Help Viva Palestina get to Gaza

[bricolage]

Copying this off facebook, not sure if it needs to be moved to another bit of the forum.


The Viva Palestina convoy, comprising over two hundreds vehicles carrying humanitarian aid for the besieged people of Gaza, has been prevented from entering Egypt.

Since around 11pm GMT on Christmas Eve, the convoy has been stuck in the Jordanian port of Aqaba, waiting to cross the Red Sea and enter Egypt at Nuweiba before continuing on to Gaza.

In order to help the convoy get back on the road, please contact the Egyptian Embassy in London. Express your disappointment that they are not allowing the convoy to proceed and ask the person answering the phone to pass this message to the Ambassador.

You can contact the Embassy:
by phone - 020 7499 3304
by fax - 020 7491 1542
by email - [email protected]

Dear friends,

Here's a list of Egyptian Embassies contact information around the world, please email or phone them:

1. Egyptian Embassy in Athens, Greece
Phone: 210 36 18 612  13
Fax: 210 36 03 538
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

2. Egyptian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 70-354 20 00, +31 (0) 70-354 45 35
Fax: +31 (0) 70-354 33 04

3. Egyptian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: (46 8) 662 9687 or 662 9603 or 660 3145
Fax: (46 8) 661 2664

4. Egyptian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland
Phone: 031 352 80 12 / 13
Fax: 031 352 06 25

5. Egyptian Embassy in London, United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7499 3304
Fax: 020 7491 1542
Email: [email protected]

6. Egyptian Embassy in Washington D.C., United States
Phone: (+1) (202) 8955400
Fax: (+1) (202) 2444319
Email: [email protected]

7. Egyptian Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela
Phone: 0058212  9926259
Fax: 0058212  9931555
Email: egyptiane[email protected]


8. Egyptian Embassy in Berlin, Germany
Phone: 030 477 54 70
Fax: 030 477 10 49
Web Site: http://www.egyptian-embassy.de/
Email: [email protected]

9. Egyptian Embassy in Paris, France
Phone: (+33) 1 53678830-32
Fax: (+33) 1 47230643
Email: [email protected]

10. Egyptian Embassy in Beijing, China
Phone: (8610) 6532 1825
Fax: (8610) 6532 5365
Email: [email protected]


11. Egyptian Embassy in Ottawa, Canada
Phone: (613)234-4931, (613)234-4935
Fax: (613)234-4398
Email: [email protected]

12. Egyptian Embassy in Canberra, Australia
Phone: (00612) 6273 4437 - 6273 4438
Fax: (00612) 6273 4279
Email: [email protected]

13. Egyptian Embassy in Amman, Jordan
Phone: 5605175 / 5605176 / 5605202 /5605203
Fax: 5604082
Email: [email protected], [email protected]



In solidarity

This just arrived from Viva Palestina convey:


Dear friends and comrades,


As most of you know, the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy has been forcibly trapped in Aqaba, Jordan as the Egyptian authorities have denied them entry. Convoy members are in high spirits and have requested that we contact our embassies and l...ocal MPs to contact the Egyptian authorities and grant them safe passage through Egypt to Gaza.



TEMPLATE LETTER:

[Your address]


Dear ------

I have been following the progress of a convoy taking aid to the Gaza strip. The convoy consists of over 200 vehicles carrying many thousands of pounds worth of aid, and has been organised by Viva Palestina and Code Pink. Many of the activists taking part have gone from the United Kingdom.


It has recently come to my attention that Egyptian authorities have blocked the progress of the convoy by denying entry to Egypt. The convoy is currently waiting in Jordan to be permitted to board a ferry across the Red Sea. I have heard from one person in the convoy who has described how they are cold and have little access to food at the moment.

I am kindly requesting that you use your position and influence to help us persuade the Egyptian authorities to permit the convoy to pass safely. This is very important to me, both for my hope that the people in Gaza will receive the much-needed aid, and also out of concern for my friends in the convoy.

Kind regards,
[Your full name]

CONTACTS:

Your local MP: http://www.facebook.com/l/457ba;findyourmp.parliament.uk/


Egyptian Embassy in London 020 7499 3304/2401
[email protected]


Clare Short (Independent MP for Birmingham Ladywood)[email protected] 7219 4264/4148


David Miliband (Foreign Secretary/Labour MP for South Shields)

[email protected]
(0191) 456 8910


Nick Clegg (Leader of Lib Dems, MP for Sheffield Hallam)

http://www.facebook.com/l/457ba;
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/22/lift-the-gaza-blocade-nick-clegg (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/22/lift-the-gaza-blocade-nick-clegg)

[email protected]
[email protected]


British Embassy in Egypt Tel: +(20)(2)27916000
[email protected]


NB. The embassy email addresses are only meant for information, so you could include a kind note to forward the message to the appropriate diplomatic staff.


Huge thank you to the Queen Mary University of London Palestine Solidarity Society for providing this information.


Please share this note with your friends and let us do everything we can to help our comrades, who are tired and cold waiting for a ferry to Egypt!


Please be advised that the 3rd convoy is partnered with the PSC and not CODE PINK
IN SOLIDARITY!
---------------------

Alice HowardViva Palestina UK - Administration ManagerTel: 07944 512 469Email: [email protected]: http://www.vivapalestina.org/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=240397411933&ref=nf#/group.php?gid=240397411933&ref=nf

[Spawn of Stalin]

My Comrade Joti Brar is on this convoy and has requested that people make calls to all appropriate news agencies especially the BBC as well as the Egyptian embassies. Also depending on who your local MP is, contacting them might be an idea, some have been quite supportive towards the PSC.

[blake 3:17]

I've written the amabassador here. I hope others will write as well.



OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUBARAK FROM THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH

*******spread widely************
December 26, 2009

Dear President Mubarak;

We, representing 1,362 individuals from 43 countries arriving in Cairo to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, are pleading to the Egyptians and your reputation for hospitality.

