Urgent: take action for Gaza
To all friends of the convoy and of Palestine
Well folks, as you awake today from your Christmas hangover, over 500 people from 20 countries, in 250 vehicles loaded with humanitarian aid, are left stranded in Aqaba, Jordan, having been refused permission to enter Egypt.
The Egyptians have placed three conditions on the convoy if it wants to enter Egypt.
1. We hand all our vehicles and aid over to UNWRA.
2. We drive 500 miles abck to Syria, and take a 24-hour ferry through the Suez Canal. (Actually, we would have to hire five boats, since the port of Al Ariesh couldn’t handle a boat big enough for the convoy.)
3. We have to ask Israel for permission to cross from Egypt to Gaza.
All three conditions have been flatly rejected by everyone on the convoy, as we want to cross into Gaza and hand our aid over to the Palestinians ourselves.
Would you phone Canada to ask permission to enter the US? Would you ask France for permission to go to Germany? For the first time, Egypt has now openly admitted that it is subject to control of Israel/US.
This has been the lead story on Al Jazeera for the past 24 hours, and there are media teams from all over the Arab world here in Aqaba following this story. Needless to say, everyone watching is totally outraged by Egypt’s complicity with Israel/US in denying this convoy of aid to reach Gaza.
Yesterday, Christmas Day, John Hurson from Tyrone dressed up as Santa to lighten the mood, and everyone’s sprirts lifted. Al Jazeera interviewed Santa, who explained that the children in Gaza were the only ones in the whole world who didn’t recieve any presents. Santa explained that while flying through the air on his sleigh with the reindeers, he was stopped and refused entry. Santa was upset as this was the only place in the world he could not visit.
Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the start of the 22-day massacre of over 1,400 people. In solidarity, many convoy members are all going to embark on a fast. We will fast for as long as it takes for us to get into Gaza with our aid.
We are calling on people all over the world to fast with us, and with the Palestinians, who fast every day due to the illegal siege imposed upon them by Israel/US/Egypt.
It’s time to take a stand and say “Enough Is Enough”. This siege has got to stop, for the sake of humanity.
We are calling on ALL friends of humanity to call the Egyptian Embassy and demand that we be allowed to enter Gaza and deliver our aid.
The contact details for the Egyptian Embassy in Dublin are: +353-1-6606718 / +353-1-6606566 / consular@embegyptireland.ie
The contact details for the Egyptian Embassy in London are: 0044-20-7499-3304 / eg.emb_london@mfa.gov.eg
Please contact them, and express your outrage at their refusal to allow Humanitarian Aid into Gaza, and to let them know that you will never travel to Egypt again, as long as they are the lap dogs for Israel/US.
Please forward this message on to everyone you know, and ask them to do the same. Plus, please leave a message of support for everyone who is stranded here in Aqaba, and for the Palestinians who need our support now, more than ever.
Example letter to the Egyptian consulate in London
Deserts, delays and Christmas cheer
Our arrival into Jordan was marred by an inexplicable delay, which left most of the convoy sitting for six hours at the border. Football gave way to irritation and a chorus of hornblowing, before we were finally allowed to pass, but not until officials had taken the passports of every vehicle’s driver.
Not surprisingly, this made volunteers feel rather nervous, but we did get them back again that evening, amid rumours that this may actually be standard procedure with commercial vehicles in Jordan. Standard or not, the information from various officials was neither consistent nor clear!
Our passage to Amman was further impeded by the apparent determination of police to divert us straight to the port of Aqaba. Knowing that we had a reception and press conferences waiting for us in Amman, however, we eventually resolved the situation via a little bit of (polite) direct action. The convoy pulled out from the inside lane, blocking the entire carriageway, including the hard shoulder, and created a rolling roadblock. Despite the inconvenience we were causing, local traffic caught up in the convoy was extremely supportive! The police, finding themselves sidelined, gave up their attempts at redirection, and moved to the side to wave us on.
Once more, kind hosts among the Palestinian community in Amman provided food and hotel accommodation for us, as well as a full programme of rallies and press conferences. Many of our hosts invited volunteers to their houses, where they enjoyed home-cooked food and convivial company.
