CAIRO: The Palestinian Scholars Association in Gaza appealed to the Egyptian government on Friday to allow the delegation of “scholars abroad” to enter the Gaza Strip. Neseem Yassin, the Secretary of the association, called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the government to allow the scholars to enter Gaza like other foreign delegations have been in recent months. They said in a statement that the Egyptian government must allow peaceful delegations to cross into Gaza in order to renew contact and create a better mode of communication with the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the impoverished Mediterranean strip of land. “The Scholars must have the priority and they should freely enter the strip , because they are the ones who can direct the nation and they are asked to see closely what is happening in the Strip and the quantity of destruction ” said Yassin in the statement. “The Scholars have only come here to share the grief of the Palestinian people and contribute to breaking the unjust siege on Gaza. However, the Egyptian authorities at the border crossings blocked the Scholars way into Gaza and that led them to develop their own space in sit-ins tents on Egyptian soil,” added Yassin. Gaza has been under an Israeli economic blockade since Hamas took complete control of the area in June 2007. Israel believes the seige will weaken the Islamic party's clout over Palestinians. Instead, the economic situation has greatly deteriorated since then, as food and essential goods have been unable to enter Gaza and has left Palestinians struggling to make ends meet, development groups have repeatedly said. Yassin called on Egyptian, Arab and Islamic Scholars to participate in the sit-in on the border as a sign of support and solidarity. The Egyptian authorities have banned the delegation for the fourth consecutive day from entering the Gaza Strip for “solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the statement read. The association confirmed in the statement that the Egyptian authorities prevented the delegation of scholars, from entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Border Crossing since last Thursday and they still haven’t allowed them in until Sunday, the statement noted, adding that more procedures are being required by the Egyptian government to allow them to cross. The delegation said it is considering their next moves in order to enter Gaza. “The delegation was heading to Gaza to ‘break the siege imposed on the Strip's steadfast people,' affirming the determination of the delegation to enter into Gaza and break the siege, and expressed surprise at this situation from Egypt,” the statemen continued. **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
