Egypt gives conditions for entry of international Gaza-bound aid

Wed, 06 Oct 2010

Cairo - Egypt said Wednesday that it presented the organizers of a Gaza-bound aid convoy with five conditions for allowing their ship to dock in Egyptian waters and for delivering the aid to Gaza.

The Egyptian ambassador in Syria met with the organizers of Viva Palestina 5 capital of Damascus to lay out Egypt's conditions for the entry of the aid, said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hossam Zaky.

The ambassador informed the activists of measures which should be taken in order to facilitate the ship's docking at the Egyptian port of el-Arish and the subsequent entry of the aid into Gaza over land, Zaky said.

He did not specify what the conditions were.

The Viva Palestina activists, led by British parliament George Galloway, are expected to depart from the Syrian port of Latakia in the coming few days.

Viva Palestina is a group of international activists working to break the siege on the Gaza Strip, and to deliver humanitarian aid to its residents.

Last January, Egyptian security clashed with both Viva Palestina activists as well as Palestinians on the Gaza side of the border after a standoff over allowing the activists and their aid shipment into the Strip.

They were eventually granted entry, but Galloway was told by authorities upon his departure from Egypt that he would not be permitted back into the country.

It is unclear whether Egypt has changed its position regarding allowing the British politician entry into the country.

Egypt and Israel tightened the blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.

The Egyptian government has faced domestic and regional criticism for its partial blockade on Gaza. However, after Israel violently prevented an aid flotilla from reaching Gaza, Egypt lifted some of the restrictions at its Rafah border crossing, allowing entry to Palestinians needing medical attention, and pilgrims.

For its part, Israel maintains an air and naval blockade on the Strip, in addition to tightly controlling the movement of goods in and out of the area via land crossings.

Source: The Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/347501,entry-international-gaza-bound-aid.html.

What next, Viva Palestina?

Stuart Littlewood

January 10, 2010

Mere words cannot express my admiration for Viva Palestina and those who devote their efforts to it. I love the way they shamed – and not for the first time – the great powers and their gutless leaders.

And for his pains the British MP George Galloway has been declared 'persona non grata' in Egypt. How heartbreaking for him.

Given past disagreements, and the stubborn refusal of this latest convoy to be derailed, it was never going to end in hugs and kisses from President Mubarak's henchmen, or fond messages of "Come ye back soon, George."

What really matters is that they delivered the life-saving goods when the armies and navies of the so-called Free World wouldn’t even think about it. And they did it with style in the face of Egypt’s tantrums.

The nervous Egyptian authorities allowed exhausted convoy members only 30 hours inside Gaza to say hello, distribute their aid and take a rest. Sad and wobbly regimes simply cannot handle a few hundred humanitarians so they accuse them of "incitement" and "hostile acts", and throw them out.

Now we hear grumbles from some activists that criticizing Egypt diverts attention from the real culprit. But Israel's evil machinations would find little success without the Egyptian government's co-operation. There should of course be free movement of goods and people through the Gaza/Egypt border. Instead, Mubarak signed up to the US-Israel-EU conspiracy to keep the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip bottled up and helpless to resist what many are calling a slow genocide. In so doing, Egypt joined the worst offenders against international law, the UN Charter and the codes of decent conduct. It is time the spotlight fell on Cairo even if it means momentarily taking it off Tel Aviv and Washington.

Mubarak has slithered even further into the Middle East swamp of iniquity by constructing an iron Death Wall designed to create a hermetic border seal and inflict even more misery on his Muslim bothers and sisters, and the Christian community.

The Egyptian president is certainly not part of any solution. He has become a problem.

As for Mr Galloway, when can we expect to see him receive an official pat on the back for doing what the British government’s poseurs were too cowardly to do: bringing humanitarian aid to trampled people Britain still has a residual responsibility for?

Mr Galloway speaks of more convoys setting out for Gaza from Venezuela, Malaysia and South Africa. But Egypt has just announced that convoys, regardless of their origin, are no longer welcome. Instead, it is introducing a new "mechanism" whereby all aid for Gaza must in future be handed over to the Egyptian Red Crescent as soon as it arrives at the port of El-Arish. It will then be processed and passed on (if you can believe that) to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Nobody trusts the Egyptian authorities to do this in an honest and transparent way. Besides, donors and fund-raisers often have direct links with charitable organizations inside Gaza and the West Bank. They would not wish to see the fruits of their labor and other people's generosity disappear into some distribution 'black hole'.

Britain still blames Hamas for Gaza’s suffering

And what says the British government, which never seems able to get anything right these days?

The Foreign Office’s "clear advice" is against all travel to Gaza. Why, when they should be facilitating travel to Gaza and applying sanctions against anyone who hinders it?

"The suffering of Gazan people is compounded by the violent and irresponsible actions of Hamas," says the Foreign Office. "We are concerned by the recent upsurge in incidents of Hamas confiscating aid and obstructing the efforts of international aid organizations in Gaza." We keep hearing these accusations but never proof. Gaza is on a war footing, under crippling blockade and in continual crisis. Hamas, the de facto government, runs the health service and is almost certainly best placed to know where medical supplies are needed most. Obviously they’ll step in when aid arrives.

