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By Press TV

July 15, 2009 “Press TV” — The Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy enters the Gaza Strip, breaking the deadly Israeli blockade imposed on 1.5 million Palestinians for a second time.

The American aid convoy carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of supplies for the people of Gaza crossed the Rafah border on Wednesday upon receiving permission from Cairo after a 10-day delay.

The 200 activists are allowed to stay in the coastal territory only for 24 hours, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Viva Palestina activists, all Americans, including Charles Barron, a New York City Councilman, say that they have been stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing for about 10 days despite earlier arrangements.

The humanitarian aid convoy consisting of 50 vehicles is the second organized by British Member of Parliament and Press TV presenter George Galloway.
July 14, 2009, 11 pm, Cairo

The Viva Palestina US caravan has received a permit to allow the group passage through the Rafah gate and into Gaza after spending 10 days in Cairo trying to overcome a series of bureaucratic delays.

The American convoy is mobilizing to carry busloads of supplies to the people of Gaza on Wednesday, July 15, and expects no further delays to their humanitarian mission because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already confirmed that all 200 delegates have satisfied all technical requirements required for travel.

Weeks ago, the Viva Palestina US convoy received assurances from Egyptian diplomats that they would expedite the delivery of a convoy of trucks, medical and relief supplies and American human rights volunteers into Gaza, but restrictions were then imposed on the initial Viva Palestina plan.

“We are now on our way to complete our humanitarian mission, more determined than ever and stronger in heart than when we entered Egypt,” says George Galloway, British Member of Parliament. “We now look forward to seeing in a matter of hours the faces of the besieged people of Gaza.”

This is a victory for the people of Gaza. We were determined not to be denied in bringing humanitarian aid to the children of Gaza. The silence of the world is deafening as the people of Gaza suffer, but the two hundred Americans and over one million dollars worth of aide that is going through confirms our commitment to a free Palestine. Long live the people of Palestine.

British anti-war MP George Galloway is to fly out on Saturday 4th July, American independence day, from JFK airport in New York with the first of a group of hundreds of US citizens who are to form the largest ever aid convoy to head into Gaza.

They will be heading off a month to the day from President Obama’s signal speech in Cairo promising a new, more egalitarian US engagement with the Muslim world and a change in policy over Palestine and the Middle East from the disastrous eight years of the Bush administration.

For six weeks the Viva Palestina campaign, launched by Galloway with an earlier convoy in March from Britain in March, has been building support for the mission across the US.

George will be leaving from JFK with the convoy members on Saturday afternoon. They will be landing in Cairo on Sunday at midday.There will be over 200 people participating in the convoy which will assemble in Cairo before heading for the Rafah Crossing. It is hoped to enter Gaza on Sunday 12th or Monday 13th July.

The convoy comes at a vital time for the people of Gaza as the International Red Cross report issued earlier this week confirms. There are one and a half million people now living in dire poverty, unable to rebuild after the destruction of the war in January of this year. This is the effect of the siege of Gaza imposed by the Israeli government for the last year. In the latest twist former U.S. Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and other human rights activists were seized by the Israeli navy as they sailed in the Spirit of Humanity with aid for Gaza.

Hello everyone,

Convoy route

One of the most common questions we’re being asked is how long the convoy will take.

The trip this time – via Europe, Syria, and Jordan before crossing over to Egypt – will definitely be shorter than last time. Did you know that Gaza is actually only 2225 miles in a straight line from London? Of course, roads and ferries mean that the actual distance we drive will be different — more like 300 miles. This is still less than the last convoy.

How Long will it take?

The convoy will take approximately 3 weeks from start to finish. This will include time in Gaza

A very accurate idea of how many miles we will be realistically able to cover each day, and where we will have the option to fuel and to stop, will be possible this time, because we have two convoyers – John Hurson from Ireland and Reza Yunis from Birmingham – who are going to drive the route as a trial later this month.

Convoy application form

We will shortly be launching the application form for the convoy! In the same way that the US convoy has done, we will make it available as an online form on the website. This will be very much more straightforward for us to process than the jumble of written forms that were all we had time for last time. It is absolutely essential that everybody coming on the convoy fills in this form, and agrees to the code of conduct, which includes a promise to attend a training session before the convoy. These will be around the UK, and spread over several dates before the convoy so there should be enough opportunities for everyone to get to one.

We will be asking everyone for a small fee to help us make this work smoothly, and to make it clear that the application form is a serious commitment to take part. If for any reason we are unable to accommodate you on the convoy relating to visas, safety, or inability to attend a training session, for example), this fee will be considered a donation to the convoy.

Your details will be passed to the closest regional group which will then be in touch with you regarding the training sessions once they become available.

Vehicles and Aid

It is likely that we will, once again, be told that only medical equipment is to be allowed through the border. We will be pushing to change this to allow other things such as toys, computers, and construction equipment to get through, but medical and sanitary equipment remain the priority and we would ask you to focus on collecting these.

To this end, the most useful vehicles remain ambulances – including if possible some four-wheel drive ones – and also minibuses suitable for use as light-casualty ambulances and/or school buses for example.

We would also like to have some refrigerated vehicles (preferably van- size) to enable the transportation of some of the medical supplies that need to be kept chilled.

Another novel suggestion is that we could take one or two fish-and- chip vans (or similar): not only would this help to attract publicity, but they could be used to cook for us on the journey! More practically, they would be useable as a business in Gaza.

Twinning

We hope to have our website revamped very soon and you will be able to find a list of organisations that could be twinned with. These aren’t limited to schools and hospitals — it would also be wonderful to see small businesses twinned. For example, simply a photograph of a British kebab shop inside a Gazan one is a reminder to all their customers that people care. And of course in the UK it’s another way to catch the attention of more and more members of the public.

Ghada
Viva Palestina UK
ghada@vivapalestina.org