We are peacemakers. We have not come to Egypt to create trouble or cause conflict. On the contrary. We have come because we believe that all people -- including the Palestinians of Gaza -- should have access to the resources they need to live in dignity. We have gathered in Egypt because we believed that you would welcome and support our noble goal and help us reach Gaza through your land.

As individuals who believe in justice and human rights, we have spent our hard-earned, and sometimes scarce, resources to buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms and secure transportation only to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza living under a crushing Israeli blockade.

We are doctors, lawyers, students, academics, poets and musicians. We are young and old. We are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and secular. We represent civil society groups in many countries who coordinated this large project with the civil society in Gaza.

We have raised tens of thousands of dollars for medical aid, school supplies and winter clothing for the children of Gaza. But we realize that in addition to material aid, the Palestinians of Gaza need moral support. We came to offer that support on the difficult anniversary of an invasion that brought them so much suffering.

The idea of the Gaza Freedom March—a nonviolent march to the Israeli Erez crossing-- emerged during one of our trips to Gaza in May, a trip that was kindly facilitated by the Egyptian government. Ever since the idea emerged, we have been talking to your government through your embassies overseas and directly with your Foreign Ministries. Your representatives have been kind and supportive. We were asked to furnish information about all the participants—passports, dates of birth, occupations—which we have done in good faith. We have answered every question, met every request. For months we have been working under the assumption that your government would facilitate our passage, as it has done on so many other occasions. We waited and waited for an answer.

Meanwhile, time was getting short and we had to start organizing. Travel over the Christmas season is not easy in the countries where many of us live. Tickets have to be purchased weeks, if not months, in advance. This is what all 1,362 individuals did. They spent their own funds or raised money from their communities to pay their way. Add to this the priceless time, effort and sacrifice by all these people to be away from their homes and loved ones during their festive season.

In Gaza, civil society groups—students, unions, women, farmers, refugee groups—have been working nonstop for months to organize the march. They have organized workshops, concerts, press conferences, endless meetings—all of this with their own scarce resources. They have been buoyed by the anticipated presence of so many global citizens coming to support their just cause.

If the Egyptian government decides to prevent the Gaza Freedom March, all this work and cost is lost.

And that's not all. It is practically impossible, this late in the game, to stop all these people from travelling to Egypt, even if we wanted to. Moreover, most have no plans in Egypt other than to arrive at a predetermined meeting point to head together to the Gaza border. If these plans are cancelled there will be a lot of unjustified suffering for the Palestinians of Gaza and over a thousand internationals who had nothing in mind but noble intentions.

We plead to you to let the Gaza Freedom March continue so that we can join the Palestinians of Gaza to march together on December 31, 2009.

We are truly hopeful that we will receive a positive response from you and thank you for your assistance.

Tighe Barry, Gaza Freedom March coordinator
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, USA
Olivia Zemor, Euro-Palestine, France
David Torres, ECCP, Belgium
Germano Monti, Forum Palestine, Italy
Ziyaad Lunat, Gaza Freedom March, Europe
Ehab Lotayef, Gaza Freedom March, Canada
Alessandra Mecozzi, Action for Peace-Italy
Ann Wright, Gaza Freedom March coordinator
Kawthar Guediri, Collectif National pour une Paix Juste et Durable entre Palestinens et Israeliens, France
Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Thomas Sommer, Focus on The Global South, India

[blake 3:17]

French protestors camp out in front of Cairo embassy
(AFP) – 7 hours ago

CAIRO — French protesters camped out in front of the their embassy in Cairo to protest a ban on them from travelling from Egypt to Gaza for a march in support of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

About 300 protesters set up tents and blocked a road in front of the mission after buses they had rented to take them to El-Arish, a town close to the border with Gaza, never came.

They said they were told by the bus company that security authorities had banned the trip.

Egypt had earlier said it would not allow any of about 1,300 protestors who have come from 42 countries to take part in the Gaza march to enter the enclave.
The French protesters, who chanted pro-Palestinian slogans and held up French flags and signs in Arabic asking for entry into Gaza, were persuaded to set up camp on a curb in front of the embassy after police threatened them with water cannons.
"No more talk, we want our busses," they chanted when the French ambassador negotiated with them. One protester said she wanted to travel to Gaza to "show the Palestinians that they are not alone."

Elsewhere in Cairo, police stopped about 200 protesters from the United States and other countries from renting boats on the Nile to hold a procession marking a year since a devastating war in Gaza killed 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Egypt shares the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the only passage to the impoverished coastal enclave that bypasses Israel. Gaza has been blockaded since the Islamist Hamas movement took it over in 2007.

Egypt has said it would not allow the passage of the protesters into Gaza because of the "sensitive situation" there.

[redwinter]

people should definitely support this effort to get the international protesters into Gaza.

Alan Goodman, reporter for Revolution (http://www.revcom.us)newspaper, is on the ground in Egypt blogging about their attempts to cross the border. Was updated this morning with photos:

http://alanxgoodman.blogspot.com

[blake 3:17]

Apparently some hundreds of members of the intl delegation have gone on hunger strike. A report from a sister who's there: http://pieceofmind.publicrealm.net/2009/12/28/gfm-update-1227/

[ls]

My Comrade Joti Brar is on this convoy and has requested that people make calls to all appropriate news agencies especially the BBC as well as the Egyptian embassies.

Pretty sure it's been on the BBC..


Also depending on who your local MP is, contacting them might be an idea, some have been quite supportive towards the PSC.

Yeah, whilst backing policies to crush the Palestinian working-class in just about every case.

[blake 3:17]

Yeah, whilst backing policies to crush the Palestinian working-class in just about every case.

There won't be a Palestinian working class pretty soon. The levels of unemployment, the destruction of factories and schools, the prohibition of basic necessities could quickly lead to the complete destruction of the people. A few bureaucrats and "natives" may be left behind if the tide doesn't turn. Zionism has no interest in the exploitation of Palestinian labour -- it's really just a theft of land.