Viva Palestina are at least as well informed about the situation in Gaza as the Foreign Office. Would convoy activists really go to so much trouble if Hamas was seizing everything they delivered?

Britain, while eagerly offering the services of the Royal Navy to help Israel stop "smuggling" into Gaza, won’t use its ships to spare the Gazans a slow death from starvation and prevent a public health catastrophe.

It is time our servants Brown and Miliband explained, carefully and logically, exactly what their problem is with Gaza and its democratically elected rulers so that the rest of us can try to understand – if indeed there is anything beneath the layers of pro-Israel 'crapaganda’ worth understanding.

Go by sea

Events now seem to be prodding Viva Palestina to change tack. Perhaps it is too simplistic to suppose that Gaza needs to be sea-fed like any other coastal community. But should humanitarian relief teams continue to seek access by land crossings that are controlled by militarized thugs bent on destroying Gaza’s population and halting any convoy in its tracks?

Deal direct. Surely that must be the aim. And do it in the name of God. A large armada of boats led by a multi-faith alliance demanding freedom of the seas and the right to an armed escort, could be the best vehicle. The United Nations should provide the necessary security arrangements to check the cargoes as they are landed in Gaza.

It would require considerable courage. Whether religious leaders have the balls for it is doubtful, even when the highest moral purpose is being served, but they might surprise us. A sprinkling of politicians could be relied on but the higher echelons know which side their bread is buttered.

Israel, Egypt, the US and the UK might wish to airbrush Mr Galloway out of the picture, but that’s unthinkable. He’ll be nominated for the next Nobel Peace Prize and seen as a million times more deserving than the fraud in the White House.

Yes, the REAL international community – that’s ordinary folk like you and me and Viva Palestina and everyone and his dog around the globe – are finally beginning to assert themselves against the corrupt power freaks that strut the world stage.

Stuart Littlewood
10 January 2010

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=62039&s2=11.

A victory for Viva Palestina

Tue. Jan. 12, 2010

By Eric Ruder

Exactly one month after departing from London on December 6, the Viva Palestina convoy to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza finally reached its destination, crossing in from Egypt with 518 people, 156 vehicles and all the relief supplies it brought.

The day before, with the convoy gathered in El Arish, Egypt, negotiations with Egyptian authorities broke down, and some 100 men in civilian clothes wielding police batons--backed up by hundreds more riot police--were set loose on the convoy, which had been forced to barricade itself in the port area as a defensive measure.

There was a three-hour standoff, followed by a 15-minute bout of brutality unleashed by the Egyptian police. Even the presence of 10 Turkish members of parliament and British member of parliament George Galloway wasn't enough to avert the Egyptian assault.

As Viva Palestina organizer Kevin Ovenden reported via telephone from Gaza:

We had 55 injured, mostly by rocks and broken bricks that the plainclothes men threw and tear gas fired at us by the riot police. Four suffered fractures, and 10 were hospitalized with fairly serious head wounds, one particularly serious. All 10 required sutures. They also arrested six people and held them overnight.

The plainclothes threw sand at people with cameras to sow confusion, and then the police opened up with tear gas and some sort of acidic liquid from what looked like a fire engine. It was entirely premeditated. They had made themselves an arsenal of rocks and bricks, and then opened up on us. But as we retreated, we grabbed one of the riot police and took him with us. That gave us some leverage.

The attack wasn't sufficient to break the resolve of the convoy, and the repression only sparked more media coverage. Meanwhile, the Turkish government began applying some diplomatic pressure, and thousands of Palestinians began protesting on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, demanding that the convoy be allowed in.

Finally, the growing public spotlight on Egypt's collaboration with Israel's inhumane siege of Gaza persuaded Egyptian officials that they should allow the convoy's passage.

When negotiations resumed, Viva organizers demanded the release of the six arrestees, and safe passage of all 518 people and all the humanitarian aid they had brought. The Egyptians barred 43 vehicles from entering Gaza, but Viva organizers arranged to have them shipped to Turkey, where they will be distributed to 43 cities and made the focus of fundraising efforts for Palestine, then ultimately delivered with relief aid to Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon.

The success of the convoy marked a significant victory in ongoing efforts by activists to break Israel's siege, which continues with the blessings of the U.S. and active participation of the Egypt government.

A week earlier, Egyptian authorities stopped some 1,400 people from around the world from getting into Gaza--the group had planned to participate in a planned Gaza Freedom March in Gaza City on December 31. Egyptian police blockaded participants in their hotels, canceled buses that were chartered to take people from Cairo to El Arish, and stopped those who found other transport at military checkpoints on the road to the Sinai Peninsula.

The Viva Palestina convoy drove all the way from London, through Europe, Turkey, Syria and Jordan, before Egypt threw up a series of bureaucratic hurdles to thwart its progress.

First, Egyptian officials insisted that the convoy couldn't enter Egypt from the Aqaba, Jordan, border crossing, instead requiring it to travel to the Mediterranean port of El Arish, Egypt. The entire convoy backtracked to Syria, and chartered a car ferry and airline flights to bring the vehicles, aid and people to El Arish. Then the standoff and police violence began.

