Aid convoy breaks Gaza seige

Source: Al Jazeera

A humanitarian aid convoy carrying food and medical supplies has arrived in the Gaza Strip nearly a month after it embarked from the UK.

Members of the much-delayed Viva Palestina convoy began passing through Egypt's Rafah border crossing into Gaza on Wednesday, waving Palestinian flags and raising their hands in peace signs.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza, said the first wave of vehicles was greeted by Gaza's Hamas leaders as well as members of a Turkish humanitarian organisation that aided in bringing the convoy to the strip.

"We had been expecting the arrival of the convoy amid much fanfare but it almost caught the Palestinians here by surprise," he said.

"The doors suddenly flung open and within minutes the first batch of about 12 or so vehicles made their way from the Egyptian side to the Palestinians."

More than 100 vehicles followed the first batch into Gaza shortly afterward, he said.

Violent Clashes

Participants of the convoy are expected to spend the next 48 hours distributing the aid supplies.

Viva Palestina's arrival in Gaza followed violent clashes between Egyptian security forces, Palestinians and members of the convoy.

Hours before the convoy's arrival, an Egyptian soldier was shot dead during a clash with Palestinian protesters who had gathered along the border to protest a delay in the convoy's arrival.

Egyptian forces opened fire to disperse the stone-throwing protesters, and at least 35 Palestinians were wounded in the ensuing clash, according to Hamas officials.
Late on Tuesday, more than 50 people were wounded during a clash between Egyptian authorities and international members of the convoy.

The protests were sparked by an Egyptian decision to allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but requiring a remaining 59 vehicles to pass via Israel.

Bitter Disputes

The convoy, led by George Galloway, a British MP, had already been delayed by more than a week, after he and a delegation of Turkish MPs failed to persuade the Egyptians to change their mind.

The convoy of nearly 200 vehicles arrived in Egypt's port city of al-Arish on Monday after a dispute with Cairo on the route.
But the arrival came after a bitter dispute between its organisers and the government, which banned the convoy from entering Egypt's Sinai from Jordan by ferry, forcing it to drive north to the Syrian port of Lattakia.

Al Jazeera's Amr El Kahky, who has been travelling with the convoy, said Viva Palestina's organisers had hoped to reach Gaza by December 27.
"We're talking about an almost 10 day delay. The convoy members are happy to have reached their destination," he said.

"Many of them have taken time off from their jobs in Europe and other areas and that's why they're happy to deliver the aid and go back home to resume their normal lives. So their jubilation is justified."

Gaza Blockade

Israel and Egypt have severely restricted travel to and from the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power there in June 2007, after winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.

The blockade currently allows only very basic supplies into Gaza.
The siege has severely restricted essential supplies and placed Gazans in a dire situation, made worse by Israel's military assault last winter that reduced much of the territory to ruins.

Galloway, the convoy organiser, said the mission represents only "a drop in the ocean" as long as the siege on Gaza continues.

"No number of convoys is going to solve the problems here," he told Al Jazeera.

"So we're not only trying to bring in aid, we're trying to show the world there is a siege.

"If there is anyone who doubted there is a siege on Gaza, they certainly aren't doubting it now after the events of the last 31 days with this convoy."

Aid Convoy Breaks Israeli Blockade of Gaza

Source: PressTV

The Viva Palestina aid convoy entered Gaza Wednesday, after it received the approval of Egyptian authorities to bring into the besieged, impoverished coastal sliver several tons of humanitarian supplies.

The activists entered Gaza through Rafah border crossing. More than 500 international activists accompany the convoy organized by the British-based group Viva Palestina, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Fifty-nine vehicles were not allowed into the strip but the supplies were unloaded and taken through by the activists.

The Egyptian approval came after activists and security forces clashed earlier in the day when Cairo refused to allow part the aid convoy to pass through its land to the Hamas-ruled territory.

More than 55 activists and over a dozen members of the security forces were injured in the clashes. Some sixty convoy-members were also arrested.

Gaza has been under a tight Israeli blockade since June 2007 when the democratically elected Hamas took control of the area. Egypt has come under fire from Arab and Muslim groups for cooperating with Israel.

British lawmaker George Galloway, who is accompanying the convoy, said that the activists had been forced to renegotiate with the Egyptian authorities.

"We refused this because it's a breach of the agreement which we reached in Aqaba between the government of Egypt and the Turkish side," he said. "It is completely unconscionable that 25 percent of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza, because nothing that goes to Israel ever arrives in Gaza."

Egyptian authorities had also refused the convoy entry into the country from the Red Sea, forcing it to change course to a Mediterranean port.