More than 400 members of an international aid convoy to Gaza declared a hunger strike on Sunday to protest Egypt's refusal to allow them entry into the Hamas-ruled territory via the Red Sea.

Alice Howard, a spokeswoman for British-based Viva Palestina, said the group was consuming only liquids, as it remained stranded in the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

Led by British MP George Galloway, 150 vehicles were carrying hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid. They had hoped to enter Gaza on Sunday, the first anniversary of Israel's offensive against Hamas in the coastal strip, Operation Cast lead.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138228.html

[Patchd]

The convoy is on it's way again although taking a different route:

http://readingpsc.org.uk/convoy/

Copied from a facebook private message;


Following lengthy negotiations between the convoy and the Egyptian authorities, the Viva Palestina aid convoy is back on its way to Gaza.

It has been reported that Egyptian Embassies and Consulates across the world have been swamped with phone calls and emails demanding that the convoy be allowed to reach Gaza.

Although Egypt are not permitting the convoy to continue on its chosen route, they have been forced to agree to a new itinerary which will involve the vehicles heading back north to the Syrian ports of Lataika - a journey of some five hundred miles. The convoy will then sail to the Egyptian port of El-Arish before driving the final thirty miles to Rafah and crossing into Gaza.

A press conference on Monday evening announced that the convoy will leave Aqaba in the morning to begin its detour. If all goes to plan, Viva Palestina should arrive at the Rafah crossing on Thursday or Friday.

It is highly likely that this will not be the last obstacle for the convoy. We must remain vigilant and be prepared to act again if the Egypt - or any other country - tries to scupper their humanitarian mission.



>> A delegation will be handing in a petition at the Egyptian Embassy tomorrow (30th December). For more information see http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1671/1/

[blake 3:17]

A message from Egypt from a leader of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers:



LESSONS OF GAZA

The Gaza Freedom March has not made it to Gaza. Some might say this is a failure. But Gaza is in the hearts and other lessons will be learned here.

There is no question that Egypt faces intense pressure from other powers and forces, including Israel and the European Union. To a lesser extent, Canada whose government is now seen as an international climate change pariah, plays an apologist role for crimes against humanity while deserting, even aiding and abetting, the removal of the rights of Canadians while abroad. As always, the grand player here is the United States, always lurking in the background or appearing in the forefront when needed. The large truck of "human rights abuser for profit "Haliburton" parked in the desert west of Cairo two days ago is a fitting symbol of profit, power, and crimes against people and their lands.

All of these forces, plus prisoner exchanges, and other hidden factors, place intense pressure on this government to do the right thing. Freedom marchers understand they are guests in a country of rich history and a vibrant and welcoming people. But geopolitical, cultural, economic and systemic forces combine to provide unpleasant and lethal outcomes.

A Gaza freedom marcher was just thrown against a wall and punched in the face outside our hotel a few hours ago. A second woman was punched in the face today at a demonstration at UNESCO. Nothing unusual for a Palestinian, who faces far worse, but a revealing look at the desperate and shallow forces that like to think they own the planet and everything is a market playground. Yet, Cairo right now is alive with new spaces of hope, defiance, and vision. People from all over the world have joined together in a determined pilgrimage to support the blockaded people of Gaza.

This is the humanity of a determined people who refuse no longer to be victims in this sport of repression we have come to know all too well in varying degrees depending on who or where you are. This is a system and a way of being that strangles our creativity and freedom every day. Everywhere people rise to say no more will we be silent accomplices to an order that auctions our dignity to power and patriarchy. New voices are shouting worldwide that we choose not to absorb, internalize, or amplify this game of oppression delivered to us by those that pretend to speak in our name and are provided their pulpit by a compliant media.

They are the same ones that tell us lies about ourselves, that we can do nothing, that private for profit is better than that which is held and shared in common, or that we are all can be winners in this sport where almost everyone loses. Whether in Palestine or around the world the masters are losing their grip. That is why women are punched in the face calling for peace and people are refused entrance to Gaza trying to bear witness and stand with those who have faced the worst humanity - if it can be called that - has to offer. These systems that function around us are not humane and so the script is already written and the actors fall into place. We are trained to accept compliantly our destruction at varying speeds, in one form or another, as we struggle to eat, have shelter, and even to live. How beautiful that new scripts are being written outside, inside and around the old ones.

In these times people are standing for Palestine, Oaxaca, the Philippines, Colombia and other places and names we do not know. But we know the spirits of the dead and suffering rage and demand of us all something new. We remember over and over with increasing ferocity those sacrificed to the alta of the markets. Everywhere, they spread war and chemicals in our name that are produced in northern factories and thrust on the vulnerable, whether on traditional lands of small farmers in the global south or as poisonous white phosphorus released liberally across neighbourhoods in the name of peace and democracy. Profits soar and tiny men sip champagne in their palaces. But the servants are getting restless and we are listening and learning.

Let Palestine awaken us all to what our world has become and why these wars and the destruction of life for profit and power must cease. With every step taken and every breath drawn this is a world worth reclaiming.

We are them, they are us. We will not forget. And we will learn to shed the skin of compliance every day. We are done saying yes. That is what Gaza teaches us should we choose to listen.

Dave Bleakney is a national union representative for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers currently writing from Cairo. The opinions expressed here are his own.

[ellipsis]

I don't want to get on a (another) watch list by contacting the embassy in my country. But solidarity.

[Spawn of Stalin]

Pretty sure it's been on the BBC..
Indeed, but if you watch Al Jazeera or Press TV, this is one of their top stories, hardly a peep from the mainstream media over here considering. This picture was taken from Joti's Flickr page a few days ago.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2494/4213381546_8b92b9b9d6.jpg

I didn't see the cameras coming out in full force for Viva Palestina when the convoy departed London nearly a month ago.

