The 17 persons who were mentioned in the ban list included Jordanian nationals, five Britons especially former British MP George Galloway and spokesman for Viva Palestina Zaher Al-Beirawi, in addition to two Turkish survivors of Freedom Flotilla massacre. Egypt's ban list raised the ire of all activists participating in the convoy because it included names of people who do not in any way pose a threat to Egypt's national security. Galloway criticized the Egyptian decision as ridiculous and sad blamed president Hosni Mubarak and for making such "cowardly" decisions as he described. For his part, Ala Barkan, the coordinator of the Jordanian aid mission that participated in Lifeline for Gaza convoy, expressed his deep regret at the Egyptian decision to prevent him and other participants from crossing the Egyptian territories into Gaza.The names of persons who are not participants in the convoy and were not on the list submitted earlier to the Egyptian authorities were also banned from entering Egypt. This confirmed that Egypt had already prepared its ban list before it even received the names of passengers from Viva Palestina. Barkan said he was not surprised at the Egyptian ban, saying that the country which is involved in besieging one and a half million Palestinians in Gaza cannot hesitate to prevent humanitarian activists from helping them. |