But finally getting to cross into Gaza--with the vehicles and humanitarian aid--made the entire effort worthwhile. According to Ovenden:

It was an amazing experience. Virtually the entire length of the road from Rafah to Khan Younis to Gaza City was lined with people. Many had been waiting 10 hours to see us, and we were delayed because it took time for us to get our prisoners released, but I'm pleased to say we didn't leave a single person behind--either on our way into Egypt or after the arrests.

When they forced us back to Syria, I think they thought that we wouldn't have the nerve to get it together and get back to El Arish. But within 15 hours, we organized to get the necessary transport. In just 72 hours, we have raised nearly enough money to cover the extra cost, which amounts to about $300,000. But we still want to get more aid in, and I anticipate that we'll now raise even more for future aid efforts.

We had aimed at highlighting Israel's siege of Gaza, but due to the Egyptian posture from beginning to end, they themselves highlighted the Egyptian role in the siege. They've isolated themselves within the Muslim world. And after 10 Turkish MPs faced Egyptian riot police in El Arish, it's now a major issue in Turkey also.

It was really a major success all around. George Galloway appeared on Al Jazeera's most watched news program and ripped into the Egyptian regime for 60 minutes, we were on the flagship BBC radio show today, and we've received about 1,800 e-mails in the last 12 hours. And because Egypt viciously attacked the Gaza Freedom Marchers, that attracted attention which flowed to us later.

This has internationalized the whole issue, and we are looking to launch Viva Palestina efforts in even more countries. Already, we've had an encouraging meeting of 200 in South Africa interested in the effort.

About a year ago, just days after Israel launched its brutal assault on Gaza, we launched Viva Palestina with a strategic outlook that we could crack open the siege by fusing aid, a savvy understanding of the political context and campaigning. We think this effort is working and can contribute to the growing international movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Source: IslamOnline.
Link: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1262372262265&pagename=Zone-English-Youth%2FYTELayout.

Members of convoy to Palestine back safe after ordeal

SEPANG: Nine Malaysians, who were part of the largest Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy, arrived home safely yesterday.

The team, which was led by Matthias Chang and included four members of the Perdana Global Peace Organization and a Yayasan Al-Bukhari representative, arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 2.05pm.

Organization chairman and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali were among those present to welcome the team.

“None of us was injured. We were determined not to return home until and unless we entered Gaza and delivered the aid supplies, That we have accomplished,” Chang told reporters.

After weeks of delay, the convoy was finally allowed to enter the besieged Palestinian enclave with more than a million dollars worth of medical, food and educational supplies for its people.

Malaysia donated four trucks of humanitarian aid and an ambulance vehicle worth some RM541,000 to the Gaza Elwafa Hospital.

Chang said Dr Mahathir’s aid and support through phone calls had been very assuring to many members of the convoy during the journey.

“Efforts by Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in sending all the notes to various counterparts in Egypt and the Red Crescent also alleviated some of the most difficult problems that we encountered,” he said.

Despite the ordeal suffered by the convoy, Chang described the Malaysian team as “very united, determined and dignified”.

“The journey itself was not very difficult, but what was most difficult was the waiting in between various stops,” he said.

The Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy, which began its long journey from London on Dec 6, last year, crossed the Rafah border into Gaza last Thursday.

Some 150 vehicles of the total 220 are now in the hands of Palestinians living in Gaza, which has been under seige by Israeli soldiers.

Source: Malaysian Star.
Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/11/nation/5447694&sec=nation.

Aid convoy returns to Turkey amid more fracas

The Viva Palestina international aid convoy has experienced new crises and problems since it left Gaza to return home.

Egyptian police attempted to detain five people who were engaged in skirmishes in the port city of El Arish at the Cairo International Airport. In response, some passengers in the terminal building protested against the police while others voiced statements of support aboard the plane. A total of 322 people, including 98 foreigners, arrived in İstanbul after a six-hour delay. Meanwhile, Egyptian officials declared that they would not allow future humanitarian aid convoys to pass through their territory because of the recent incidents.

Members of the convoy -- which was allowed to stay in Gaza for only 34 hours -- endured a long and tiring journey home after skirmishes in El Arish. About 450 people who arrived at the Rafah border crossing at noon on Friday had to wait for hours to be processed by Egyptian authorities. The convoy was only able to proceed after 9 p.m. and was accompanied by a police escort on its journey to Cairo, which took 11 hours instead of the usual five.

When the group boarded a plane to leave the country, Egyptian authorities said the passports of five people -- two of them Turkish -- were lost after 130 people boarded the plane. This triggered another protest. Those waiting in the terminal building did not want to board the plane and the police did not allow those already on board to leave. The fact that those whose passports were said to have been lost were the same people who engaged in skirmishes in El Arish further exacerbated reactions. The six-hour crisis ended when the Egyptian officials backpedaled. When the lost passports were returned, the passengers waiting in the terminal boarded the plane.

A large group of people greeted the convoy members upon their arrival in İstanbul. The chairman of the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) set about organizing another convoy immediately after his return.

Egypt has already declared it will not allow further humanitarian aid to pass through the Rafah crossing. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said members of the Viva Palestina convoy had engaged in hostile acts on Egyptian territory and committed offenses. He added that according to a new arrangement, aid arriving via the port of El Arish will be delivered to the Egyptian Red Crescent for transfer to Gaza.

