Egypt Refuses Entry to Top Palestinian Leader, Deports Him to Jordan

Egypt’ Cairo airport security denied the Palestinian Fatah Central Committee chairman Jebreil Al-Rajoub entry to Egypt. He was deported promptly from the airport and boarded a flight back to Jordan.

Rajoub was coming to Egypt to attend an Arab League conference on extremism. However, he was informed upon his arrival to the airport that he is not allowed to enter the country.

None of the Egyptian authorities released a clarification statement. Al-Rajoub told Agence France Presse that Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports was waiting for him in the airport to head to Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm Al-Sheikh to attend the conference.

Consequently, Palestinian Minister of Justice and the entire Palestinian delegation had to withdraw from the conference in protest to what happened to the Fatah leader.

Al-Rajoub was officially invited by the Arab League to attend the conference. However, he was told that the decision came from Egyptian intelligence agencies, and all the attempts of the Arab League to allow his entrance were futile.

Tension reportedly erupted between Egypt and Fatah after the former hosted a conference in Cairo that was organized by sacked Fatah member Mohamed Dahlan.

Dahlan was dismissed in 2011 from Fatah over corruption allegations.