The initiative, called the Egyptian Sumud Flotilla, was launched on 8 September by Egyptian political parties, professional unions, and civil society groups.
A group of Egyptian activists have launched a new initiative to join in the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), but their participation in the flotilla is dependent on approval by Egyptian authorities.
Called the Egyptian Sumud Flotilla, the initiative was launched on 8 September by the members of a host of Egyptian political parties, professional unions, and civil society organisations.
The members of the initiative have taken a series of measures to participate in the GSF which had set sail from Barcelona, Spain, carrying pro-Palestinian activists, including Greta Thunberg, which has left the Tunisian Mediterranean Port of Sidi Bou Said, ready to head to Gaza.
These measures, the Egyptian activists say, have so far included sending a series of letters to Egyptian authorities, requesting permission to join in the GSF.
“We have asked the authorities to allow us to be part of this global effort to offer support to the people of Gaza,” Hossam Mahmoud, the media spokesperson of the Egyptian Sumud Flotilla, told The New Arab.
“We want them to facilitate our participation, because Egypt needs to be represented in this important campaign,” he added.
The GSF set sail from Spain on 31 August and reached the port of Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia on 7 September.
It wants to break the siege imposed by Israel on the Palestinian territory by offering humanitarian aid to its people.
So far, boats within the flotilla had been the target of two Israeli drone attacks while in Tunisian waters, and viewed by many as an Israeli threat to the activists against advancing to Gaza.
Egyptian participation
Other measures by the initiative also included invitations to professional unions, such as the Journalists Syndicate, the Bar Association and the Medical Association. It also sent invitations for the Grand Imam of al-Azhar and the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church to join in or send representatives, in its bid to broaden the participation base.
This is the first attempt by Egyptians to participate in global people campaigns to aid Gaza which teeters on the brink of an Israeli-imposed famine, after almost two years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that have already left over 64,000 people dead, mostly women and children, and reduced the coastal enclave to a demolition site.
Nevertheless, Egypt has a negative record dealing with solidarity campaigns trying to reach Gaza.
Earlier in June this year, Egyptian authorities denied access to the Sumud Convoy, a land convoy by a North African contingent contributing to the Global March to Gaza, seeking to enter its territory from Libya on the road to Sinai and then Gaza.
Activists participating in this land convoy planned to gather in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, before travelling to al-Arish in Sinai and marching on foot to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
The march faced, however, significant obstacles from Egyptian security forces, with reports of over 200 detentions and approximately 500 foreign activists deported before the march could begin on 12 June.
In seeking official permissions, the Egyptian Sumud Flotilla, this attempt via sea, wants to limit any possible justification for preventing or even arresting its members participating in the GSF.
“We are keen on following the legal channels, because at the end, the flotilla cannot set off towards Gaza without official permissions,” Mahmoud said. “We hope we can join the GSF soon after we get these permissions.”
Mahmoud says his initiative has already received the first fully-equipped boat and that the boat’s crew is ready to join in the GSF, having set the ports of Alexandria and Damietta on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast as starting points for the flotilla’s journey to the coast of Gaza.
In a way, Egypt’s response to the permission requests submitted by the initiative will offer insights into Cairo’s policy on attempts by the local and the international civil society to help in breaking the blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, the members of the initiative said.
“In all cases, official rejection of our request to join in the GSF will give a bad impression about how Egypt views initiatives like this one,” Ziad Bassiouni, a member of the initiative, told TNA.
“However, the authorities will surely have their security considerations for either approving or rejecting our request,” he added.
Sharing a nine-mile border with Gaza, Egypt is a central entry point for aid into the war-shattered coastal enclave.
Its humanitarian aid efforts have recently come under fire from activists who accused it of failing to do enough to aid Gaza’s hungry population. The same activists have staged protests outside Egyptian embassies in several countries.
Cairo countered by accusing Israel, which has been occupying the Gaza side of the border since May last year, of obstructing aid entry.
In a televised address on 28 July, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi referred to around 6,000 trucks loaded with aid and waiting for Israeli permission on the Egyptian side of the border to enter Gaza.
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Tough time
The GSF sets sail to Gaza at a tough time for the Palestinian territory, the region and Egyptian-Israeli relations.
It comes as Israel intensifies its attacks on Gaza City within its plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip and drive its population southward near the Egyptian border.
This Israeli plan is stoking tensions with Egypt, which warned repeatedly against a scenario where hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents would be forced to break into the Egyptian side of the border.
In March this year, the Egyptian president said such a scenario would constitute a flagrant violation of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
How Egypt will react in case hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents break into its side of the border is anybody’s guess.
However, Egyptian fears from such a nightmarish scenario have prompted increased military and security reinforcements along the border with Gaza and in northern Sinai.
Israel’s 9 September airstrikes in Qatar and repeated Israeli strikes in Yemen are also making things worse, raising the stakes in a region that is boiling in violence and crying for an end to this violence.
These fluid conditions also raise speculation about whether Egyptian authorities will allow some of its citizens to set sail to the coast of Gaza.
As a key mediator in Hamas-Israel ceasefire talks, hosting talks in Cairo to secure a ceasefire and manage humanitarian access through Rafah, Egypt faces a difficult situation, especially with domestic and international activism pushing for more open access to Gaza.
Such a push, observers said, puts pressure on Egypt, which maintains strict border controls in coordination with Israel for security reasons.
It could also complicate Egypt’s mediation efforts, potentially straining Egypt’s delicate balancing act between supporting Palestinians and maintaining security agreements with Israel, they added.
“This is why Egyptians participating in such campaigns need to be cautious, lest they should cause problems to their country,” Gen. Ibrahim al-Masri, the head of the Committee on Defence and National Security in the Egyptian parliament, told TNA. “Egypt will not fall silent if its nationals are attacked by the Israeli army if they set sail to Gaza from the Egyptian coast.”
