Miles From Gaza: Part 2
by Adriano Contreras | Monday, December 28th, 2009

The anniversary of the massacre in Gaza did not go quietly in Aqaba, Jordan. Over 200 people lined a roundabout on a main street littered with shops, hotels, and restaurants.

Roughly 100 of the convoy members left the base with banners, placards, and signs. Jordanian laws require permits for demonstrations and even so are rarely granted. So we chose not to chant and instead tested the reaction of the police by simply marching to the Egyptian consulate.

The police weren’t happy and we were forced to stop a number of times. Eventually we settled at a busy roundabout and had vehicles honk in support. A number of times we spilled into 2 lanes of traffic. From motorcycles to coach buses, honking drew people out of the mosques and businesses and into the streets.

Jordanian locals and other convoy members joined in and helped double our size. There is real fear in Jordanian locals to step out and take part in political action that doesn’t involve bowing down to the king. Many can face hours of interrogation or be followed by secret police as a result of such action.

The presence of the convoy has allowed locals to feel comfortable about talking politics in the open and give a thumbs up to us as we walk in the streets. A Norwegian couple that approached us at dinner told us that they haven’t been successful in talking to locals about Israel and Palestine. They were taken aback by the support we’ve received through free medical supplies, free hotel stays, and dinners. Anyone could be secret police, but our green t-shirts make locals feel at ease.

The police in the end were tame. They asked us to stay on the sidewalk with words rather than clubs. Even when members of the American delegation walked through traffic carrying “a body” and chanting, they just cleared passage for them. One convoy member did decide to head down to the Egyptian consulate on his own and was clubbed a couple of times by the authorities.

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Negotiations have come to a close for now. As of 5:30pm, we are being asked to pack and be ready to go. We’re headed to Syria, where we will board a ship headed to a port in Egypt. The conditions are not like the terrible ones laid out in “Part 1″; we don’t have to hand over our aid to the UN or talk to the Israeli government. We’re on the move again!

Tags: convoy, demonstration, Gaza, protest, Viva Palestina

11:22 am. Viva Palestina.