Amman - Hundreds of Jordanian trade unionists staged a sit-in before the Egyptian embassy Wednesday to press for the re-opening of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and for lifting the blockade imposed on the Palestinian people there by Israeli troops.

The demonstrators chanted slogans and raised placards urging the Egyptian government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory and permit the sick to cross the border for treatment.

They also called on Arab governments and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "to give priority to the lifting of the Gaza siege", in implementation of a decision taken in this respect recently by Arab foreign ministers.

The demonstrators also called on the feuding Palestinian groups - Fatah and Hamas - to "put their differences aside and to focus on challenges facing the Palestinian people".

The participants handed over to the Egyptian embassy a message addressed to the Cairo government that appealed for an immediate re- opening of the Rafah crossing.

In a related development, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, on Wednesday sent a message to 16 Arab leaders through Arab embassies in Amman, urging them "to give a hand to the besieged Palestinian people", according to an IAF statement. (dpa)