By now, the convoy had become a major news story (in some cases the lead story) across the Middle East. The Turkish president even appeared on Syrian TV asking Egypt to facilitate its smooth passage.
Sadly, however, this appeal seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Despite Viva Palestina’s organisers spending months trying to coordinate and cooperate with the Egyptian authorities regarding the convoy’s passage from the Red Sea to Rafah (only half a day’s drive), at the last minute, the Egyptian consulate in Aqaba announced that all aid for Gaza must either be handed over to UNWRA, travel through Israel, or be approved by Israel (!) before coming to Rafah, and that therefore we would not be allowed to land at Nuweiba.
In a meeting with the convoy volunteers on Christmas morning, George Galloway pointed out that if we thought UNWRA was up to the job, we could have simply written them a cheque months ago! He also reiterated that we had no intention of asking Israel for its permission to deliver aid to a sovereign people via a third, also sovereign, country. He begged the Egypian authorities to change their minds, emphasising that on Sunday 27 December, the anniversary of the bombardment of Gaza, the world’s attention should be on Israel and its war crimes, not on Egypt, a fellow Arab nation.
So now, on Christmas Day, nearly 500 volunteers are waiting in Aqaba while negotiations with Egypt continue. At this time of year, it is especially poignant to know that 150-odd vehicles, carrying medicines, paper and pencils, toys, maternity and baby supplies should be sitting less than a day’s journey away from their destination, while Gaza’s children continue to suffer under the criminal blockade.
We know that the people of the Middle East are with us. I have no doubt that that goes for most Egyptian people, too. Meanwhile, the convoy volunteers are determined to complete their mission, and prepared to be patient.
We are asking all friends and supporters of the convoy and of Palestine to please contact the Egyptian consulate in London and the Egyptian goverment in Cairo asking them politely to reconsider their disastrous decision. Contact your MP and the foreign office and request that they take action. Phone and email the media, asking them to report on the story, which ought to be big news at Christmastime. And forward info to all your friends asking them to do the same.
The Egyptian goverment, the British goverment and the British media all need to know that British people care about this issue, and will not stand by and let the convoy be turned away so close to its final destination.
Example letter to Egyptian consulate
More action ideas and lots of updates on Reading PSC website
Yet more things we have learned:
1. Contrary to expectation, it is very hard to find loose cotton tops in Amman. Jordanian women appear to favour strangely ugly fitted jumpers made from synthetic fibres.
2. There may be some connection between clothing-induced discomfort and a general lack of cheer amongst the ladies of Amman.
3. Punjabi men are disproportionately excited by the sight of a woman in Punjabi-style clothes.
4. The words ‘flaunting’ and ‘modesty’ are not compatible with a civilised debate about the nature of equality between the sexes.
5. The Jordanian desert is very beautiful.
6. It is hard to be enthusiastic about beautiful things when driving on an unpredictable road with vacuous CB chatter ringing in your ears.
7. It is perfectly acceptable to be irrascible when big bouncy people arrive FRESH onto the convoy, full of well-meant but misplaced enthusiasm and flaunting obscenely high energy levels. Especially when they have the cheek to start pointing out beautiful things to you.
8. People who join the convoy late, and have therefore had the benefit of two and a half weeks’ worth of extra sleep, should be seen and not heard. It is not polite to walk around looking clean and healthy and to compound the offence by making jokes/generally pleasant conversation when everyone else has gone a tired/bedraggled shade of grey and can barely string a coherent sentence together.
9. Ditto with flaunting efficiency and brain power when everyone around you is getting increasingly random as the days go by. Keep your cleverness to yourself.
10. There is no limit to the number of mattresses that can be squeezed onto the floor of an apparently small room. As each mattress is brought in, a space for it will appear on the floor. This is known as the accommodation tardis law.
11. There is no way to leave a room full of sleeping women without treading on at least three of them.
12. The person who snores will fall asleep first, and thereafter sleep soundest and longest. This person will also be strategically positioned so as to disturb the most people, while simultaneously being strangely hard to identify.
