Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
1. Ibrahim Youssri Sayed Hussein, on behalf of himself and counsel for the plaintiffs.
Mahmoud Reda Al Khodeiry
2. George Ishaq
3. Abdel-Galil Mostafa
4. Hamdeen Sabahi, MP
5. Saad Abboud, MP
6. Hamdy Kandil
7. Ibrhim Mostafa Zahran
……………………………….
and a class of nearly 300 plaintiffs, and ……………………….
1. Abbas Ali UK
2. David Paul Sowder US
3. Dennis DuVall US
4. Elfi Padovan German
5. Ellen Anne Rosser US
6. Ellen M Graves US
7. Gael Ruth Murphy US
8. Gehan Fahima Abdel-Hafiz US
9. Gunter Wimmer German
10. Hedy Epstein US
11. John Porter UK
12. Judethe Ann Allen US
13. Kenneth Robert Imrie UK
14. Louana Bourke Irish
15. Marie Ponchelet France
16. Medea Susan Benjami US
17. Michael Joseph Napier UK
18. Omair Manzour UK
19. Patricia Paki Wieland US
20. Priscilla Lynch US
21. Ruth Fergusson Hooke US
22. Thomas Gerrard McVitte UK
23. Tighe Dennis Barry US
24. Warren Allan Biggs UK
25. Yvonne Anne Ridley UK
Plaintiffs,
V.
The construction of the barrier steel wall along the Egyptian-Gaza border stretch
represents a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights (that is not
only limited to the people of Gaza, but also to Egyptians and to all human beings
regardless of their nationalities, including non conformity with:
The den Hague Rules of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and
precedents serving as standards in the international law that had been endorsed by the
precedents in the International Court of Justice in den Hague regarding the separation
wall erected by Israel to separate their forced predesignated borders from the occupied
Palestinian areas, particularly as regards the following rights:
The right to food: Israel is committed to providing the occupied territories with food,
water, medicines, and means of medical treatment, in accordance with Article 55 of the
Fourth Geneva Convention. None the less, Gaza is it perpetually continues to keep
Gaza under-siege and bars the entry of such aid, even the aid sent from foreign
countries.
This right is also stated unambiguously in Articles 11, 24, and 27 of the UN International
Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Articles 12 and 25 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The right for ownership: The construction of the Egyptian Wall violates the right to
property ownership, as enshrined in Article 46 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and
Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Agricultural land adjacent to
the Wall will be harmed, where and groundwater reservoir used for irrigation will be
polluted. The International Court of Justice ruled that the erection of the Israeli Barrier
wall could not justified under pretexts of security or military necessities
There are apparent there signs of landslides that started to show on the course of
drilling (digging) of the steel wall on the Egyptian side of the borders with the besieged
Gaza Strip.
In this connection, we refer to what eye witnesses reported about a virtual collapse of
the drainage wells in the area north of Salah Elddin Gate after the drilling equipment
has reached that section. A preliminary trench had been dug to continue the
construction work of the barrier wall to stop activities in the underground tunnels across
the border, but work came to an abrupt stand still in that region, according to local
eyewitnesses report.
The locals also pointed to the existence of a marked landslide in an area few meters
away from a housing block. Northern Sinai local government bodies had surveyed the
block to have an initial inventory of existing buildings just a week before.
It has been reported by the Palestinian “Alquds” (Jerusalem) newspaper that the
construction of the wall is, in effect, a resemblance of the water traps dug underground
by Israeli occupation on the eastern and northern Gaza borders, and thus constitutes an
additional blockade of water resources on the Gaza Strip. It had been also reported that
the underground reservoir on the southern border of the Gaza Strip is a common and
overlaps, and mitigates across the border with the Egyptian neighboring one. In
consequence, the wall is in essence an artificial barrier that had been politically
motivated and would have grave environmental impact on the constant and
unhampered flow of water. Noteworthy here is the fact that the steel wall will reach a
depth of 30 meters underground.
Experts also note that the underground reservoir (aquifer) will also be vulnerable to
seepage of saline sea water as a direct result of the erosions and dislocations in the
rocks at the bottom of the aquifer resulting from deep intrusion of iron sheathings.
Experts emphasized that projects implemented in this manner are not advisable and
certainly have significantly adverse environmental impact. In addition, Palestinians will
resort to deeper digging. In practice, this would be impossible in most of the border’s
areas owing to the presence of ground water at such depths. Beyond any doubt,
establishment of such a wall would affect the quality of ground water, in both medium
and long foreseen terms. Contamination becomes omnipotent because of the ease of
transport of pollutants into the aquifer as a result of the disturbance in the soil and the
inadvertent lack of its cohesion. Noteworthy here, the corrosion of the wall is eminent,
specifically, owing to the wet and damp environment and that will lead to diffusion of
heavy metal ions and pollution of the underground aquifer.
