Egypt's Crackdown on the Global March to Gaza
Instead of receiving permission from Egyptian authorities to march to the Rafah border crossing, participants have been subject to hotel raids, harassment, arrests, and deportations.
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CAIRO, EGYPT—On Friday, some 200 participants in the Global March to Gaza were stopped at a security checkpoint outside of Cairo, Egypt as they made their way to Ismailia, a city on the Suez Canal 80 miles east of Cairo. After being held at the checkpoint for several hours and having their passports temporarily confiscated, marchers were physically dragged onto buses back to Cairo by plainclothes security officials. Other participants who separately managed to reach the hotel in Ismailia were similarly rounded up, some beaten and forced onto buses back to Cairo.
Egyptian authorities are cracking down on hundreds of international activists who arrived in the country to take part in a planned march to the Rafah border crossing and call for an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza.
The grassroots movement, called the Global March to Gaza, made repeated requests for permission at Egyptian embassies abroad in the days and weeks leading up to the planned action to cross into Sinai and gather in al-Arish for the march. But, according to organizers, Egypt has refused authorization and participants from 80 countries arriving in Cairo this week have instead been subject to hotel raids, harassment, arrests, and deportations.
The group in Ismailia was planning to gather at a hotel to “assess the situation and discuss how to proceed” absent authorization from Egyptian authorities, Melanie Schweizer, a German lawyer and lead organizer of the march told Drop Site. Video from the site shows a chaotic scene with water bottles and objects being thrown at the crowd by what participants can be heard describing as government “thugs.”
“We were transparent from the beginning,” Schweizer told Drop Site. “We requested meetings with Egyptian officials, submitted documentation, and were even thanked by diplomats in Germany for our efforts. Now we’re being treated like a threat.”
In parallel with protesters flying into Cairo, a convoy of thousands set off over land from Algeria earlier this week, passing through Tunisia and western Libya and gathering people along the way. The “Sumoud” convoy—convoy of Steadfastness—aimed to reach Egypt by June 15 to join the Global March to Gaza but was stopped in the city of Sirte on June 12 by authorities governing eastern Libya.
The planned demonstrations—with upwards of 3,000 taking part in the march—would be among the largest actions attempting to break the siege on Gaza. This week, the Freedom Flotilla, a boat carrying activists and aid en route to Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea, was intercepted by the Israeli navy and taken to the port of Ashdod where participants were detained and some subsequently deported.
Egyptian authorities have stated their actions this week are driven by legal and security concerns, despite the country’s history of extreme political repression. “They came on tourist visas, not humanitarian or diplomatic missions,” said Tamer El Shihawy, a retired military intelligence officer and former member of the Egyptian parliament. “When they said they were here for a march, that violated their visa terms. This would not be allowed in the UK or U.S. either.”
El Shihawy also cited instability in Sinai—where a low-level insurgency by local militants was waged for years—as justification for blocking the convoy. “Letting thousands of unknown people cross the Sinai—one of the most sensitive and militarized zones in the region—is a red line,” he said. “We don’t know who they are, what they’re carrying, or what ideology they may have. This is a matter of national security.”
Egypt remains tethered to the 1979 Camp David Accords—which form the bedrock of its relationship with the United States. It is the second largest recipient of US military aid in the world after Israel. For years, Egypt, the only country other than Israel to share a border with Gaza, has coordinated with Israel on security and helped enforce the blockade on the territory. After Abdel Fattah El-Sisi came to power in 2013, Egyptian authorities also destroyed the tunnels that provided a lifeline to Gaza, and have allowed Israeli drones, helicopters and warplanes to carry out a covert air campaign in Sinai.
Over the past few months, the international outcry over Israel’s brutal siege and relentless bombardment of Gaza has grown. A full-spectrum blockade by Israel starting on March 2 brought the entire population of Gaza to the brink of starvation and famine. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new group backed by the U.S. and Israel that set up a few “aid distribution hubs” in remote parts of Gaza in late May, has been accused by the UN and international organizations of weaponizing aid. Occupation forces have shot at Palestinians at or near the aid hubs on a near daily basis, with over 270 killed in what the Gaza health ministry has labeled “aid massacres.”
Egypt has condemned the ongoing siege of Gaza but has also strictly policed any pro-Palestine demonstrations that are not state-sanctioned. It has arrested 186 people over the past 20 months, with over 100 currently behind bars. With the arrival of hundreds of people to Cairo to take part in a planned march to Rafah, the scale of Egypt’s crackdown has grown. Activists and observers now estimate hundreds of participants have either been detained, questioned, or deported.
“We estimate that between 300 and 400 people have been deported so far—possibly more,” said Ragia Omran, a prominent Egyptian human rights lawyer. “Many were stopped at the airport or taken from their hotels. Two full flights have been turned back. Those affected include nationals from Spain, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S., Canada, Colombia, Venezuela, South Africa, Norway, and the Netherlands.”
Hotel raids reportedly occurred without warrants. Omran said officers entered with lists of names, searched phones and bags, and escorted guests directly to holding areas in the airport ahead of deportation.
“There’s no legal basis to stop people peacefully driving to a border crossing with humanitarian intent,” she added. “Under international law, Egypt should not be complicit in the siege.”
In response to accusations of complicity in the Gaza siege, El Shihawy, the former MP, was emphatic: “Egypt has done more for Gaza than most. We opened Rafah, negotiated ceasefires, sent tons of aid. But we cannot allow people to walk hundreds of kilometers through a militarized zone. That’s not how states function.”
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on June 11, citing national security and “missing authorizations” as reasons for denying access to Rafah. However, convoy organizers say they had previously received encouragement from Egyptian embassies abroad.
On May 11, Schweizer contacted the Egyptian ambassador in Berlin via email, requesting a meeting. “A week later, I received a call from consular staff inviting her for a conversation. They gave us every impression that they endorsed the mission,” she said.
Egyptian civil society actors—long at the forefront of regional solidarity movements—have largely stayed on the sidelines, fearing a harsher crackdown on domestic activists.
“We anticipated that if Egyptians joined, the march might not be allowed to proceed at all,” said prominent Alexandria-based lawyer and activist Mahienour El-Massry.
Ahmed Douma, a former political prisoner and activist, echoed the point: “Egyptians have been present in spirit, but we made a strategic decision not to physically join the march unless it became clear it wouldn’t jeopardize the convoy.”
Human rights lawyers think Egypt could have managed the situation better. “Egypt missed a chance to stand against the Gaza blockade by detaining peaceful civilians—doctors, students, even Nelson Mandela’s grandson—when it could have set conditions and let them through,” Omran said.
This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
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Egypt, wtf? Sold out to US military. Can't even let this one little march happen. Sad to hear they have jailed Pro-Palestine demonstrators.
Actually if Egypt wanted to ,they could have opened the crossings to get food and supplies in a long time ago