reciprocal reaction in Cairo. More than 2,000 people on 22 January participated in a major demonstration against the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions of millions of Palestinians. The peaceful demonstration was organised by the Egyptian opposition and was held at the headquarters of the Bar Association. Thousands of students from Cairo, Ain Shams, Helwan and Al-Azhar universities staged a demonstration to denounce the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli aggression on Palestinians and what these students defined as the Arabs' weakness in the face of such aggression. Amid a security cordon, demonstrators shouted, "Who strikes Palestine today will strike Cairo tomorrow... Israel won't last... Palestine, your land and your religion are also mine". They also urged for opening the door to jihad to defend Gaza's children and women. Demonstrating students carried banners stating, "Long live Gaza, let's rise together against US Zionism" and hung it on the Cairo University gate. They issued a statement, "Shame on us" and addressed four letters to the Palestinian people living under the siege in Gaza, the Egyptian people and government, and people all over the world. The messages urged the Palestinian people in Gaza to be patient and resist for the sake of their rights and cause, and called on Egyptians to take strong measures to support the Palestinians, to pressure the government to make swift arrangements on what is happening in Gaza and to quickly donate money and launch campaigns to collect donations with which to support the Palestinians in their crisis. They also called for lifting the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, and that American and Israeli products be boycotted. The demonstrators called on people all over the world to reject injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people and to launch international marches "to denounce what the Zionist war was doing to the helpless Palestinians." Hundreds of students gathered at Al-Azhar University campus to express their anger at the Israeli carnage in Gaza and the water and electricity cut-off in the Strip. Egyptian demonstrators criticised the continuous and brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories. They circled the entire campus for more than one hour while security forces cordoned off the area to prevent the demonstrators from getting out onto the streets. They shouted slogans expressing solidarity with Gaza residents and called on Egyptian President Mubarak to expel the Israeli ambassador in Cairo, recall the Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv and stop exporting Egyptian natural gas to Israel. They also called on Arab peoples and governments to quickly send aid to the Palestinian people. Other demonstrations were reported at universities in Kafr Al-Sheikh and Mansoura in the Nile Delta which attracted about 2,000 students apiece. Some students veered off the Gaza track and used the opportunity to call for an end to the authorities' security control over student elections. "It is all part of reform. We want to change student elections by the law," said Ain Shams student Khaled Sultan. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) staged dozens of demonstrations on 25 January in front of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo as well as other governorates, including Gharbiya, Fayoum and Alexandria to demand the blockade on Gaza be lifted. Egyptian police arrested at least 460 members of the opposition MB in an attempt to thwart the demonstration held in protest against Israel's blockade of the Hamas- controlled Gaza Strip. The pro- Palestine demonstration lasted for an hour before security forces arrived to cordon it off. MB and member of parliament Essam Mokhtar described the arrests as "an embarrassment and a disgrace" and called on the authorities to end this "unfair campaign" and immediately release the group's members. "The MB general leader has urged his followers to remain calm during the demonstrations and not to clash with security forces," Mokhtar said, referring to Mohamed Mahdi Akef. Hundreds of MB members took part in a one hour demonstration at the Cairo International Book Fair. Mokhtar said the Brotherhood had managed to move the Al-Azhar protest to the book fair grounds. Al-Khazindar mosque in Shubra witnessed a massive demonstration last week arranged and led by some MB MPs. The protesters called on Arab and Islamic governments to start a jihad and support Hamas. The events in Gaza were felt as far away as the football fields in Ghana, which is currently hosting the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. Against Sudan in a group game, star Egyptian playmaker Mohamed Abu Treika peeled off his jersey after scoring and showed off a T-shirt bearing the script "sympathise with Gaza" in Arabic and English. Abu Treika flashed the shirt after scoring his first goal in view of cameras and millions of spectators throughout the world. The incident prompted the referee to slap Abu Treika with a yellow card for violating FIFA rules which prohibit propagandise religious and political slogans in football, although what was written was more humanitarian than political. The episode drew huge public support that sympathised with the player as well as Palestinians trapped in Gaza. By mid-week, Israel had eased some restrictions on the supply of gasoline to Gaza, perhaps a minor victory of sorts to those most hostile to the Gaza siege.