Yeah, whilst backing policies to crush the Palestinian working-class in just about every case.
Too true, but some of them can still be relied on to get the word out about this convoy, regardless of how reactionary they may be, I don't see this as much of an issue, getting thousands of pounds worth of essential medical gear into Gaza is what matters, we can debate about bourgeois politicians until the cows come home, but let's wait until after the Palestinians have the means to scan for birth defects and treat cancers.

[blake 3:17]

Just got from FB, news should be updated soon:
Tonight - Tuesday, Dec. 29, 6pm- there was a large rally of GFM delegates with lots of enthusiasm and a strong sense of group unity. During this time the announcement came that 100 delegates would be allowed to go. Canada was allotted 7 delegates and 1 would include a young man from Gaza who had not seen his father in 8 years. All 57 members of the Canadian delegation have agreed that they will not go. They will remain in Cairo until all delegates are given clearance to go to Gaza. Wendy reports that the delegation from New York and from Sweden have made the same decision.

It is reported that this decision to let in 100 delegates was given to the Gaza Freedom March from Madame Suzanne Mubarak because of her respect for CodePink.

We should have more information in about 10 hours when it is morning in Cairo.

[BOZG]

Press Statement from Joe Higgins MEP



Responding to the news of 23 Palestine solidarity activists, among them two Irish women - Zoe Lawlor and Hilary Minch, being taken off a bus yesterday at al Areish by the Egyptian authorities Joe Higgins MEP of the Socialist Party commented:
"These activists were on their way to the Gaza Freedom March due to take place on Thursday 31st December. This march is intended to remember the first anniversary of the slaughter unleashed on the people of Gaza by the Israeli state resulting in many hundreds dying horrifically as a result of a merciless ariel bombardment that lasted a fortnight.

"Since then the Israeli state has hindered efforts by aid agencies and solidarity activists to reconstruct Gaza's decimated infrastructure. Any talk of peace efforts by the Israeli government has to be seen as pure cant in this light.

"The Egyptian authorities have surpassed any other regime in the region in the co-operation they have given the Israeli state in preventing the free movement of people and aid across its border into Gaza, yesterday's arrest being the latest episode. The protesters had their passports taken from them and were brought back to Cairo under police escort. However after staging an impromptu sit down protest the activists had their passports returned and the police escort abandoned them in Cairo.

"I salute the dedication of the international activists and condemn the Egyptian authorities. I will register my disgust with yesterday's occurrence with Ambassador Amr Helmy in Dublin who unfortunately I have had occasion before to raise the issue of the repression of political opponents in Egypt.

[ls]

Indeed, but if you watch Al Jazeera or Press TV, this is one of their top stories, hardly a peep from the mainstream media over here considering. This picture was taken from Joti's Flickr page a few days ago. .. I didn't see the cameras coming out in full force for Viva Palestina when the convoy departed London nearly a month ago.

Fair enough. :cool:


..let's wait until after the Palestinians have the means to scan for birth defects and treat cancers.

Doesn't it say "1) PROVISION FROM THE UK OF FOOD, MEDICINE AND ESSENTIAL GOODS AND SERVICES NEEDED BY THE CIVILIAN POPULATION"? I didn't think that included medical equipment.

[(A)(_|]

We have a few French citizens stuck here. I think they came with a tourist Visa and for that reason were not allowed to march into Gaza. They had a demo in front of the french embassy a few days back, apparently our government considers this a threat to national security. It would be aptly described as ass lickin' our endeared Israeli authorities if you ask me. :lol:

I think that the only solace I can find in this whole commotion is the fact that my government values human rights to the extent that it treats people universally the same, with brutality and dehumanization.. good on us :)

[blake 3:17]

Just in:



MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CANADIANS AT RISK IN CAIRO

Later this morning, Thursday, December 31, beginning at 10 am nore than 50 Canadians will be particpating in an illegal march from Cairo to Gaza to break the blockade of Gaza.

The Canadian government has said they will not provide assistance should marchers face prosecution or arrest.

The Canadians are part of the Gaza Freedom March brings over 1300 people from more than 43 countries to join Palestinians of Gaza in a non-violent mass march to the Israeli border.

Location details will be relased shortly prior to the march given the heavy police presence in Cairo.

[Spawn of Stalin]

Doesn't it say "1) PROVISION FROM THE UK OF FOOD, MEDICINE AND ESSENTIAL GOODS AND SERVICES NEEDED BY THE CIVILIAN POPULATION"? I didn't think that included medical equipment.
I'm not sure, I know Joti raised £4000 for some kind of special ultrasound machine and there were definitely some others who were raising money for similar gear.

[blake 3:17]

Something real: http://www.youtube.com/user/GazaFreedomMarch#p/a/f/0/QRcwVc0cgLM

For what's up see http://gazafreedommarch.com/article.php?list=type&type=416

[bricolage]

viva palestina win airport battle!

my last message to all of you was that the viva palestina convoy members have arrived into al-arish and were just hours away from breaking the siege of gaza.

Now, i report to you that in the past hour 157 viva palestina convoy members passports were taken away at al-arish airport by the egyptian authorities.

The egyptians also removed the passport's of british mp george galloway and convoy leader kevin ovenden.

All passports were stamped in on entry but also received an exit stamp too. The egyptian's wanted 157 convoy members to drive tonight to gaza and forget about the other 400 viva palestina volunteers that were yet to fly into al-arish tonight.

Egyptian authorities say that the 400 volunteers would not be allowed entry! Convoy members started a sit down riot and refused to move or leave without their fellow convoy brothers and sisters!

I am now pleased to say that all passports have been returned back to their rightful owners and exit stamps have been removed - we won that battle! - now convoy members are scouting for hotels for tonight and will return tomorrow to be reunited with all convoy members, before moving on, to pick up their vehicles and head for their final destination, gaza!

