On the first anniversary of the Israeli attack on Gaza the leadership of the Jordanian union movement, allied with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, held a 100-strong rallyand sit-in of supporters at the trade union’s head offices in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
The pro-Hamas protestors condemned Egypt for banning the Viva Palestina convoy, led by British MP George Galloway, which is now stranded at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba . The convoy had hoped to enter the Gaza Strip, on the anniversary of the attack on Gaza, via the Rafah crossing in Egypt.
The protest on Sunday attacked not just Israel, but expressed frustration and anger with Egypt, other Arab countries and the Fatah leaders of the Palestinian Authority according to Agence France Press, Deutsche Presse Agentur and the Jordan Times who all carried reports.
Agence France Presse reported that the powerful Jordanian trade union federation had allied itself with the Muslim Brotherhood to stage the Sunday protest.
Union speakers criticised other Arab governments for abetting in the ‘siege’ of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave.
‘The passive attitudes of Arab countries are tantamount to taking part in the siege of the Gaza Strip,’ Abdullah Obeidat, President of the Trade Unions Council, said, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur.
Union president, Abdullah Obeidat, slammed Egypt’s stance on the humanitarian convoy and called for popular pressure in Cairo to force the government to change its position.
“People are coming from around the world to help Gazans and the Egyptian regime is doing everything to abort any help to Gazans,” Obeidat said in a speech at the rally.
Egypt has so far insisted that the 210-truck convoy, manned by 450 activists from 17 countries, had the only option of entering the Gaza Strip from El Arish port, a choice which was considered by activists as ‘practically impossible’ because it would mean going around the Sinai Peninsula and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.
Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement Hammam Said said that the Egyptian regime was ‘contributing in a clear and flagrant manner to the blockade’ of the Gaza Strip.
Calling on the Jordanian government to sever ties with Israel and establish communication channels with Hamas, Said also took a swipe at officials in the Palestinian Authority over the recent killing of activists in the West Bank city of Nablus.
“The men who died in Nablus honour us. [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas should be ashamed of himself over what happened,” said Said, as the crowed shouted “Allahu Akbar [God is Great],” the Jordan Times report says.