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Trapped in Gaza
A young Australian family holidaying in the Middle East has been trapped in Gaza for several weeks.
The family is claiming that the Australian embassy in Cairo is being complacent about arranging their exit from Gaza.
Mr Eyad Elwan entered Gaza on 8 September to visit his sick father. He was accompanied by his wife Janine Galpin and their three young boys, Sayel (5), Adam (2) and Mohammad (now 7 months old).
Mr Eyad Elwan considers himself and his family as hostages.
‘I want to know, would you hold a person against his will? Isn’t he considered as a hostage or a prisoner? Tell us what have we done to get locked in here? For how long? What are you gonna do? We don’t know. That’s the response from the embassy. We don’t know. We did inform you. What did inform me? You are going to lock me for ever? Did you inform me you didn’t have authority at all to let me get out? Am I carrying the Australian passport or not? What did I do? There’s no logic.’
A Foreign affairs spokesperson says that the family was warned of the difficulties of leaving Gaza. She said that the embassy has made numerous representations to the Egyptian authorities on behalf of the family.
But the Second Secretary in the Egyptian embassy in Canberra Ahmad Abu Moussa says that the Austalian authorities have made only one request to arrange the exit of the Elwan family from Gaza. The request was made on the 4th of October.
Wife Janine Galpin cannot believe what’s happning.
‘I’m astounded that Egypt can do this to us and that no one can stop them no one can force them to let Australians out. I can’t believe that we are not allowed out. It’s craziness. We have our lives and we just came here for a holiday and no one told us that we are gonna be stuck here and the border wouldn’t open, I would’ve not come. None of us would’ve come if we knew we weren’t allowed to leave and no one told us we wouldn’t be allowed to leave and they wouldn’t open the border. So it’s like being in the prison and I haven’t done a crime.’
She also says that the situation is affecting her health.
‘It’s a crazy situation and we’re in a place we don’t want to be and we are being held against our will and we just want to come home. When I feel that we are not going to leave I get really, really upset and very, very depressed. I’m hopeful … I think maybe we go tomorrow maybe next week and then every time it doesn’t happen I really get very depressed and very sick. It’s so hard to keep hoping and it’s been going on for weeks and weeks and weeks now.’
Mr Abu Moussa has told our program that the Egyptian authorities are planning to open its border with Gaza on the Rafah crossing between the first to the third of November. Foreigners would be allowed out on the third day.
Story by Ghassan Nakhoul.
Listen to the full story.
28/10/2009
Below: the Elwan family holidaying in Egypt before entering Gaza.
Play MP3
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