News | Sunday, 25 January 2009

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To Gaza with 56 boxes… back with her brother

Karl Schembri
Sanaa El Nahhal, the Maltese-Palestinian who went to Gaza with 56 boxes of donations from Malta last Sunday, will return today on a flight from Cairo at around 2pm after being held by Egyptian police at the Rafah Crossing for three days. And her brother will join her later this week as the Maltese government will be issuing him with a visa.
Released at around 3.05pm Friday following intensive diplomatic talks from the Maltese Ambassador in Egypt, Giovanni Miceli, Sanaa managed to get into Gaza last Tuesday with her Palestinian passport after a long day held at the border.
Contacted yesterday afternoon in Cairo, where she was accompanied by her brother Samir, El Nahhal was crying with joy at the Maltese Embassy where, after meeting the ambassador, she confirmed that a visa will be issued for him too.
“I’m really happy today because Samir will be joining me in Malta soon,” she said. “I really wish to thank the Maltese ambassador for all the help. I’m so grateful to be returning back and to know that my brother will be coming too.”
Ambassador Miceli confirmed that a tourist visa will be issued this week so that he could travel to Malta, probably by Thursday.
Samir is a medical doctor who graduated in Romania but gave up a career abroad to return to Gaza. For more than four years, he could not get out and this will be his first trip abroad since his return.
Sanaa was reunited with her family in Gaza after four years. Only 15 boxes with medical aid were allowed in; the rest are stored in a garage of her relatives living on the Egyptian side of Rafah.
MaltaToday followed Sanaa until the border, but was refused entry into Gaza with her.
Describing her ordeal at the border crossing back into Egypt, Sanaa said: “I passed through the Palestinian side with no problems at all since most of the Palestinians that work there are related to me. However, when I arrived to the Egyptian side, I had the biggest surprise of the entire trip, one that I wouldn’t forget as long as I live. I was treated very badly and felt that I was not a human being. I was given no chance to talk and explain my situation. They only talked to people that they knew about from before, but the normal people like me were treated like they were nothing at all. No one wanted to listen to me. They sent me back to the bus in an arrogant way. They threw the two passports (Maltese and Palestinian) on the floor and I had to bend and pick them up. I got out of the bus again with an attempt to talk to them one more time but they refused and shouted.
“I returned to my family late that night. I will never in my whole life forget the humiliation I went through that day. It felt like I died a 1,000 times. My family tried to comfort me instead of me trying to comfort them. They stood by me while I was supposed to be the one standing by them and supporting them. I don’t know how I slept that night. I was very worried.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egyptair and Medavia’s director Abdulrazeeg Zmirli supported El Nahhal in getting her cargo to Rafah.

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