Meanwhile, speaking to the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper, Egyptian Ambassador to Turkey Ala Eldin al-Hadidi claimed that the Turkish press had unfairly condemned Egypt. Noting that the press played a great role in encouraging people to hold demonstrations in front of Egypt’s diplomatic offices in Turkey, al-Hadidi said: “In particular, a famous speaker claimed that Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu had called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and told him to call Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to stop the convoy. Such wrong and misleading news played a role in making people react against Egypt.”

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-198172-102-aid-convoy-returns-to-turkey-amid-more-fracas.html.

Galloway: Britain, Egypt need leaders like Erdogan

British lawmaker George Galloway has slammed Egypt for its support of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, hailing Turkey's support for the Palestinian people.

Galloway, who headed the Viva Palestina aid convoy for the Gazans, was deported from Egypt.

"I wish that Egypt and Britain had leaders like [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan," Turkey's Yenisafak quoted Galloway as saying on Saturday.

He hailed the Turkish government's support for the humanitarian convoy.

The member of the Respect Party noted that he will never visit Egypt again, stressing that the Egyptian people are different from the "dictatorship" running the country and said that he will miss them.

Galloway said that he is discussing a new plan with Turkish officials to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip directly from Turkey via the Mediterranean Sea.

He said that such a move is expected to take place in March.

Despite restrictions imposed by the Egyptian authorities, the Viva Palestina convoy of around 200 vehicles managed to break the Israeli siege of Gaza on Wednesday.

Fifty-nine vehicles were not allowed into the strip but the supplies were unloaded and taken through by the activists.

The activists entered Gaza through Rafah border crossing.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=115791§ionid=351020502.

Viva Palestina Convoy Bids Farewell As They Complete Their Mission

From Kuzaimah Idris

GAZA, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- After 48 hours of getting the feel of Gaza, the Viva Palestina convoy finally bade goodbye to the Palestinians at 10am local time (Gaza time).

Although their stay in Gaza was a short one, the volunteer force of 450 people were satisfied as they successfully completed their mission in delivering trucks and ambulances loaded with humanitarian aid including educational and medical supplies directly to the Palestinians in Gaza.

Malaysia donated four trucks of humanitarian aid and one ambulance worth 100,000 pounds to the Gaza Elwafa hospital.

Dr Khamis Elessi, Head of Medical Rehabilitation, Elwafa Hospital said the Palestinians are grateful to Malaysians for donating the various supplies.

"We thank the Malaysian government, the Malaysian people for donating this truck for Elwafa Hospital Gaza, we are so grateful for Malaysian people for coming over such a long distance, we are so grateful that we find honest, courageous and generous people like the Malaysian people.

"The Palestinians in Gaza need thousands and thousands of tonnes (of medical aid), this kind of donation will for sure help many people recover and help make the lives of many people much better during these horrible times and miseries", he added.

Viva Palestina founder and organizer, George Galloway, said this mission was not the last.

"God bless Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad), god bless Viva Palestina, god bless Malaysia people who contributed in any way including the beautiful journalist for the success of the mission.

Similar missions of sending aid to the Palestinians in Gaza were organized in March and July last year.

"We will never stop until the siege is lifted, we will never stop, maybe we will come by sea next time then we'll only have one obstacles to deal with instead of many", he said.

The convoy of various nationals started their journey from London on Dec 6, traveling through various cities and towns in Turkey, Syria and Jordan.

They encountered various obstacles especially from the Egyptian Government for not allowing them to use its Nuweiba city as a gateway to Gaza via Rafah. This delayed their December 27 dateline to reach Gaza, marking a year of Israelis atrocities against the Palestinians.

The convoy started with 220 vehicles comprising trucks, ambulances and sedan cars, but upon arriving at the El-Arish port city, they were forced to leave behind 59 cars with the Egyptian government.

Their suffering did not end there. Many members were injured during a protest against the Egyptian authorities, resulting in seven being arrested, including a Malaysian student.

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=467113.

Viva Palestina Aid Convoy Arrives in Gaza, George Galloway Describes "Desperate" Situation

A humanitarian aid convoy has arrived in Gaza nearly a month after it embarked from Britain. Members of the Viva Palestina convoy began passing through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing into Gaza on Wednesday. They are expected to spend the next forty-eight hours distributing the aid supplies. We go to Gaza to speak with British MP George Galloway, who led the convoy.

JUAN GONZALEZ: A humanitarian aid convoy carrying food and medical supplies has arrived in Gaza nearly a month after it embarked from Britain. Members of the Viva Palestina convoy began passing through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing into Gaza on Wednesday. They’re expected to spend the next forty-eight hours distributing the aid supplies.

The convoy was delayed by more than a week following a dispute with the Egyptian government. Hours before the convoy’s entry into Gaza yesterday, an Egyptian soldier was shot dead during a clash with Palestinian protesters who had gathered along the border to protest the delay. At least thirty-five Palestinians were wounded. On Tuesday, Egyptian forces clashed with members of the Viva Palestina convoy, wounding more than fifty.

AMY GOODMAN: Egypt and Israel have been maintaining a strict blockade on Gaza since 2007, allowing only the most basic supplies to get through. Viva Palestina’s arrival in Gaza comes a year after the three-week Israeli assault that killed over 1,300 Palestinians.