12. Computers suck your life away. This explains why the people who blog the most have the least to say. Sometimes you actually have to stop writing about the world and go and be in it.
13. If you want to sap the morale of an unwanted convoy, a beautiful seaside resort is not the place to dump them.
14. Christmas night on a beach you never expected to see, with drinks provided by the beer fairy and at least one boy with a guitar, should be experienced once by everyone.
15. Unexpected presents are the nicest.
16. The rumours and counter-rumours circulating during the first part of the trip were actually an ingenious curiosity-reduction programme devised by the Viva Palestina leadership. Misinformation spread by those who wish to discourage the convoy has thus been rendered ineffectual, since most volunteers have stopped trying to figure out what might happen next.
17. Never mind meditation; a state of zen acceptance can be reached when you learn to give up all attempts at control or understanding and simply await further instructions.
18. If this is how soldiers are trained, then we are building an army for Palestine.
19. If any doubt was left about the bias and imperialist agenda of the British media, it has surely been dispelled now. The stranded convoy has been the lead news story all across the Middle East for two days, yet most outlets in Britain have been going with the doddery Pope and the weather.
20. Despite this, the solidarity from supporters in Britain has been truly heartening. Every donation and message we receive is proof that the media blackout is not as successful as it might appear.
21. It is heartbreaking to meet refugees living within an hour’s journey of their former family homes, who can see across to occupied Palestine every day, yet who have never been inside the country.
22. Despite this daily reminder of their tragedy, Palestinians in Jordan still manage to be exceptionally positive, optimistic and friendly people. Their hospitality towards the stranded convoy has been phenomenal.
23. With such an example in front of us, it will take more than a few days in a lovely town and some idle rumours to discourage the convoy.
24. Beroch, beit dam, nafdiki ya Gaza! (With our blood and with our soul, we’ll save you Gaza.)
Urgent: your help needed to overturn Egyptian refusal
Happy Christmas one and all. Bit of a strange one here. We were supposed to be on a ferry from Aqaba in Jordan to Nuweiba in Egypt last night, but, at the last moment, the Egyptian consulate in Aqaba refused permission for us to land on the other side.
So now we are stranded in Aqaba, hoping that pressure from the Arab media and peoples, as well as from the Turkish (supporters of the convoy) and Jordanian (hoping for us not to be stuck in Aqaba much longer) governments, will push the Egyptians into changing their minds.
Egypt is currently insisting that aid should go through Israel, or, if it goes through Rafah, should be approved by Israel – a fairly embarrassing admission in terms of what it says about Egypt’s sovereignty!
So please email and call Egyptian authorities, MPs, the media etc and try to raise as much fuss as possible. Let everyone know that the convoy has your support and that we will not be moved until we are allowed to deliver our aid and vehicles into Gaza.
British volunteers are trying to bring medicines, pens, paper and toys to the children of Gaza. The fact that we are being refused access should be big news on Christmas Day. Help us break the western media blackout and break the siege of Gaza.
Turkish delights on the road to Damascus
We arrived in Istanbul to the first of many royal welcomes. A banquet, a beautiful building, hugs, smiles and speeches. The nice surroundings made us feel decidedly scruffy, but nobody seemed to mind.
The president of IHH, Viva Palestina’s partner in Turkey, gave us a warm welcome, and his organisation continued to pull out all the stops as we made our progress across the country. As well as providing 60 vehicles full of aid, with drivers, IHH organised food, sports hall accommodation, city parades, receptions and press conferences in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Konya and Gaziantep – five out of Turkey’s six main cities.
Everywhere we went, we met crowds of people, keen to demonstrate their support for the convoy and for Palestine, such as the women in Istanbul who took off their shawls and pressed us to give them to women in Gaza. And throughout the country, at all hours of the day and night, people were waiting at major road junctions or small towns along the route to wave the convoy past.
As well as getting plenty of national TV coverage, the convoy made the front page of at least one national daily paper, and a delegation was received by the Turkish parliament. More than that: a rally was held for us in Taksim Square, in the centre of Istanbul, addressed by George Galloway and others. It was the first time a demo of any kind had been allowed there for 30 years.