Egypt Police Injure 35 Palestinians

Source: PressTV

Egyptian forces injured at least 35 Palestinians on Wednesday when they clashed with protesters who staged rallies against Cairo's steeling its border with the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The incident occurred when security forces confronted the protesters on the Egypt-Gaza border, Reuters reported. Two of the injured are in critical condition.

The Egyptian government is building a steel wall along the border to prevent the trafficking of any goods to the strip.

The coastal sliver continues to suffer from an all-out Israeli-imposed blockade which has deprived it of its basic necessities for over two years.

Cairo has also been keeping shut the Rafah border crossing — the Gaza Strip's only border that bypasses Israel— claiming that the border post is an Egyptian-Israeli crossing and should not be used without the Tel Aviv's permission.

The Egyptian riot police earlier injured 55 people in the port of El-Arish during clashes with the Gaza-bound human rights activists Viva Palestina.

The scuffles broke out after Egypt said it would not allow 59 humanitarian assistance trucks of Viva Palestina's relief convoy to enter Gaza.

The convoy is comprised of 210 trucks carrying basic food items and medical supplies.

The 450-strong group, led by British lawmaker George Galloway, set out for the port after being barred from taking the most direct route into Egypt by entering the country via the Red Sea.

Protests Held Against Israel & Gaza Siege

Source: Al Jazeera

Activists, both from Gaza and abroad, have held demonstrations on either side of an Israeli border crossing to the Palestinian territory, protesting against its continued siege by Israel.

Hundreds of protesters gathered around the Erez crossing on Thursday, to denounce the blockade that has caused immense suffering to those living in Gaza.

Nisreen el-Shamayleh, Al Jazeera's correspondent who was on the Israeli side of the crossing, estimated that about 600 protesters were present, many from mainly Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.

"They represent Israeli-Palestinians as well as other Arab civil society organisations inside Israel and also with the support of some Israeli groups," she said.

"Their major demand is for Israel to stop the siege on Gaza and to stop the suffocation of Gazans living under this blockade. They're also calling on the international community to intervene."

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade since 2007 when Hamas seized power in the territory.

The Erez crossing is the main entry and exit point to and from Gaza used by medical patients, journalists, diplomats and aid groups.

International Support

On the Gaza side of the border, the demonstration was slower to get started, but protesters there were joined by 86 activists from the Gaza Freedom March, an international group that has been trying to get into Gaza with food and supplies.
Most of the Gaza Freedom March's 1,300-strong group were refused entry into Gaza by Egypt, which controls the Rafah crossing point, because of what Egyptian authorities said was the "sensitive situation" in the territory.

Many of those remaining in Egypt held separate demonstrations in Cairo.
Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada website, who was at the Cairo protest, told Al Jazeera the group had been surrounded by the police.
"I've spoken to some people who were pushed or kicked by police and a few people have [had] their cameras taken away," he said.

"I'd say there are about 200 people here. We had anticipated quite a few more, but earlier today police barricaded some of the hotels where we are staying ... I can't tell you how many people have been prevented from joining us."

A separate aid convoy has also been trying to reach Gaza through Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba.

Lorries from the Viva Palestina convoy began crossing from Jordan into Syria on Thursday.

The events around Gaza coincide with the one-year anniversary of Israel's devastating 22-day war on Gaza which left about 1,300 Palestinians dead. Thirteen Israelis also died in the conflict.

Cairo Forces Viva Palestina to Take Detour

Source: PressTV

Thanks to Cairo's obstruction, Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy en rout to the Gaza Strip will take a detour and head to Syria Latakia, in a bid to enter Egypt through El-Arish.

The convoy of 250 vehicles has been stranded in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba after Egypt refused to allow it to go through the Red Sea port of Nuweiba — the most direct route. Cairo insisted that the convoy can only enter through the Mediterranean port city of El-Arish.

"The aid convoy will leave Aqaba for (the Mediterranean port of) Latakia in Syria before going to El-Arish, in line with Cairo's decision," said Maysara Malas, of Jordan's powerful trade union federation, which has been helping to organize the aid convoy.
"We hope that Egypt does not put more obstacles. It's unfortunate that Israel has interfered in Egypt's decision, which serves the Zionist entity," he added.

Around 250 trucks, ambulances and other vehicles laden with Arab, Turkish and other European aid — both food and medical supplies — in Aqaba arrived on Thursday hoping to take the ferry across to Nuweiba.

"After talks between the Turkish government's envoy and the Egyptian consulate in Aqaba, we agreed to go to Syria," Zaher Birawi, spokesman for the convoy told AFP on Monday.

The convoy was scheduled to deliver medical, humanitarian and educational aid to Gazans on December 27, which marks the first year anniversary of Israel's three-week war against the sliver.

