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An
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CAIRO,
Aug 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies)- Egyptian members of parliament
(MPs) demanded the immediate closure of El Al offices in Cairo,
following what they describe as the Israeli airline's mistreatment of
Israeli Arab passengers and the marring of Cairo Airport's reputation,
an Israeli news paper reported Saturday, August 10, 2002.
The
MPs are also demanding the prosecution of Israeli security guards at
Cairo Airport and the expulsion of El Al employees from Egypt, the Army
radio in Israel said.
Employees
of Israel's El Al airline clashed with Israeli Arab passengers at Cairo
Airport after an El Al flight took off leaving behind 17 Arab passengers
due to extended security checks.
The
El Al flight to Israel, which was due to take off at 12:30 A.M., was
supposed to have 120 passengers on it, including 60 Israeli Arabs. After
the prolonged security checks were completed, 17 Israeli Arab passengers
were left in the terminal, awaiting more thorough security checks.
The
fight broke out late Thursday, August 8 when Amal Ahmed Aghbariya, an
Arab Israeli, was informed that she was too late to complete boarding
procedures on a flight bound for Tel Aviv, the Egyptian news paper
Al-Gomhuriya reported.
Aghbariya,
who explained she had arrived five hours before departure, was pushed to
the ground by an El Al security agent.
Fellow
Palestinian passengers defended Aghbariya as they shared in the fight
with the security members of El Al, following which 16 of them were
barred from traveling and sent to a hotel to take another flight, the
report said.
The
Arab passengers protested the way they were treated and a violent fight
broke out in the terminal.
The
El Al ticket counter in the airport was damaged in the violence that
erupted.
It
is well known that El Al imposes among the strictest airline security in
the world, and at check-in passengers often spend much time answering
security questions.
An
El Al spokesman said in response that the El Al flight took off from
Cairo without 17 of its passengers "due to security reasons."
The spokesman said that despite the incident, El Al would not ease
security checks it holds prior to its flights.
Other
travelers are obliged to wait in a queue, sometimes for hours, and are
often sent away when it is too late to check in
.
