Crunch Time
by Adriano Contreras | Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

“Do not judge a book by its cover” is a common phrase used to prevent people from stereotyping or making great generalizations about a certain group of people’s politics, beliefs, ideas or actual book covers. During this convoy and specifically for the Middle East, we should perhaps rephrase it to “Don’t judge a country by its ruling ideas.”

The Viva Palestina convoy left Turkey with enough fruit, bread, and sweets to keep us content on the road for a couple hundred miles. The people in Turkey were highly supportive of our efforts to break the siege and one of it’s main humanitarian relief organizations, the IHH, is to thank for much of the organizing and money they put into the 5 days we were in Turkey.

We entered Syria and before we even officially made it into Syria (so the gap between both borders) the Syrian government set up a welcome celebration. They treated us to coffee and gave us flowers. People sang and lined up youth chanted. Government officials smiled for the camera with many of our activists and convoy members. We had Palestinian and Syrian flags handed to us and we shook hands with members of the Red Crescent. Fabulous welcoming. It was exhilarating.

Our presence in Turkey filled the pages of every national paper. For five days we cut through Turkey and built a series of press trails that extended across the Middle East through outlets like Al Jazeera and PressTV. The Turks set an example to the remaining countries we were to pass through. Syria upped the ante and took the celebration, the media party, and the government officials to that border gap. They were ready to impress.

The Syrian government hasn’t done anything for the fight against Israel. The hypocrisy alone of a restrictive and undemocratic government behind the fight for liberation and democracy in Palestine is not lost on us. We felt like pawns in a political game, but we were well aware of the importance of having placed the pressure on them to have to address us in the manner that they did. The Middle Eastern media is on fire with coverage of our convoy. Over 300 people and close to 175 vehicles is just unavoidable. Just imagine about 70 ambulances with their sirens blaring simultaneously.

Its also not lost on us because we’ve encountered extreme support from ordinary Syrians, as well as discontent with the inaction of their government and other Arab states. While in this great marketplace in Damascus I had lunch. A kebab sandwich and cola. Suddenly we are approached by a man who said he read my T-shirt. His name was Nassar. The kindest soul. Nassar lives in Damascus. He speaks English, French, and Italian as well and guides tourists around the city. He offered to pay for our lunch. We had already paid for it. He then offered to contribute to the convoy. But we sadly informed him we were leaving the next morning. He insisted and insisted that it was his duty to help us on our mission. We told him it was fine and asked him to join us. He was too busy to do so, but we interviewed him and he expressed his sorrow, solidarity, and hope.

Nassar left us and returned 10 minutes later with a gift in hand. He brought David and I camel links (think sausage links). WOW. Never thought I’d eat camel. It was delicious. He spent another 10 minutes with us expressing his desire to contribute some way some how. Those are the moments that place into perspective for us that what we’re doing is seen as a blessing to many. The millions of Arabs in the Middle East that wish they could speak up and join a convoy live vicariously through our effort.

——

As I write this, I’m in Amman Jordan. There was no government reception. No balloons. No free food. No people waiting for us in the streets in every single town labeled on the map. Nothing. The Kingdom of Jordan is hostile towards our convoy and has turned its back on the people of Palestine. Openly criticizing their stance on Palestine or the kingdom in general can lead to detention or worse.

As we pulled into Jordan yesterday we made our way south to Amman. About 15 kilometers outside of the city the police divided up our convoy. My half was stopped in the middle of the highway. The police blocked 2 lanes of traffic. Knowing that the Jordanian government would put up a fight, we expected the stop to be some sort of delaying tactic. Our destination for the night was in the middle of the city and they knew it would be great press for us to drive during the busy night life with our hundred-plus convoy.

Coordination in these situations is very difficult. But we made the best of what we could gather. The other half of the convoy was being diverted to the next town further south in which we’d be taking a ferry to Egypt from. They too responded similarly to the situation. Convoy members exited their vehicles and begin to protest the police actions as convoy leaders entered negotiations. Turkish vehicles blocked the rest of the highway in order to intensify the situation for the police and back up traffic. Nearly 2 hours on a highway, media made its way there and locals gathered. I have no way of watching the news, but apparently we made a number Jordanian media outlets.

Things escalated as people grew even more frustrated with the situation. The police wouldn’t budge and members of the American delegation decided to begin a sit down protest to declare our resilience. It lasted a few short minutes because coordination for such an action wasn’t established. Police eventually gave in as traffic backed up more and more and convoy members begin to follow the police in a roaming protest. “Viva viva Palestina!” and “Free free Palestine!” were amongst the chants that night.

A union of engineers in Jordan has hosted us in Amman and fed us upon arrival. George Galloway spoke that night and address the press and Jordanian guests. Today, Galloway addressed a massive press conference outside the union hall. 400 – 600 gathered in the parking lot as Galloway fired off condemning Israeli actions, asked the Egyptians to let us through peacefully, and argued that ordinary Jordanians voice their concern and take matters into their own hands. Quite a sight it was.

Our stay in Amman has come to an end and the last leg of the journey begins tomorrow. We’ll need every bit of teamwork and international support. Its crunch time.

Tags: convoy, Gaza, Israel, Jordan, Siege, solidarity, Syria, Turkey, Viva Palestina

8:58 pm. Viva Palestina.