The parade through Adana was particularly vibrant, and one van full of sisters was so enthused that they ended up following us all the way to Gaziantep. That night, which was the convoy’s last in Turkey, our hosts were so keen to demonstrate their solidarity that a couple of dozen families ended up staying the night with us, children and all.
After such support and hospitality, we were decidedly sorry to leave Turkey, especially as we had no idea what to expect in Jordan. We needn’t have worried, though: an official reception, complete with Syrian TV cameras, was waiting for us at the border, where we aunties had some very interesting conversations with young Red Crescent volunteers about the low level of awareness and/or interest in the Palestinian cause in Britain, and the part the British media plays in keeping people ignorant of the true facts about occupation and resistance.
The drive to Damascus was punctuated with stops for several receptions and welcomes with Syrian officials. At each of these, speeches of support were made, and coffee and snacks offered. Gifts were also made to convoy volunteers, ranging from the decorative (flowers and scarves) to the practical (water and tissues).
After a week of camping in car parks, followed by a week of bunking down on sports hall floors, we were extremely grateful to find that the Syrian government had arranged accommodation for us at a lovely government-run hotel complex on the outskirts of the city, complete with much-in-demand laundry facilities!
A day off in Damascus was spent catching up on sleep and washing, and visiting the old city, before returning to the hotel for a militant rally and cultural celebration with Palestinian refugees, addressed by George Galloway and by leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian organisations. The Syrians also gave us another 45 tonnes of medical aid, which was distributed amongst the vehicles that still had space.
Access to internet has been a bit unpredictable recently, so more on our journey to Jordan will follow soon. In the meantime, I’m just about managig to update Twitter fairly regularly, so follow the story there.
Even more things we have learned:
1. There is no such thing as a reliable source of information on the convoy. Peace of mind is achieved by not asking questions. If you do accidentally ask a question, it is best not to listen to the answer.
2. Remain on a state of high alert; you may be leaving at any moment. On the other hand, you may not. This experience can be compared with that of having someone shout ‘Ready, steady … STOP!’ in your ear all day long.
3. Do not respond to food anxiety by hoarding all the bread, cheese, cakes and yoghurt (especially the yoghurt) that have been offered to you. The smells and general detritus will not enhance your travelling environment.
4. If you have ignored the above advice and accumulated large amounts of food, you may not want to leave your van parked all day in the sun with the windows shut. Expanding gases will eventually force your windscreen out. This may initially seem comical, but will almost certainly be inconvenient.
5. Not all roadside shops are service stations. Not all toilets are designated public conveniences. If a bemused man and his assistants are watching 20 convoy members queue through their shop for a single loo with no door, it is not polite to start complaining about the state of the facilities.
6. People are annoying. When thinking this, it is often a good idea to remember that you are one too.
7. People are more annoying when you are suffering from sleep deprivation. Stop talking to them and go to bed.
8. Contrary to popular opinion, debating powers are not at their peak at 3.00am. See no 7 above.
9. Despite this, it is probably better to debate at 3.00am than not at all. Plenty of strong tea will get you through the next day.
10. It is hard to write a blog entry on a small keyboard when you have been up all night and too much strong tea is giving you the shakes.
11. Cigarettes will not improve this situation.
12. The love of the people for the convoy knows no bounds. In this part of the world, we can really feel the truth of the slogan ‘We are ALL Palestinians’.
ps. Lots of lovely pics but no joy uploading them at the mo. Will sort when facilities allow.
Article in Lebanese press quotes Joti2Gaza
The Lebanese Daily Star has published an article about the Viva Palestina convoy, featuring quotes from me (naturally) and some geezer called George Galloway (not sure how he muscled in on the act; clearly a bit pushy).
Author Rich Hall has promised to try to sell the story to the British press, but we won’t be holding our breath for that!
In the meantime, forward the link to friends, post it on comment boards (Guardian, Times etc) of related stories (Gaza, Palestine, Israel, war crimes etc) and send letters/emails to the Beeb and mainstream press asking them to cover the story!