British parliamentarian George Galloway led the Viva Palestina convoy. He joins us now on the phone right now from Gaza.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Thank you. Good morning.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us what happened? We hear a number of people in your convoy were beaten up, were hurt, some hospitalized.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Yes, fifty-five, in fact, were injured, some of them quite severely. Ten of them had to go to hospital. All of them entered Gaza with us, but we have a collection of broken heads and plaster casts and bloodied faces and clothes.

It’s quite a testimony to the role that the government of Egypt is playing in this siege that you have just admirably described. It was entirely unprovoked. It was an attack on unarmed civilian people. And it was very frightening and brutal. And, of course, it was of a piece with the way that the Gaza Freedom Marchers were treated in the center of Cairo in the middle of the tourist season just days before.

JUAN GONZALEZ: What kind of coverage did that attack receive in the Egyptian media? And did it have any impact on the government’s decision to then let the convoy pass?

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Well, the good news is that nobody watches the Egyptian media in Egypt. All of them watch the pan-Arabic stations like Al Jazeera, satellite stations, which have broken the censorship walls of the dictatorships in the Arab world. And so, everybody in Egypt knows what happened in that little port of Al-Arish, and the vast majority of them, I’m sure, completely disapprove of it, indeed denounce it.

The Egyptian people are entirely behind the Palestinians under siege. Unfortunately, they are ill-served by a government that is playing a quite despicable role, actually, just few yards from where I am now. The Egyptians are building what we call the wall of shame, which is being done in conjunction with the United States military, to try and choke off the tunnels, which are the only other means of bringing life into Gaza, in which sheep and chickens and petrol and gas and the other means of staying alive, other than medicine—because if I may correct something you did say in the introduction, you said we were bringing food and medicine, but we were only bringing medicine, because food is actually not allowed to come through the Rafah gate from Egypt into Gaza. Food must pass through the Israeli lines, because, of course, they say they are concerned about the safety of the food. They don’t want to cause any food poisoning in Gaza, you understand.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe the condition of Gaza? It’s been a year since the Israeli assault. You were there last year also trying to bring in aid.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: It’s desperate. If I give you a tiny example only to give you an example, I’m here in quite a nice hotel, except there is no food in the hotel. There’s no food for breakfast, there’s no food for lunch. Now I make that point only to illustrate that if there’s no food in the best hotel in Gaza, imagine what the people are suffering. I’ve watched with my own eyes Palestinian women and girls in the early morning mists on top of garbage heaps, combing through the garbage heaps looking for food. In an Arab Muslim country in 2009 and ’10, it’s a absolutely scandalous situation.

And, Amy, remember why and how it came about. It’s been imposed by men. It’s not a natural disaster. It’s been imposed by men to punish the people of Palestine for voting for a party in a free election that the big powers, including yours and mine and Israel, don’t like. Now, I myself would not have voted for them; I’m not a Hamas supporter. But the only people entitled to choose the leadership of the Palestinians are the Palestinians themselves.

AMY GOODMAN: Have you been meeting—as a British member of Parliament, did you meet with any Egyptian leaders? And is there an explanation of why the Gaza Freedom March was kept out—they allowed in about a hundred people, but many refused under those conditions—and why the Egyptian government is stopping these peace activists from entering Gaza?

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Well, I’m glad to say that at every stage we insisted on all of our convoy entering Gaza, and we refused to leave Al-Arish without our prisoners, six people who were being held prisoner by the Egyptian government’s forces. And we refused to accept the exclusion from Egypt of some of our convoy members, all of whom were initially excluded, but all, in the end, were let in and are with me in Gaza. So, in terms of solidarity, I’m proud of what we have achieved.

No, there’s no explanation from the Egyptian regime at all. How could there be, in a way? How do you explain to anyone that Egypt, once the heart of the Arab world, is now playing a part in building an iron wall of shame around a suffering people who are being effectively starved, they hope, into surrender, but if not into surrender, then into death?

JUAN GONZALEZ: And George Galloway, your sense of how the Palestinian leadership is regarding the policies of the United States? Now we’re a year into the Obama administration. He’s, on the one hand, attempted to reach out to the Arab world in a way the Bush administration never did, but in terms of Palestine and the conflict with Israel, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of change.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Well, I must tell you, Juan, as someone who, myself, on my radio shows and TV shows and so on, campaigned for the election of Barack Obama, tried very hard to persuade people on the left that they were making a kind of utopian mistake in not supporting Obama, there is a tremendous bitter disappointment here in Palestine, and indeed wider than that, at the role that President Obama is currently playing, or rather not playing. His speech in Cairo was a wonderful piece of work. It was mesmerizing. It transfixed the Arab public opinion, that finally, after the Bush years, we had some hope. But in practice, his policy—and one assumes Hillary Clinton is carrying out his policy—is exactly the same as the policy of the Bushites towards the people here. And there’s bitter, bitter disappointment about that.

AMY GOODMAN: George Galloway, we want to thank you very much for being with us, a British MP leading the Viva Palestina aid convoy. Their whole convoy did get into Gaza through Egypt, though through a great deal of conflict, with a number of the delegation beaten up.

Source: Democracy Now!
Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/7/viva_palestina_aid_convoy_arrives_in.