Well as you can see that the situation is changing by the hour and i am now calling for all of you to gather at egyptian embassies, consulates and interests today (tuesday). It will be either to shame the egyptian government for blocking the convoy further or to celebrate viva palestina entering gaza and organising further solidarity.
viva palestina convoy will fight all the way to deliver the aid to gaza!
alice howard
http://www.vivapalestina.org/alerts/battle_050110.htm

[bricolage]

Things take a seriously bad turn.



>>> Offical Viva Palestina Press Release @ 8pm <<<

To all friends of Palestine

Our situation is now at a crisis point! Riot has broken out in the port of Al- Arish.

This late afternoon we were negotiating with a senior official from Cairo who left negotiations some two hours ago and did not return. Our negotiations with the official was regarding taking our aid vehicles into Gaza.

He left two hours ago and did not come back. Egyptian authorities called over 2,000 riot police who then moved towards our camp at the port.

We have now blocked the entrance to the port and we are now faced with riot police and water cannons and are determined to defend our vehicles and aid.

The Egyptian authorities have by their stubbornness and hostility towards the convoy, brought us to a crisis point.

We are now calling upon all friends of Palestine to mount protests in person where possible, but by any means available to Egyptian representatives, consulates and Embassy’s and demand that the convoy are allowed a safe passage into Gaza tomorrow!

Kevin Ovenden
Viva Palestina Convoy Leader

--------------------------------------------------------------------

From the UK, please call:
Egyptian Embassy - 020 7499 3304
UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office - 020 7008 1500
BBC - 03700 100 222

You can easily find the details for your country's Egyptian Embassy on Google.Then received later;



In the short time since my last update the situation in El-Arish has escalated. Riot police armed with tear gas and water cannons physically attacked the convoy members. The information is currently sketchy, but there are reports of some injuries (no serious injuries reported) and possibly some arrests. The violence seems to have subsided for now.

I strongly urge you to contact the Egyptian Embassy in your country (info on google and the group wall). Family of UK convoy members should contact the Foreign and Commonwealth office.

UK contacts:
Egyptian Embassy 020 7499 3304
UK FCO 020 7008 1500
BBC 03700 100 222


For more information see:

Up-to-the-minute updates from the convoy:
http://twitter.com/garethn/viva-palestina

Latest Press TV report from within the convoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04EcEb4eMEM

Latest news from many sources:
http://readingpsc.org.uk/convoy/

[Communist]

=
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One Year After the Gaza Massacre
Tell Egypt and the U.S. to Stop the Attack on Viva Palestina!
Let the Convoy into Gaza! End the Blockade Now!


Sign the Petition Now: http://www.iacenter.org/palestine/vivapalestinapetition2010


Egyptian security police have launched a brutal, unprovoked assault on the 500-member third Viva Palestina humanitarian relief convoy to Gaza. Dozens of convoy members have been injured and some are reported missing. The 500 convoy members and their 150 vehicles are now in the port of Al Arish, where they are surrounded by 2000 Egyptian riot police. Egypt's action comes only one year after Israel's U.S.-funded massacre of over 1,400 Gaza Palestinians.

Viva Palestina, organized by British MP George Galloway,� is an effort to break the 42-month-old U.S.-Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza, which is compounding the effect of the massacre. The 500 convoy participants come from many countries, including Britain, Turkey, Syria, Malaysia, Greece, Belgium and the United States.

While the convoy has received warm support, solidarity and assistance in very other country through which it has passed, the Egyptian authorities have met it with hostility and brutality, as they also did the 1400-member Gaza Freedom March. Egypt is the second-largest recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel and recently signed a $3.2 billion deal to buy Lockheed Martin F16 fighters from the United States. These are the same warplanes Israel used to destroy homes and schools in Gaza.

While Egypt has greeted the convoy with hostility, it recently gave a warm welcome to right wing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Egyptian government is also building a steel wall 80 feet deep to stop food and medicine from getting to th people� Gaza. Sign the petition now and demand that the convoy be allowed safe passage: http://www.iacenter.org/palestine/vivapalestinapetition2010

Also, please call and demand an end to the attacks on the convoy.� Contact information for Egyptian consulates can be found here (http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-of/Egypt#9957).�

Below is the latest from the Viva Palestina Web Site, though much has happened since then:



Crisis in Egypt

Viva Palestina faced with 2,000 riot police in the port of Al-Arish!

To all friends of Palestine,

Our situation is now at a crisis point! Riot has broken out in the port of Al- Arish.

This late afternoon we were negotiating with a senior official from Cairo who left negotiations some two hours ago and did not return. Our negotiations with the official was regarding taking our aid vehicles into Gaza.

He left two hours ago and did not come back. Egyptian authorities called over 2,000 riot police who then moved towards our camp at the port.

We have now blocked the entrance to the port and we are now faced with riot police and water cannons and are determined to defend our vehicles and aid.

The Egyptian authorities have by their stubbornness and hostility towards the convoy, brought us to a crisis point.

We are now calling upon all friends of palestine to mount protests in person where possible, but by any means available to Egyptian representatives, consulates and Embassy's and demand that the convoy are allowed a safe passage into Gaza tomorrow!

Kevin Ovenden Viva Palestina Convoy Leader
Sign the Petition Now: http://www.iacenter.org/palestine/vivapalestinapetition2010

Petition Text:


To: Egyptian President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohammed Nazif, the Egyptian Government, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Congressional leaders, U.N. General Assembly President d'Escoto-Brockmann, U.N. Secretary General Ban, members of the U.N. Security Council, U.N. member states, and the President, Prime Minister, Cabinet and Opposition leader of Israel

cc: Major media representatives, International Red Cross

LET THE VIVA PALESTINA HUMANITARIAN AID INTO GAZA NOW!

I am writing in support of the Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy that is currently seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. This convoy is carrying humanitarian relief to a beseiged population, and it is a violation of international law to deny them passage or to detain and harass them in any way.