Egyptian police also stopped some 200 protesters from renting boats on the Nile to hold a procession to commemorate the death of over 1,400 victims of Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Gaza Aid Convoy Awaits Egypt Nod

By: Lawrence Smallman
Source: Al Jazeera

An aid convoy that has traveled over 3500 km to deliver vital medical and food supplies to the Gaza Strip is currently stranded because of Egypt's refusal to grant it easy passage.

The Viva Palestina convoy, made up of almost 250 lorries, remained in the Jordanian port of Aqaba on Saturday, having waited over 48 hours to board ferries for the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba.

But Egypt has so far insisted that the aid be delivered through its Mediterranean port of El-Arish, a much longer journey that would require the convoy to go around the Sinai peninsula and through the Suez Canal.

George Galloway, a British politician leading the convoy, on Saturday appealed to Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, to allow the lorries through before medical and food supplies were ruined by the heat.

"Please President Mubarak - let us resolve this matter. We can only sail through Nuweiba. We are only four hours away from Gaza," Galloway told Al Jazeera.
"We have this aid, and the people of Gaza need it on the anniversary on the 27th December - a year after Israel's 22-day bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory.

"All fingers should be pointing at Israel, not getting confused and pointing at Egypt", Galloway said.

Infiltration Worry

But Maged Botros, a member of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party, told Al Jazeera that the government in Cairo has every right to specify the port by which Viva Palestina enters its territory.

"We are talking about 250 trucks passing along this critical territory [the Israeli-Egyptian border] - it is technically so difficult to allow.

"There are good reasons not to allow them through Nuweiba ... these trucks might create a big infiltration problem for Egyptian security forces", he said.
But convoy members told Al Jazeera that traveling through the Suez was not a viable option, as passengers are not allowed to go with cargo ships and that the port of El-Arish is too shallow to take the size of ship needed to transport the aid.

Anniversary Deadline

Zuber Hatia, who has driven thousands of kilometers from the British city of Portsmouth, said there was a symbolic reason why Viva Palestina cannot make the extra long journey to El-Arish.

"We are only a four hour ferry ride and a four hour drive from Gaza - we have to be there by 11:35am on 27th December - the first anniversary of Israel's war on Gaza", Hatia said.

"So though we have all the cargo manifests, we have to just sit, wait and hope. Unfortunately, the Egyptians I have spoken to say this is a 'political aid convoy' rather than a humanitarian aid convoy - and that makes all the difference," Hatia said.

"And though the Jordanians are being very kind to us while we wait, the fact is our trucks are impounded in a car park 30km from the port with tones of medicines spoiling in this Middle Eastern heat.

"Please Mubarak, let our people go!", Hatia said.

Galloway Raps Egypt for Stopping Gaza Aid Convoy

Source: PressTV

British Lawmaker George Galloway has criticized Egypt over denying the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip.

The humanitarian convoy to the Gaza Strip has become stuck in Jordan as Egypt is reportedly denying the convoy's passage through its territory.

"It's a strange Christmas for us. We are stuck in Aqaba. 500 people, 210 vehicles, hundreds of tons of aid which is desperately needed in Gaza," Galloway said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.

"Our Jordanian friends are doing their best to keep us warm and to feed us," he added.

The British anti-war activist also called it a very complex situation.

"It's a very complex situation. We have on the Turkish level quite a diplomatic activity going on, because the Turkish prime minister personally appeared on live television in Damascus three days ago and asked the Egyptian government to facilitate this convoy; so this is a slap in the face, you can say, to the Turkish government," he further explained.

"We don't yet know exactly what tactics we will follow. That would depend on the diplomatic situation, but one thing we are not going to do is run away. We came all this way to Aqaba."

"We are very sad not yet angry, but we will get angry if the days go by," he noted.

The humanitarian convoy arrived in Jordan on Tuesday and was expected to leave via sea to Egypt.

The convoy left London almost two weeks ago with 80 vehicles. Its size grew with the addition of dozens of vehicles from Turkish charities.

Galloway earlier appealed to Egyptian authorities to facilitate the convoy's passage through its territory. The convoy aims to break Israel's crippling blockade on Gaza.

Lifeline 3, the third international convoy headed to Gaza under the name Viva Palestina, comprises 210 trucks laden with basic food items and medical supplies. 450 activists, including 30 Americans, 150 Turks and a number of Europeans are accompanying the convoy.

The already impoverished Gaza Strip has been under a complete Israeli siege, with full cooperation of Egypt, ever since the Hamas resistance movement, which does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state, won parliamentary elections in a surprise victory in 2007.

Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, including a large number of civilians, deteriorated the already dire situation.

The Israeli assault led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $ 1.6 billion damage on the Gazan economy.