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Bahrainis stuck in Gaza plea to be allowed out |
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Written by News Editor
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Friday, 08 February 2008 |
Lebanon news, Lebanese radio
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Beirut
A Bahraini delegation trapped in the Gaza Strip for almost a week after Hamas and Egyptian officials resealed border barriers blown open by militants appealed on Friday to be allowed home.
"We came to Gaza on the Thursday before last to provide aid to the Palestinian people and since Tuesday we have been trying to return via the Salaheddin crossing," group leader MP Nasser al-Fadallah told AFP.
The crossing was opened by Palestinian militants who bombed large sections of the barrier between Egypt and Gaza on January 23 after a nearly week-long Israeli lockdown of the impoverished territory.
But the border was resealed on Sunday and the delegation has been refused permission to return to Egypt.
"Yesterday they told us that following instructions from the Egyptian president there would be security coordination for us to return, but after waiting at the border for three hours they did not let us out," Fadallah said.
He said he has a diplomatic passport and has been in contact with Bahrain's foreign ministry and its embassy in Cairo.
"We do not know who is hindering our return and we do not want to accuse anyone," he added.
After the Islamist Hamas movement violently seized power in June 2007 Israel closed the Gaza Strip off to all but vital humanitarian aid in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.
The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt -- the only formal entry point to the territory not operated by Israel -- has been opened only a few times since Hamas took power. |
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