Solidarity to Viva Palestina, from afar
by Thomas | Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

After having been with the Viva Palestina (VP) convoy for three weeks I have grown attached to its mission and its people.

Through the time I was with the convoy we were greeted by friendly locals. We were treated, sometimes, like heroes, even though I didn’t feel like we deserved the praise for a mission not yet come to fruition. People were willing to open their homes to us, to assist us in any way they could. Every meal seemed to be a feast. I was surprised that those with so little were willing to give so much.

Then enters Egypt… We were in Aqaba, Jordan, slated to ferry across the Red Sea into Nuweiba, Egypt. To our dismay, the Egyptian government decided this was not to be. Earlier they had publicly stated that the border to Gaza is open to humanitarian aid and that they would not hinder such missions.

The Egyptian government wanted us to travel to a different port, one which would have taken us well out of the way and also increased the cost of travel. They also tried to make ridiculous demands on the convoy. Such as to negotiate with Israel to allow us to enter Gaza through the Sinai. Also, relinquishing all of the aid to another humanitarian aid organization, one which is notorious for not giving aid to those it claims. Another attempt by Egypt was that they would allow only the Turks to enter Egypt, thereby splitting our forces. The wonderful Turks in solidarity refused this offer and stayed with the convoy.

The next delaying tactic used by the Egyptian government was to change the port the convoy could enter to El Arish, which is on the Mediterranean. This caused the convoy (after being in Aqaba for 4-5 days mind you) to pack up and travel back again out of Jordan and into Syria where we could find a port to travel to El Arish.

After two days in Damascus I unfortunately had to bid farewell to the convoy, with a mixture of frustration and sadness. Frustrated at the Egyptian government for giving us false hope and misdirection in order to delay if not prevent us from entering Egypt, let alone Gaza, while publicly claiming that borders were open. Sadness that I had to leave the group, which I had spend nearly a month with, and that I would not make it to the completion of the mission. That I would not get to see firsthand the wanton destruction, to be able to observe what I was working for.

Now that the VP group has made it into El Arish, they are unfortunately not getting the same warm welcome that we had through Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. Instead, they are met by riot police and water cannon. There have been reports of injuries in the 50s, mostly head trauma. I cannot believe that the Egyptian government is so adamant in its attempts to prevent VP from entering Gaza. I would be disgusted to see all the hard work done by the convoy, from purchasing vehicles to acquiring aid, to the sacrifices made by all of us in the group personally and financially, go unrewarded because Egypt does not want aid to go to the Palestinians.

What Egypt has done is unfortunate, they have pulled the negative attention that was toward the Israeli Zionists to themselves. By all accounts we were ahead of schedule and should have been at the Rafah border on December 27th., the anniversary of the air assault of Israel into Gaza killing nearly 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Now it is ten days later, January 6th, and the convoy is finally being permitted through. VIVA VIVA PALESTINA!

Tags: El Arish, Eqypt, gaza strip, Israel, Viva Palestina

4:06 pm. Politics, Viva Palestina.