Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Too bad, so sad. Sit there, sisters.

Irish woman, daughter caught in Gaza after Egypt seals border.

"Admit they came in illegally, but want to come back in legally."

An Irish woman and her daughter who sneaked into Gaza across a breached border were stuck in the territory Wednesday, unable to cross back into Egypt. The pair had distributed $11,270 among needy Gazans and wanted to return to Egypt late Tuesday, but they were stopped by Egyptian border guards. Treasa Ni Cheannabhain, 56, said she entered Gaza on Saturday, more than a week after Hamas militants knocked down the border wall separating Gaza and Egypt. As hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded into Egypt, Cheannabhain used the opportunity to sneak into Gaza with her 19-year-old daughter to distribute money to Gazans.

Cheannabhain is married to an Egyptian physician, and her daughter, Naisrin el-Safty, is an Egyptian national, she said. "I admitted I entered illegally, but we want to come back in legally," Cheannabhain said in a telephone interview from the Gazan border town of Rafah.

About the lovely Treasa and her daughter:

They are card carrying members of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. And are also supporters of the "Hands off the People of Iraq" movement.

Charming, no?

I smell a PR stunt.