Top FATAH official denied entry into Egypt, deported to Jordan

Jibril al Rajoub, a confidant of Palestinian antocrat Mahmoud Abbas - PMW

 

Jibril al Rajoub, an official in autocrat Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, was not allowed entry into Egypt and detained at Cairo Int’l Airport until deported on first flight to Jordan.

By REUTERS

 

CAIRO – Egyptian airport security denied entry to a senior Palestinian official on Monday and deported him, sources at Cairo airport said.

Fatah official Jibril al Rajoub (L), at event commemorating Arafat awards plaques with map of “Palestine” erasing Israel – Photo source: PMW

Jibril al Rajoub, a confidant of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a high-ranking member of the central committee of Abbas’s Fatah movement, was told he was on a no-entry list and put on a flight to Jordan, the sources said.

The sources gave no other reason for the deportation of Rajoub, a former security chief in the Palestinian Authority who now heads its Higher Council for Youth and Sports and the Palestinian Football Association.

Monir al Jaghoub, a Fatah official in the West Bank, said on his Facebook page that Rajoub had been invited by the Arab League to attend a conference in Cairo on terrorism.

RELATED:

After learning that Rajoub had been refused entry to the country on the orders of the Egyptian intelligence services, the Palestinian delegation withdrew from the event, Jaghoub wrote.

Neither Egypt’s foreign ministry nor Rajoub could be reached for comment.

Fatah is the largest faction in the Palestinian Authority, which under interim peace accords with Israel exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank.

The Egyptian government has generally had better relations with Fatah than with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip.

 

View original The Jerusalem Post publication at:
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Egypt-deports-top-Palestinian-official-on-arrival-at-Cairo-airport-482805