Despite her young age and small body, she decided to visit the occupied homeland. She endured the difficulties after she had traumatized of Gaza war scenes and the retrieval of martyred children from under the rubble.Israa Ameen Abu Rashid, 11, and the youngest supporter in the European campaign "Gaza Freedom March", narrated to PMC (Palestine Media Center) what happened with her in Egypt. She said: "after the Egyptian government had prevented us from the buses and vehicles that would take us to El-Arish then to Gaza Strip, we decided to go on foot last Thursday. While we were waiting for the rest of the campaign members at Al-Tahrir square, I was surprised that the security forces attacked us. They beat me with sticks and separated between me and my mother, who was being hit on the other side of the street too. An officer tried to take off the Palestinian flag from me, but I stuck to it. He continued beating me. I was so sad that I felt I was not in Egypt; I said to my mother it would be much easier for me if Jews were beating us, because I did not expect this from the Egyptian government."
IMG_8016Israa is originally from Palestine, but she bears a Dutch nationality. Realizing the reason why she has decided to join the campaign, she went on saying:"I have come to Egypt and I am bringing feelings of love to Palestine, and I was missing my family and my country, but Egypt has prohibited me from achieving my dream."
"I felt very happy during the flight from the Netherlands to Cairo, as I would see my homeland for the first time. But I was astonished by the Egyptian security that was harsh with us, even though I knew that the coordinators of the campaign have coordinated with the Egyptian government before months to let us cross into Gaza through Rafah border.", she added.
Israa confirmed that she came to Egypt to cross into Gaza after she had affected by what happened a year ago in Gaza. She pointed out that those heart-breaking scenes of the children under the rubble of destroyed buildings affected her the most.
She said that she would try again to go to Gaza Strip alone after Egyptian authorities had prevented them from traveling to the Gaza Strip with the 1400 supporters from 44 countries, and allowed for only 86 to go to Gaza.
Her father Sheikh Ameen Abu Rashid, General Secretary of the "Europe-Palestinian Forum" said: "There has been coordination with the Egyptian authorities for six months to travel to Gaza. They have showed their consent to let the foreign activists in, but after our presence we were surprised by the prevention decision ".
"The Egyptian security has prevented us from communicating with our people in Gaza. They blocked the buses from taking us to Al-Arish. When we gathered at "Al-Tahrir Square" and decided to travel on foot, we were confronted by severe beating by the Egyptian security without any consideration of women or children." he added.
Ameen believes that Netanyahu's meeting with President Mubarak is the real reason behind the prevention of "Gaza Freedom March" to travel to the Gaza Strip.
Added by PT Editor maysaa jarour
http://www.paltelegraph.com/diaries/
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