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=10&article_ID=109910&categ_id=2
http://waterinmajorca.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/viva-la-palestina-revolucion/
Viva Palestina: a lifeline from Britain to Gaza
The New Internationalist have asked me to write for their Gaza blog. The first piece is online now.
Please forward and help us break the media blackout!
London court issued arrest warrant for Livni
Via FT.com
By James Blitz in London and Vita Bekker in Tel Aviv
A warrant for the arrest of Tzipi Livni, the Israeli opposition leader, was formally issued by a London magistrates court last Saturday, one day before she had been scheduled to address a conference in the capital, insiders close to the case have told the Financial Times.
In a move that has triggered acute embarrassment for the British government in its relations with Israel, Westminster magistrates court ordered the issue of an arrest warrant for Ms Livni, a move that would have led to her immediate detention by police upon arrival in the UK.
Israel’s foreign ministry on Tuesday warned that its relations with Britain could be damaged, as would Britain’s role in Mideast peacemaking, should there not be “decisive and immediate” action to prevent such arrest warrants against Israeli officials in the future.
It said in a statement: “If the leaders of Israel will not be able to visit Britain in a respectable and appropriate manner, it would naturally be a real obstacle to Britain’s willingness to play an active role in the Middle East peace process.”
The former Israeli foreign minister was due to address the Jewish National Fund in London last Sunday.
On Monday her spokesman in Jerusalem said Ms Livni’s decision not to travel was due to pressure on her schedule and was in no way connected to expectations that she might be arrested by British police.
However, the issue of the warrant – almost certainly for alleged war crimes in connection with Ms Livni’s role as Israeli foreign minister – has caused intense irritation in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, amid concerns Israeli politicians are finding it increasingly hard to visit the UK.
The FCO last night issued a statement saying: “The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel. To do this, Israel’s leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British Government. We are looking urgently at the implications of this case.”
Pressure groups have for some time sought to persuade Westminster’s magistrates court to issue arrest warrants for visiting Israeli politicians. In September the court rejected a petition calling for the arrest of Ehud Barak, Israeli defence minister, on the grounds that he committed war crimes for his oversight of Operation Cast Lead, the three-week attack on the Gaza Strip in late December, 2008. In Mr Barak’s case the petition was rejected because he was a serving government official, while Ms Livni would have been on a private visit.
In September 2005, major general Doron Almog arrived in London but was forced to fly back to Israel for fear he would be arrested. General Almog, who had been accused of illegally ordering the destruction of 59 homes in the Gaza Strip in 2002, was reportedly tipped off that a warrant had been issued.
The FCO insisted that the issue of an arrest warrant for any foreign national would always be a matter solely for a UK court.
“The Israelis are aware of the potential for a private application for an arrest warrant to be sought, as happened previously when Defence Minister Barak visited,” the FCO said.
Breaking down the barriers
All sorts of good things to report.
On the media front, the mainstream in Britain may be ignoring us, but, one way and another, we are being heard all the same.
I’ve never had much time for all the ‘broadcast your life’ social networking stuff before, but, on a mission like this, it has really come into its own. A whole network of Twitterers, bloggers and Facebook users are pushing the message out far and wide. And every little plug really does make a difference.
Last night, I gave a short phone interview to the Lebanese Daily Star, who contacted me via Twitter. This morning, the New Internationalist contacted me via this blog asking if I’d write some posts for them too.
And at the Greek-Turkish border just now, as well as getting victory signs from soldiers on both sides, we found an amazing welcome rally had been organised right by the Turkish entrance barrier! In Britain, the police would be setting the dogs and tear gas on us. In Turkey and Greece, the police were joining in. Which is even more significant given the tense relations between the two countries …
Chanting, speeches, TV crews and a generally joyous atmosphere prevailed. There were rumours the convoy made Greek national TV, and it looks like we’ll be reported on Turkish telly too.
The ordinary people of Greece and Turkey have proved extremely eager to demonstrate their support for the convoy, too, offering food and drink, waving, beeping horns and waiting around for hours in the cold to cheer us on.
Heading for Istanbul now, with a police escort all the way and lots of people out to wave us on. We’ll stay for two nights and then leave reinforced by contingents from Malaysia, Turkey, the USA and more, taking us to a grand total of 200 vehicles and 450 people heading for Gaza.
