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Wed, Nov 03, 2010 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak pictured with a Shield of David on his forehead. And as always... Israel is to blame.

Egypt Continues Restrictions on Entrance of Convoys and Activists

The Egyptian authorities, who recently permitted the Viva Palestina convoy to enter the Gaza Strip, continue supervising the crossing and imposing restrictions on the entrance of activists and convoys into the Gaza Strip. The following reports were received:

— Five Viva Palestina activists were detained by the Egyptian security forces when they left the Gaza Strip for Egypt (after 17 convoy participants had been barred from entering). Among those detained were three members of the Mauritanian Parliament, two European nationals and one Tunisian (Filastin al-‘Aan, October 25, 2010). The reason for their detention is unknown.

— A convoy from North African countries, including Libya, was halted at the Egypt-Libya border and the Egyptian authorities did not permit it to continue. The convoy’s organizers are currently examining the possibility of sailing to the port of El Arish. The convoy is led by a British subject of Libyan descent named Muhammad Hadad, and includes 30 vehicles and 101 activists, including eight who were on the Freedom Fleet flotilla in May 2010. Seven convoy activists were aboard the Mavi Marmara, including Kenneth O’Keefe, a former US Marine (Al-Aqsa TV, October 30; salem-news.com website, October 26; tehranimes.com website, November 1, 2010).

Jordanian Participation in the Flotillas

Freedom Flotilla 2: Wael al-Saqa, chairman of the Jordanian LifeLine committee, said that it would participate in the Freedom Flotilla 2 flotilla (the upgraded flotilla currently being organized by the anti-Israeli coalition and expected to set sail in the spring of 2011). He said that the Jordanian committee would finance a ship at a cost of one million Jordanian dinars (about $1.4 million), which would be one of the 12 ships in the flotilla. He also said that the committee would participate in Viva Palestina’s LifeLine 6, whose sailing date has not yet been determined (Al-Dustour, October 27, 2010). There are many prominent Muslim Brotherhood members among the Jordanian activists.