This convoy was organized with the support of individuals and organizations from across the U.S., and is supported by people across the world, who stand with with the people of Gaza, who have been the target of a two-year blockade and numerous military strikes by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

I demand that the convoy be allowed safe passage, so that this vital medical aid can be delivered to the people of Gaza.

I further demand that the siege of Gaza be lifted immediately.

Sincerely,
Sign the Petition Now: http://www.iacenter.org/palestine/vivapalestinapetition2010

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[bricolage]

Just got a message saying convoy about to cross into Gaza at Rafah!

:)

[Intifadah]

They're through, few Derry/Tyrone lads interviewed by PRESSTV and Al Jazeera, fucking well done to all involved.

[Communist]

==>

Aid Convoy Breaks Gaza Siege (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/01/201016165325573953.html)

Al Jazeera
January 6, 2009



Palestinians threw stones at Egyptian forces across the
border to protest the convoy's delay [AFP]

A humanitarian aid convoy carrying food and medical
supplies has arrived in the Gaza Strip nearly a month
after it embarked from the UK.

Members of the much-delayed Viva Palestina convoy began
passing through Egypt's Rafah border crossing into Gaza
on Wednesday, waving Palestinian flags and raising
their hands in peace signs.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza, said
the first wave of vehicles was greeted by Gaza's Hamas
leaders as well as members of a Turkish humanitarian
organisation that aided in bringing the convoy to the
strip.

"We had been expecting the arrival of the convoy amid
much fanfare but it almost caught the Palestinians here
by surprise," he said.

"The doors suddenly flung open and within minutes the
first batch of about 12 or so vehicles made their way
from the Egyptian side to the Palestinians."

More than 100 vehicles followed the first batch into
Gaza shortly afterward, he said.

Violent clashes

Participants of the convoy are expected to spend the
next 48 hours distributing the aid supplies.

Viva Palestina's arrival in Gaza followed violent
clashes between Egyptian security forces, Palestinians
and members of the convoy.

Hours before the convoy's arrival, an Egyptian soldier
was shot dead during a clash with Palestinian
protesters who had gathered along the border to protest
a delay in the convoy's arrival.

Egyptian forces opened fire to disperse the stone-
throwing protesters, and at least 35 Palestinians were
wounded in the ensuing clash, according to Hamas
officials.

Late on Tuesday, more than 50 people were wounded
during a clash between Egyptian authorities and
international members of the convoy.

The protests were sparked by an Egyptian decision to
allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza through the Rafah
crossing, but requiring a remaining 59 vehicles to pass
via Israel.

Bitter disputes

The convoy, led by George Galloway, a British MP, had
already been delayed by more than a week, after he and
a delegation of Turkish MPs failed to persuade the
Egyptians to change their mind.

The convoy of nearly 200 vehicles arrived in Egypt's
port city of al-Arish on Monday after a dispute with
Cairo on the route.

But the arrival came after a bitter dispute between its
organisers and the government, which banned the convoy
from entering Egypt's Sinai from Jordan by ferry,
forcing it to drive north to the Syrian port of
Lattakia.

Al Jazeera's Amr El Kahky, who has been travelling with
the convoy, said Viva Palestina's organisers had hoped
to reach Gaza by December 27.

"We're talking about an almost 10 day delay. The convoy
members are happy to have reached their destination,"
he said.

"Many of them have taken time off from their jobs in
Europe and other areas and that's why they're happy to
deliver the aid and go back home to resume their normal
lives. So their jubilation is justified."

Gaza blockade

Israel and Egypt have severely restricted travel to and
from the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power there in
June 2007, after winning Palestinian legislative
elections in 2006.

The blockade currently allows only very basic supplies
into Gaza.

The siege has severely restricted essential supplies
and placed Gazans in a dire situation, made worse by
Israel's military assault last winter that reduced much
of the territory to ruins.

Galloway, the convoy organiser, said the mission
represents only "a drop in the ocean" as long as the
siege on Gaza continues.

"No number of convoys is going to solve the problems
here," he told Al Jazeera.

"So we're not only trying to bring in aid, we're trying
to show the world there is a siege.

"If there is anyone who doubted there is a siege on
Gaza, they certainly aren't doubting it now after the
events of the last 31 days with this convoy."


=======================================

[Communist]

World solidarity with Gaza as
Int’l aid caravans confront blockade (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/gaza_0114/)

By LeiLani Dowell
Published Jan 6, 2010 8:49 PM


UPDATE - Viva Palestina has entered Gaza!


A Jan. 6 post on the Viva Palestina Web site reports, "One month, thousands of miles, ten countries, one ship and four flights later, Viva Palestina has begun to enter the besieged Gaza Strip."

http://www.workers.org/2010/world/cairo_0114.jpg
Gaza Freedom March members demonstrate
in Cairo.
Photo: Ludo De Brabander

The entry of the caravan into Palestine follows days of negotiations with the Egyptian government, who on Jan. 5 withdrew its negotiators and sent some 2,000 riot police to the VP camp at the port of Al-Arish. The police brutally attacked the VP participants and arrested seven of them. Ten members of the caravan were injured, four of them severely.

In response, protests were held on Jan. 6 at the Rafah border, where hundreds of Palestinians threw stones at Egyptian police, who fired weapons at them. Protests were also held Jan. 5 and 6 at the Egyptian mission to the U.N., called by the Break the Siege on Gaza Coalition, and at other locations across the U.S.

The caravan reports being "greeted with cheers from hundreds of well-wishers carrying flowers, warm smiles and chanting 'Viva Palestina!'"
For the most up-to-date updates on the VP caravan, visit www.vivapalestina.org (http://www.vivapalestina.org).

Jan. 4 — The steadfast, courageous resistance of the Palestinian people is receiving a strong shot of solidarity on the first anniversary of Israel’s genocidal attack against Gaza in 2008. Two international caravans are attempting to bring much-needed aid to the area, which has been under a blockade for the past three years. Along the way they are bringing attention to the Palestinian struggle; challenging governments that aid the U.S.-funded, Israeli war machine; and receiving warm welcome and praise from the masses in neighboring countries.