People of Palestine – the world is with you!
More things we have learned:
1. Uploading photos to the internet one by one from a phone is very, VERY slow. Be sure to find free wifi and a friendly caff to sit in.
2. Arriving at a grid layout camp site after dark is not conducive to orientation.
3. When navigating a dark campsite, some kind of bread trail or ball of string may help avoid unnecessary and circular wandering as you first try to find hot water for washing up, then try to get back to your van, and finally try to figure out where you put the very heavy bowl of soapy dishes when all the wandering was getting too much.
4. Wet hair doesn’t dry at night. Reading a book for two hours in the hope that it will only leads to sleep deprivation. You will still have bad hair in the morning. This look is not enhanced by black circles under the eyes.
5. It’s true: a watched kettle really doesn’t boil. Best to blag your hot water from someone who started earlier. And fill up a thermos for later while you’re at it.
6. There is no limit to the number of cups of tea a tired driver can spill or otherwise fail to drink. Even though a nice cup of tea is all that said driver really wants.
7. A minibus cannot race an ambulance. Or any other vehicle. Sometimes, it cannot even race a brisk pedestrian.
8. Contrary to the picture postcard images, Greece and Turkey are extremely cold in winter. Bring thermals. Wear thermals.
9. It is not possible to look cool in thermals and three jumpers. Anyone who appears to offer proof to the contrary has clearly entered into some kind of Satanic pact and will get their comeuppance in the hereafter. Ditto with good hair after 10 days on the road.
10. A camp fire will lift the spirits on the coldest night. Fire + singing + friendly faces = perfect happiness.
11. There is more anticommunism among Labour and trade-union types than among many passionately devout muslims.
12. Sometimes a policeman CAN be on the right side. Extra respect to all the cops and army boys who have given us the victory sign in the last few days.
13. Even the shepherds in Turkey are friends of Palestine.
14. International solidarity is alive and well among the ordinary people of Europe and the Middle East. In our thousands, in our millions, we are ALL Palestinians!
Via Palestine Solidarity Campaign
According to the Jewish Chronicle today, Israeli opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, cancelled a visit to Britain yesterday (13 December), for fear of being arrested.
Betty Hunter, Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s General Secretary, said: “More and more, Israel’s political and military leaders are coming to realise that their war crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will not go unpunished.
“Tzipi Livni was Israel’s foreign minister when Israel launched its horrific attack on Gaza last year, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children. Over 5,000 were wounded, and essential infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and sewage facities were destroyed.
“Livni held a senior position in a government responsible for horrific war crimes. Justice Goldstone made clear in his report to the UN that Israel had serious charges to answer over its massacre in Gaza. We’re committed to bringing those responsible for these war crimes to justice.”
Over 100 protested yesterday in Hendon, London, where Livni was due to speak at the Jewish National Fund’s Vision 2010 conference, and had been expected to meet Gordon Brown for private talks. The Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has described the Jewish National Fund as Israel’s main agency of ethnic cleansing.
In October 2009, Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s vice-premier, pulled out of a visit to London to attend a charity event following advice that he may be arrested on war crimes charges.
In September 2009, Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, who ordered the attack on Gaza, avoided arrest when he entered Britain after the Foreign Office upgraded his visit status from ‘private’ to ‘special status’. Barak was in the UK to attend a Labour Friends of Israel reception at the Labour Party conference.
On 27 December 2009, human rights campaigners will attend a vigil outside the Israeli embassy in London to mark the first anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s air and land assault on Gaza – from 3.00pm outside the Israeli embassy – calling for an end to the siege on Gaza, and for Israeli war criminals to be brought to justice.
Media contact: Sarah Colborne 07971 424 296 or 020 7700 6192
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is the UK’s largest organisation campaigning for solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Greek solidarity and photo update
Fantastic hospitality from our friends in Thessaloniki. Food, shelter, mayoral reception, press conference and a big parade through the town.
Finally got decent wifi connection too. Pics are on Flickr or the Swansea Palestine blog.
Joti's journey to Gaza 