Viva Palestina Convoy Continues Journey To Tartus Port

From Kuzaimah Idris

DAMASCUS, Dec 31 (Bernama) -- While the rest of the world usher the arrival of 2010 with cheers and fireworks, members of the Viva Palestina convoy of 450 are expected to usher the New Year on a ship in the Mediterranean sea.

And as this news was written, the 220 trucks and ambulances loaded with humanitarian, educational aid and medical supplies was on their way to the Port City of Tartus in northern Syria.

The convoy continued their journey from here at 10.30am local time, after a day's delay, due to logistical problems.

The 230km journey to Tartus Port, through the town of Home and Hama, is expected to take between four to five hours.

And if everything goes as planned, the convoy of world nationals, will board an awaiting ship to get them to the Egyptian El-Arish Port city.

However, if the convoy were to be stranded in Tartus Port, the group would have no choice but to spend New Year's eve under tents and dreadfully cold temperatures at night, in the northern port city.

Though tired and exhausted, members of the convoy had not shown any sign of giving up their quest to deliver aid worth US$1 million (RM3.5 million) to the Palestinians in Gaza.

They hope when they reached El-Arish port, the journey to Gaza via Rafa by land would proceed smoothly.

The convoy started off from London on Dec 6 and had earlier planned to reach Gaza by Dec 27, a year after the Zionist atrocities against the Palestinians.

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=465563.

Humanitarian convoy to leave for Gaza from Syria's Lattakia

DAMASCUS, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy, led by British lawmaker George Galloway, is set to leave Syria's Lattakia port Wednesday afternoon and head for the Egyptian harbor of El-Arish to enter the Gaza Strip, the official SANA news agency reported.

Galloway, founder of Viva Palestina Association, told a press conference held Tuesday evening that "the convoy is carrying humanitarian aid and medicines to the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip without any political objectives."

The international humanitarian aid convoy consists of around 250 vehicles, carrying humanitarian relief from Europe, Turkey and Arab countries, including food and medical equipment.

Spokesman for the convoy Zaher an-Birawi said the convoy faces the risk of interception by the Israeli authorities at sea, said the report.

"Any Israeli aggression on the convoy during sailing to Egyptian El-Arish port will be condemned and will unveil the truth of its perpetrators," he added.

The convoy, which departed from London on Dec. 6, returned to Syria on Tuesday from the Jordanian harbor of al-Aqaba after the Egyptian authorities requested that the convoy enter through El-Arish, on its Mediterranean coast.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/30/content_12731446.htm.

Viva Palestina members start hunger strike

Members of the Viva Palestina international aid convoy heading to the blockaded Gaza Strip have made the decision to go on hunger strike in protest at the Egyptian government's refusal to allow the convoy entry into its territory.

"Volunteers on the convoy are on a hunger strike and will only take fluids until the Egyptian side gives them the nod," said the convoy's press officer, Alice Howard.

She said the hunger strike began at 11:25 on Sunday, marking the first bombs Israel dropped on the besieged population of Gaza on December 27, 2008.

Israel's relentless three-week offensive against Gaza from December 2008 to January 2009 left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to medical sources. The Israeli assault also led to the destruction of schools, mosques, and houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $1.6 billion damage on the Gaza economy.

The Viva Palestina aid convoy has been stranded in Aqaba, Jordan since Christmas Eve, when Egyptian authorities prohibited the convoy from docking at the Egyptian port of Nuweiba. Diplomatic negotiations are also taking place between the Turkish and Egyptian governments over the convoy's entry into Egypt.

"Israel has kept Gaza under siege for three and a half years against international law. It has not allowed aid or rebuilding materials in following its attack on Gaza earlier this year. Our convoy is determined to break the siege and take in urgently needed supplies. Spirits are high in our camp in Aqaba, and we are going nowhere except to Gaza," said British MP George Galloway, who is travelling with the convoy.

The third international convoy to Gaza departed from London on December 5, 2009. The convoy is made up of volunteers from Britain, Ireland, Belgium, and Malaysia who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in their local communities to pay for ambulances, minibuses, vans, and lorries and to fill them with medical and other aid that is desperately needed in Gaza.

The Viva Palestina convoy was organized to direct the world's attention to the fact that Israeli war criminals committed horrendous crimes in Gaza as well as to the courageous Palestinian resistance.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114792§ionid=351020202.

'Viva Palestina' accorded grand welcome at Jaber crossing

By Mohammad Ben Hussein

AMMAN - Activists on Tuesday gave a grand welcome to a humanitarian aid convoy en route to Gaza to mark the first anniversary of Israel’s offensive on the coastal enclave.

Some 200 trucks entered the Kingdom through the Jaber border crossing yesterday afternoon, and were greeted by professional association and opposition activists.

The Professional Associations Council (PAC) organized a special event for the convoy, named “Viva Palestina” at the border crossing, including a press conference in which activists called for lifting the siege on Gaza.

Among the speakers was PAC President Abdullah Obeidat, who is also president of the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA), British MP George Galloway and former Islamist MP Ali Abul Sukkar, who also heads the JEA freedoms committee.

Obeidat said popular pressure by Arab people on their governments must be stronger in order to lift the siege on the Hamas-controlled strip.

