Palestinians set to prepare an official and popular ceremony to receive Egyptian campaigners who are traveling to Gaza Strip to break the closure of the territory, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday.

Jamal al-Khodary, an independent Palestinian lawmaker who leads a lobby against the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip, representatives of Hamas government in Gaza and lawmakers will join the ceremony to receive the convoy.

The Egyptian convoy made up of parliamentarians, journalists, Islamic and leftist leaders. They will travel by land to Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza and try to enter the Hamas-controlled territory.

But reports said that Egyptian security forces blocked the roads to Sinai before the convoy. The campaigners could pass some roadblocks but the road is still not cleared before the convoy which carry aid, according to the reports...

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday blocked an opposition convoy headed for the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, a security official said. The group of judges, independent MPs, members of the main opposition Muslim Brotherhood and activists from other parties wanted to protest the continued closure of the Rafah crossing by Israel and Egypt.

Police set up checkpoints on the road between Ismailiya and the town of Al-Arish in northern Sinai, about 48 kilometers from Rafah, the security official said, asking not to be identified.

"The authorities have reinforced security measures on ferries crossing the Suez Canal into the Sinai Peninsula," he added...

...Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, said in a statement, emailed to press, "we have been looking forward that such a convoy would help break the Israeli blockade on Gaza"...

British left-wing activist Lauren Booth remains stuck in Strip after journey to 'break' Israeli naval blockade, equates situation to Holocaust, Darfur...