After traveling throughout Europe to call attention to and raise donations for the Palestinian struggle, the Viva Palestina 3 caravan arrived in Aqaba, Jordan, on Dec. 24 with the intent of entering Gaza on Dec. 27. Consisting of some 450 activists from around the world, the caravan includes 250 trucks, ambulances and other vehicles loaded with medicine, school supplies, winter clothing and more.

International Action Center (http://www.iacenter.org/) activist Ralph Loeffler, who is participating in the Viva Palestina 3 caravan, described in an email the reception in Turkey: “History was made Dec. 16 in Taksim Square, Istanbul. For the first time in 30 years the Turkish government gave permission for a political demonstration in historic Taksim Square — and it was given to support Viva Palestina’s medical relief convoy to blockaded Gaza. A massive, enthusiastic crowd turned out in the pouring winter rain to hear British [Member of Parliament] George Galloway, founder of Viva Palestina, and convoy organizer Kevin Ovenden thank the Turkish people and government for supporting Viva Palestina’s third convoy to Gaza.

“After leaving Taksim Square the convoy proceeded to Adapazari, Turkey, to overnight in a sports stadium. Although the convoy arrived about 2 a.m., the citizens of Adapazari were there and ready to help. Locals swarmed the vehicles and buses to carry the 200 convoy participants’ sleeping gear and baggage into the stadium. A complete, hot meal had been prepared and was served without any personal concern for the late hour.” Members of the Turkish parliament are also taking part in the caravan.

Treated ‘like family’

Loeffler reports similar treatment in Syria, where various political groups fed caravan members and filled caravan vehicles with water, drinks, bread and snacks and where the Palestinians in the refugee camps “treated us, literally, as family.”

A Jan. 4 update on the VP Web site (http://www.vivapalestina.org) reports that a convoy ship carrying all 250 vehicles has arrived in Egypt and that all the vehicles have passed through Egyptian customs. One flight of caravan members has landed in Al-Arish, Egypt, to join the vehicles; a second flight had engine trouble and was forced to return to Damascus, Syria.

Negotiations continue with the Egyptian government to allow VP passage through the border with Gaza. Egypt, which receives $2 billion a year in aid from the U.S., is extending the steel wall that currently separates Egypt from Gaza to reach some 70 to 100 feet underground. The goal is to block the tunnels that Gazans use to procure all manner of supplies that they are otherwise not able to obtain because of the blockade. The barrier, designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is being built under the supervision of French and U.S. intelligence officials.

For its part, Egypt has been hostile to the VP caravan and out-and-out repressive to the other caravan, the Gaza Freedom March (www.gazafreedommarch.org (http://www.gazafreedommarch.org)). Not only has Egypt prevented 1,200 of the 1,400 GFM delegates from entering Gaza, but at a Jan. 1 protest near the Cairo Museum in Cairo, Egypt, some 400 activists were stomped, punched and kicked by hundreds of Egyptian police. The police then physically dragged GFM members into pens, where they were denied food, water or access to restrooms. Egyptian police also surrounded GFM members at one hotel, placing them under “house arrest” and preventing them from leaving.
Participants in the GFM include delegates from more than 40 countries, with such notables as author Alice Walker and Jewish holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein. They have carried out a hunger strike and numerous protests in Egypt to demand the caravan’s entry into Gaza. Despite the repressive tactics of the Egyptian police, the caravan reports receiving much support from Egyptians in the streets.

A Cairo declaration was created and signed by more than 100 members of the caravan, which includes delegates from South Africa. Noting “the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa,” the declaration proposed a number of tactics similar to those used to defeat apartheid in South Africa, as well as a speaking tour involving both Palestinian and South African trade unionists.

Protests around the U.S. and around the world marked the one-year anniversary of the attack on Gaza and demanded entry into Gaza for both the VP and GFM caravans. The attack, which began on Dec. 27, 2008, left 1,400 dead, many of them children, and tens of thousand paralyzed when U.S.-made weapons were fired at schools, hospitals and homes. The continuing blockade augmented the suffering after the attack; many died due to the lack of medical equipment and resources. Now, many Gazan families sleep in tents this winter because the materials needed to rebuild their homes are prohibited by Israel’s blockade against the area.

===========================================
[I]The author is a leader of youth organization FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/).
--------------------------------------





Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World. (http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background) Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

======
http://a.images.blip.tv/WorkersWorld-WorldSolidarityWithGaza434-163.jpg (http://wbx.me/l/?p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblip.tv%2Ffile%2F3070027)
LeiLani Dowell speaks
on Gaza (http://wbx.me/l/?p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblip.tv%2Ffile%2F3070027), 01/08/10

--------------------------------------

As Egypt regime assists U.S.-Israeli genocide
Viva Palestina convoy breaks the siege of Gaza (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/gaza_0121/)

By Bill Cecil

Published Jan 15, 2010 10:39 PM
-------

For the third time in a year, Viva Palestina, the international relief effort led by British Member of Parliament George Galloway, has broken the siege of Gaza.

On Jan. 6, 518 volunteers from many countries drove more than 156 vehicles loaded with tons of medicine and other humanitarian aid into the only part of Palestine independent of Israeli control. They were backed by a global outpouring of solidarity, especially from the people of Turkey and the Arab and Islamic world, and as far away as Malaysia.

http://www.workers.org/2010/world/gaza_0121.jpg
Jan. 6 rally in support of Viva Palestine caravan,
New York. WW (http://www.workers.org/) photo: John Catalinotto

When the convoy entered Gaza after its month-long, 5,000-mile journey, hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s 1.5 million people lined the streets in welcome.