He also called on Palestinian factions to reach reconciliation very soon, warning of dire results if the status quo continues.

"The humanitarian condition in Gaza is deteriorating from one day to the next. In the meantime, Gaza continues to suffer under siege while Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are unable to reach an agreement… Reconciliation is the answer to Israel’s agenda," he stressed.

Meanwhile, Galloway lauded efforts to help the Gazans and called for international pressure on Israel to open Gaza borders.

They said the humanitarian aid is a good step "but not enough".

Nicknamed “Return to Gaza”, the convoy is the third of its kind following the 2008-2009 Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

The 210 trucks - 100 from Britain, 50 from Turkey and the rest from other parts of the world - left London on December 3 and are expected to enter Gaza by December 27, the first anniversary of the attack, which left over 1,300 Palestinians dead and injured 5,000.

The humanitarian aid includes basic food items and medical assistance, according to Obeidat.

He said a festival will be held at the Professional Associations Complex on Tuesday and a similar event is planned near Karak and Aqaba.

"This is the least we can do to honour these people who gathered to help our brothers in Gaza," Obeidat noted.

The convoy, organized by the charity Viva Palestina and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), includes ambulances, trucks, vans and jeeps, hopes to land in Egypt on Christmas day, following a ferry crossing from Aqaba, according to a PSC statement sent to The Jordan Times.

It will attempt to break Israel’s three-and-a-half year blockade of Gaza by passing through the Rafah crossing to deliver its cargo of medical, humanitarian and educational aid, the statement said.

More than 400 people from around the world are now traveling on the convoy after volunteers from as far afield as Italy and Malaysia joined up in Damascus, according to the PSC.

Charity convoy enters Jordan en route to Gaza

Tue, 22 Dec 2009

Amman - A humanitarian convoy containing 210 trucks laden with basic food items and medical supplies destined for the Gaza Strip arrived in Jordan on Tuesday. The convoy, known as "Viva Palestina," was welcomed by the Secretary General of the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Authority Ahmad Amyan who represented Prime Minister Samir Rifai.

Also welcoming the convoy were scores of Jordanian politicians, activists and unionists, led by Abdullah Obeidat, president of the Professional Associations Council.

The convoy, led by British lawmaker George Galloway, left London on December 3 and is scheduled to enter the Gaza Strip on December 27 to mark the first anniversary of the Israeli attack on the besieged Palestinian territory that left over 1,300 Palestinians dead and about 5,000 injured.

Galloway told reporters at the Jordanian-Syria border that he was accompanied by 450 activists, including 30 Americans, 150 Turks and a number of Europeans.

The convoy would spend two days in Jordan before leaving the Red Sea port of Aqaba for the Gaza Strip, Galloway said, appealing to Egyptian authorities to facilitate the convoy's passage through the Rafah crossing.

More Malaysians Join "Viva Palestina Convoy" To Gaza

December 22, 2009

From Kuzaimah Idris

DAMASCUS, Dec 22 (Bernama) -- Two more members of the Malaysian Perdana Global Peace Organization, PGPO and four Bernama TV crew joined the 'Viva Palestina Convoy' on Tuesday as it continues its 2,000-mile journey to Gaza to distribute humanitarian aid.

The PGPO members are Mathias Chang and Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal, while the Bernama TV crew are journalist Kuzaimah Idris, Assistant Producer Azmawati Azmi, presenter Masrenny Waty Che Masri, and cameraman Mohd Shafiee Abdullah.

The six arrived in Damascus from Kuala Lumpur on Dec 18 to join the final leg journey of the convoy from here with 144 trucks, vans and ambulances loaded with more than US$1 million worth of relief supplies.

Two members of the PGPO, Juana Jaafar and Ram Karthigasu had earlier joined the convoy which embarked on its journey in London on Dec 6, traveling through several towns and cities in various countries.

PGPO is among the participants of dozens of institutions and associations acting in solidarity with Palestinians and in rejection of the siege on Gaza.

The convoy of 416 volunteers from Malaysia, the United States, and United Kingdom will make a six-day journey from here to Amman and Aqabah in Jordan and Nuweiba and border Rafa in Egypt.

According to the Head of Convoy in charge of logistics, Amer Nazir, relief materials as part of the humanitarian package for the Palestinians include medical equipment, food, babies' food and winter clothing.

He said the Palestinians in Gaza were suffering from shortages of clean water, fresh food and medical supplies.

"As far as medical aid, we've got a whole range of medical supplies from syringes, dialysis machines, heart transplant machines, wheelchairs, walking sticks, bandages, from the smallest things to the biggest machines, we have with us," he said.

Amer, a volunteer himself, said the convoy consisted of people from all nations including Malaysia, US, UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, New Zealand and Australia with diverse background.

"It's a whole wide range of people who work for charity. There are people who have left their jobs to come here, there are people of professional background who see this as the only way they can express how they feel about the issues, there are people who are just normal family men, taxi drivers who left their families and headed out to Gaza," he told Bernama.

Amer said material support for the convoy had been overwhelming so far and there was no shortage of volunteers willing to make the journey.

The Viva Palestina, the British-based charity, is on a mission to provide humanitarian aid for civilians trapped in war-torn Gaza.