Environmental experts, all around, have vocally called for an immediate intervention to
protect the aquifer in Gaza from further deterioration and additional pollution.
It is also worth mentioning here that the Israeli occupation, few years ago, announced a
public tender for the construction of a canal (channel) or a ditch along the border
between occupied Rafah and the Egyptian section of Rafah that would has been
supposedly filled with seawater and ranging between 50 meters and 100 meters width,
and a 10 meters to 15 meters depth. However, this project had been shelved at the time
on grounds of practical obstacles and handicaps, as well as the strong Egyptian
objections.
The right to freedom of movement. This barrier wall violates the right of the
Palestinians, the Egyptians, and citizens of other nationalities in movement that has
been provided for in Article 13-1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
Article 12-3 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The right to asylum: The right to asylum is regulated by the framework of the United
Nations conventions on refugees, including:
1. The ostensible Egyptian blockade of Gaza and the closure of the Rafah’s crossing is
contrary to profound principles affirmed in the preamble to our Constitution of the
land, which states in its first article that: “Peace based on justice and that political
and social progress for all people cannot be carried out unless those people are free
and at its own independent will, and that any civilization cannot be worthy of its
name unless it is free from exploitation whatever its form.''
2. The siege of Gaza is also contrary to our Arabic commitments and obligations that
had been affirmed in paragraph II of the preamble to the Constitution that stipulate:
“With certitude, our Arab nation recognizes that the Arab unity is a call emanating
from our history and a call to our future, a necessity to our fate, and can only be
achieved in the protection of an Arab nation that is capable of warding off any threat,
whatever its source and whatever its proclaimed allegations”.
3. It is enshrined in the Preamble to our Constitution, in its fourth article, the
significance of Egyptian people entitlement to freedom and pride and how that is
paramount to development and commensurate with the high ideals to be espoused.
So, the restrictions ostensibly imposed and the Closure of the Rafah’s Border
Crossing represents a derogatory assault on the freedom and pride of the Egyptian
citizenry.
4. The decisions to close the Rafah’s Crossing are at variance with stipulations of
Article I of the Constitution that: “Egyptian people are part of the Arab nation and
they work for the realization of aspirations for its comprehensive unity. Hereby are
the resolutions of the closure of the Rafah’s Crossing are at clear and candid odds
with our Arabic commitments encompassing efforts to realize comprehensive Arab
unity”
5. Article 50 of the Constitution states that: “It is reprehensive to prohibit or deny any
citizen entitlement to reside in any specific location or be mandated to reside in a
particular place, except in cases specifically stipulated in the law.”
According to Article 51 of the Constitution, Such rights and entitlements are
breached by decisions of closure of the Rafah’s Crossing that are, in consequence,
resulting in the deprivation of an Egyptian citizen, who happens to be visiting the
Gaza Strip, from his return to Egypt for indefinite prolonged durations and subject
him to bureaucratic banning restrictions denying him of his constitutional right for
return, and leave him subjected to consequential material and moral losses
6. The closure of the crossing and the persistent siege of Gaza breach the explicit
commitments set forth in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Egypt is
a signatory and had already after being ratified become an integral part of the
national legislation, according to Article 151 of the Egyptian Constitution.
a. Article 2 of the Covenant provides that “the State shall respect the rights of all
individuals residing on its land, without any discrimination as to race, color,
sex, language, religion, political or nonpolitical opinions, national or social
origin, wealth, social background, or any other reasons.''
b. Article 12 of the Covenant prohibits imposition of restrictions on the right to
liberty of movement and freedom for choice of residence, or the freedom to
leave any country including his own. No one shall be deprived arbitrarily of
the right to enter his own country. Such obligations apply to the State of Egypt
in the case of an Egyptian who wishes to enter the Gaza Strip or return from.
By the same token, it also applies in the case of the Palestinians stranded at
the Egyptian borders and deprived entry to Gaza.
7. The law provides rules of entry and exit to Egyptians and other nationals, whereby
such regulations apply uniformly to all air and seaports. The law does not justify
arbitrary application of the rules. Whatever applies to the Cairo Airport, Sharm El
Sheikh Airport, Salloum Border Crossing, and several border crossings with Sudan
should also apply to the Rafah’s Crossing. It is not justifiable to invoke arguments
and pretexts citing security consideration to single out a certain border crossing for
arbitrary and precarious aggravations, for the security system is one and indivisible
one, and certainly this is a universally acknowledged security rule.
8. Israel, on previous occasions, has tried before to change the name of its rigorous
network of barrier walls in the West Bank from a security wall to an anti-terror wall. In
this connection, the Egyptian authorities resort to name of the steel wall as
engineering constructions is inconceivable. Whatever the alleged name given, it
does not change the fact that a steel barrier is being erected between Egypt and
Gaza
CNCLUDING REMARKS
Ibrahim Youssri
By: _________________________
Ibrahim Youssri Sayed Hussein
Attorney for Plaintiffs