“The sight of people lining the streets virtually the full length of the Gaza Strip, after waiting for 10 hours for our last vehicles to pass (thanks to further Egyptian delays) was the only vindication that this initiative ever required,” said convoy leader Kevin Ovenden.

The third Lifeline to Gaza convoy defied an international conspiracy against the people of Gaza by the military/banker regime in Washington, D.C.; the U.S.-funded Israeli apartheid state; and the U.S.-funded Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt.

The day before they entered Gaza, the international volunteers were assaulted and beaten by 2,000 Egyptian riot police and undercover cops with clubs, stones and water cannons. Fifty-five people were injured, some seriously, and seven arrested. Egyptian troops opened fire across the border on people in Gaza itself, who were protesting the attack on the convoy. Israeli missiles also struck Gaza while the convoy was there, killing three Palestinians. After returning from Gaza, MP Galloway was seized by undercover cops, forced on a plane to London and barred from returning to Egypt.

Lifeline 3 left London on Dec. 6 with 200 volunteers and 80 trucks and ambulances filled with supplies donated by people across Britain and Ireland. It drove through Europe, warmly welcomed and joined by people, trucks and supplies in Belgium, Italy and Greece. A huge popular outpouring greeted the convoy in Turkey, where 125 people, including 10 MPs, and 60 more vehicles joined the convoy.

International Action Center (http://www.iacenter.org/) activist Ralph Loeffler, one of 62 U.S.volunteers on the journey, reported, “For the first time in 30 years the Turkish government permitted a political demonstration in historic Taksim Square, and it was to support Viva Palestina’s medical relief convoy to blockaded Gaza. A massive, enthusiastic crowd turned out in the pouring winter rain to hear George Galloway and Kevin Ovenden thank the Turkish people and government for supporting Viva Palestina’s third convoy to Gaza.

“After leaving Taksim the convoy proceeded to Adapazari [Turkey] to overnight in a sports stadium. Although the convoy arrived about 2 a.m., the citizens of Adapazari were there and ready to help. Locals swarmed the vehicles and buses to carry ... the 200 convoy participants’ sleeping gear and baggage into the stadium.”

In Syria, a British volunteer reported, “We were greeted by the sound of music and cheering. At the border posts, a huge reception was waiting for us, with speeches, music, flowers and flag-waving customs officers.

“There were also many, many Palestinians from the Syrian refugee camps, whose welcome was overwhelming. They told us we were heroes, angels, and thanked us over and over again for helping Gaza. We could only tell them that it was our duty, our obligation, and an honour to do what we can to fight the occupation — what else can you say when you experience such hospitality from people who’ve been exiled from their homeland for more than 60 years? It was a humbling experience. ...
“One 12-year-old girl said to me: ‘I’d like to come with you to my country, to see my land, but I’m not allowed. Thank you for going. It gives us the strength to carry on.’”

In Jordan too, the convoy was officially welcomed by the government and warmly welcomed by the people. But when they reached the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Jordan, whence they had planned to take a ferry to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and drive to Gaza, the Mubarak regime told them they could only enter Egypt through the Mediterranean port of Al-Arish. This forced the convoy’s return to Syria, from whence a Turkish ship conveyed the vehicles to Egypt while the majority of volunteers followed by plane.

The Egyptian regime’s open subservience to the Israeli state — which has twice invaded Egypt and murdered thousands of Egyptians, including schoolchildren and prisoners of war, and executed hundreds of Egyptian prisoners in cold blood — shocked even veteran political activists. It is in stark contrast to the attitude of ordinary Egyptians, who at every opportunity have expressed sympathy with the VP convoys.

When the first 167 VP participants landed at Al-Arish, Egyptian authorities seized their passports and told them the rest of the convoy would not be allowed in. After a sit-in at the airport, Egyptian authorities backed down temporarily, but the next day told the convoy leaders that 43 of the vehicles and their contents would have to pass through Israeli-controlled territory. When Viva Palestina leaders tried to negotiate that demand, pointing out the aid would be unlikely to reach Gaza, the Mubarak regime sent in police to try and seize the trucks. Plainclothes cops hurled rocks at the volunteers while uniformed police attacked with clubs, gas and water cannons. The activists stood up to the assault however, even capturing one of the assailants, and a standoff ensued. Viva Palestina agreed to the Egyptian regime’s demand in return for the release of convoy members arrested by Egyptian authorities. The supplies the Egyptians did not allow in will be sent to Turkey and distributed there to people in need.

The violence against Viva Palestina came only a week after Mubarak’s police attacked the 1,400-strong Gaza Freedom March and prevented it from bringing aid to Gaza. The regime took a very different attitude toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who received a warm welcome in Cairo on the anniversary of Israel’s assault on Gaza. In the 1970s Netanyahu was involved in terrorist operations in Egypt as part of the Zionist special operations unit Sayeret Matkal.

Viva Palestina’s third entry into Gaza was a people’s victory in spite of the force arrayed against it. It not only brought in much-needed aid, but it posed a powerful political challenge to the blockade. Said Ovenden: “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.”

While solidarity with the besieged Palestinians of Gaza is growing, so is their peril. With U.S. funds and help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mubarak regime is building an 80-foot-deep wall along Gaza’s southern border to block the tunnels that are Gaza’s primary lifeline. And there is growing evidence Israel is preparing another full-scale assault on Gaza.

The lengths to which the forces of oppression are going to crush the people of Gaza make it incumbent on the people’s movement to redouble efforts to break the blockade. The Viva Palestina movement appears determined to rise to the call. Upon his return to London, George Galloway told the media: “I’ve been banned from returning to Egypt, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going back to Gaza. There’s more than one way into Gaza.”

Videos and first-hand accounts of the convoy may be found at vivapalestina.org (http://www.vivapalestina.org/).

Cecil participated in the second Viva Palestina caravan in July.

========================================
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========= (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/haiti_solidarity_0128/)====================
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Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/).
Verbatim copying and distribution of
this entire article is permitted in any medium
without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
----