Meanwhile, 70-year-old British, Sylvia Wall flew all the way from England to Damascus to join in the convoy in its final leg to Gaza, via Rafa.

She was unable to join the convoy from London as she was not fit to travel 3,000 miles to Syria due to her age and physical condition.

Wall shared her spirit to show solidarity to the Palestinians, related her experience and cause to the Palestinians.

She hoped the huge international convoy to Gaza would signal a strong message that the world communities demanded the Israelis regime to open the Gazans' lifeline to the outside world.

Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, leaving the Palestinians in dire need of food, medicines, clothing and other basic needs.

"Because of the injustice to the Palestinians has been as long as I've lived, I'm 70 years old and for 60 years now, the Palestinians have been treated dreadfully, that word can't explain. I am so angry.

"I have many Palestinian friends in England, in Cyprus. They are lovely people, you know. They are not what the west portrays them as terrorists, in England it's very bad, every time they say the word Palestinian, it is almost always followed by the word terrorist and it's not so, not at all", she said.

Wall, a volunteer, has been involved in the Palestinian cause all her adult life.

She was in Greece right after the Gaza war and dedicated herself to providing help and support to a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who lost his leg during the war.

"I will travel to Jordan and Egypt through the Nile desert along the coast, the coastal roads about 40 kilometers to Rafah and hopefully, InsyaAllah we will go to Gaza".

For the record, each person traveling on the convoy is a self-financed volunteer.

On Dec 27 last year, Israel began a wave of air strikes on the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of stopping the rocket attacks from and arms smuggling into the territory.

Israeli forces killed over 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks and created widespread destruction of essential infrastructure including homes, schools, hospitals and power plants.

Israel had since banned all but humanitarian relief from entering into Gaza, including building materials.

Galloway raps Arabs over forsaking Gaza

British Member of Parliament George Galloway has leveled strong criticism at Arabs over their inaction and failure to play a role in organizing aid convoys to the besieged Gaza Strip.

“It is a shame that this convoy [Lifeline 3] is coming from Europe and not from the Arab countries,” Galloway told reporters upon his arrival at Damascus International Airport.

He said that Lifeline 3 charity convoy is a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip on the first anniversary of the Israeli onslaught against the coastal sliver.

Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to medical sources. The Israeli assault also led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $ 1.6 billion damage on the Gaza economy.

The British anti-war activist added that the third Viva Palestina convoy is aimed to direct the world's attention to Israeli war criminals who committed the horrendous crimes in Gaza as well as the courageous Palestinian resistance. He voiced hope that the Egyptian authorities would secure the arrival of the convoy without hindrance.

Galloway meanwhile expressed his deep gratitude to Syrian authorities for the contribution they made to facilitate the entry of the Lifeline 3 convoy organized by the UK-based Viva Palestina movement. Galloway described Syria as a fortress and the symbol of pride that has never forsaken Palestine.

The third international convoy to Gaza departed from London on December 5, 2009. The convoy is made up of volunteers from Britain, Ireland, Belgium and Malaysia, who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in their local communities to pay for ambulances, minibuses, vans and lorries and to fill them with medical and other aid that is desperately needed in Gaza.

Lifeline 3 will arrive in Gaza on December 27 through the Rafah border crossing to make a dent in the ongoing Israeli blockade imposed on the impoverished enclave.

Israeli political and military authorities now face the possibility of international prosecution and arrest over war crimes in the Gaza Strip. A British court has issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

The UN Security Council awaits investigative reports ordered pursuant to recommendations made by UN investigator Richard Goldstone, who detailed countless Israeli war crimes not just in the attacks on Gaza in 2008, but throughout the Israeli siege, which began in 2006.

Meanwhile, Egypt is building a wall along its border with Gaza which is installed and funded by the US in order to block the tunnels that have served as the only lifeline for needed food, household and consumer goods in Gaza.

Heading to Gaza

The ‘Viva Palestina’ aid convoy of ambulances leaves Westminster in central London yesterday bound for Gaza. The ‘Return to Gaza’ convoy was led by politician George Galloway, who entered Gaza with the first Viva Palestina convoy in March with 100 vehicles.

Justice For Palestine Presents Viva Palestina!!

There are going to be several speakers, most of whom have first hand experience of living and working in Palestine including:

Ali Nissenbaum, a Jewish anti-Zionist who was recently in Israel and the West Bank during the recent war in Gaza. She will be speaking about Israeli and joint Israeli-Palestinian resistance to the occupation.

Omar El-Hadad who is one of the Imams at the Christchurch Mosque. Omar has been involved in political activities in Egypt against the American air bombing of Iraq in 1998, which resulted in him getting fired from the university. He will speak about the older history of the area, in particular it's 14 centuries of peace, except for the crusades and now the Arab-Israeli wars. The talk will focus on the Israeli claims that this piece of land was empty and the continuous denial of any non-Jewish history in that part of the world.

The Justice For Palestine group formed in response to the recent bombings and massacre of hundreds of Palestinian people living in Gaza by the Israeli Military. We stand in solidarity with Arabic and Palestinian peoples who have been living within a state of apartheid within their own country for the last 60 years. We support an end to State violence and war and the cycles of endless violence against the people living in Palestine including Gaza and we support the resistance spirit of all the Palestinians who stand for justice.