{"id":206745,"date":"2025-06-23T03:57:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T03:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/206745\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T03:57:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T03:57:32","slug":"west-wales-activist-recalls-fear-and-resolve-after-gaza-march-derailed-in-egypt-the-pembrokeshire-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/206745\/","title":{"rendered":"West Wales activist recalls fear and resolve after Gaza march derailed in Egypt \u2013 The Pembrokeshire Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Scott from Mathry describes stressful journey, adapted plans, and Egyptian fears over diplomatic fallout<\/strong><\/p>\n

A PEMBROKESHIRE campaigner who travelled to Egypt this month to join the Global March to Gaza has shared his personal account of a fraught and ultimately curtailed international effort to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians trapped under siege.<\/p>\n

\"\"Travelled to Egypt: Campaigner Jim Scott <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jim Scott, from Mathry near St Davids, was among a small group of UK and Welsh activists who travelled to Cairo with the hope of reaching the Rafah crossing\u2014via Ismailia and the Sinai desert\u2014to hold a peaceful humanitarian presence near Gaza\u2019s border.<\/p>\n

The march, which attracted thousands of participants from more than 54 countries, was intended as a symbolic act calling for the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. But on the ground, Scott says, the effort quickly became complicated by shifting instructions, heavy surveillance, and growing pressure from Egyptian authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cA moral imperative\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent a week wrestling with the decision,\u201d Scott told The Herald. \u201cIt felt like a moral imperative. I didn\u2019t know if I was going or not\u2014then I started planning, and the act of planning became part of the commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He flew to Cairo in early June and connected with other participants via local and international chat groups. At least eight to ten people from Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, including members of CND Cymru, had joined the international delegation.<\/p>\n

Scott said that the original plan\u2014to take organised buses from Cairo to Al Arish and walk approximately 30 miles through the Sinai desert to Rafah\u2014began to shift around June 13 as questions emerged about whether the Egyptian government would permit the action to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bus plan hadn\u2019t disintegrated exactly\u2014it had adapted,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a lot of uncertainty about whether we would be allowed to reach Rafah, so the guidance started to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Changing plans and regional detours<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On June 14, Scott and his travelling companion Jo Barrow\u2014who works as a teacher in Iraq\u2014opted to take an alternate route to Ismailia by heading north from Cairo via Zagazig, avoiding heavily monitored roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realised that taking the main highway would likely bring us into contact with checkpoints,\u201d he said. \u201cOur route wasn\u2019t risk-free, but it was more discreet.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they travelled, group chats lit up with reports of growing interference. \u201cFrom the 13th and 14th onwards, we started hearing that people were being stopped, some had their passports taken, and the situation was getting more difficult. There was fragmentation. People were getting stuck, some were being turned back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo tourists permitted to remain\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After arriving in Ismailia, the pair received location instructions for a tourist resort rumoured to be able to accommodate 4,000 marchers. But confusion and logistical disarray followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reached Ismailia after dark and ended up being redirected from our accommodation,\u201d Scott said. \u201cWe were getting two to three hours of sleep a night. The sense of being watched hadn\u2019t stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next day, while near the resort, Scott and Barrow were approached by police. Initially, the officers were courteous, but then one delivered a translated message using a phone:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI am the Egyptian police. No tourists are permitted to remain in this area. You have to go back to Cairo immediately or you will be arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They complied and were instructed to book a hotel in Cairo to confirm their travel. The pair left Ismailia and returned to the capital, where the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy that point, UK organisers were reportedly being detained in caf\u00e9s, and it was clear downtown Cairo was no longer safe,\u201d Scott recalled. \u201cWe relocated south of the city. It was stressful\u2014people felt they could be arrested at any moment. The surveillance was constant, and hotels were passing information to authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egyptian fears over diplomatic fallout<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Scott said conversations with Egyptian locals offered insight into the government\u2019s motivations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe word on the street from Egyptian people was that the authorities were genuinely fearful for our safety. They felt that if Israel opened fire and foreign nationals were killed, it would trigger a huge diplomatic crisis\u2014and devastate Egypt\u2019s tourism industry, which is vital for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said locals acknowledged that foreign protesters were being treated more gently than Egyptian citizens would have been. \u201cOne said to me: \u2018They treat you like babies compared to how they treat us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Reuters, over 400 activists were deported and dozens more detained. The march was officially cancelled on June 16.<\/p>\n

Scott returned to the UK on June 20. Barrow returned to Iraq the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFar more than a performative action\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the disruption, Scott believes the effort had a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was far more than a performative action,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had no choice but to act and fill a void. When governments fail to uphold international law, ordinary people have to step in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to Pembrokeshire MP Henry Tufnell and Eluned Morgan MS before departing, Scott wrote: \u201cI feel I must act where you have not acted. The UK Government has failed to stop a genocide and has, in fact, been complicit by continuing to authorise arms sales and military cooperation with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

He welcomed Morgan\u2019s later remarks acknowledging that Welsh citizens had travelled to Egypt for the march and said it was important to have that public recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some people watching back home, it wasn\u2019t just another protest. It was their loved ones out there. That helped build awareness in a new way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Scott from Mathry describes stressful journey, adapted plans, and Egyptian fears over diplomatic fallout A PEMBROKESHIRE campaigner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-206745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114730674610195085","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}