Viva Palestina 5 arrives in Egypt after lengthy delay

Al-Masry Al-Youm
Viva Palestina 5 arrives in Arish after lengthy delay

Wednesday, October 20

Jano Charbel


Arish--The first of two passenger airplanes--part of the fifth and largest Viva Palestina convoy--arrived in Egypt Wednesday evening on its final stop before heading on to the Gaza Strip. The arrival in Arish port city follows an 18-day clearance delay in Latakia, Syria.

The second passenger airplane is scheduled to land at Al-Arish on Thursday. Each aircraft carries 155 delegates and activists from around the world. An aid ship with a cargo of 30 delegates and several tons of humanitarian aid is also set to dock at the Egyptian port city Thursday.

Viva Palestina describes itself as "A Lifeline to Gaza."

The convoy hopes to unload and transport its aid cargo to Gaza on Thursday. Egypt previously denied entrance to 18 members of the convoy, including former British MP George Galloway.

Following lengthy negotiations, Egyptian authorities agreed to grant the Viva Palestina activists access into the Gaza Strip for three days. From Colorado, independent activist Guy Benintendi, one of three Americans partaking in the convoy, said "we are pawns in the hands of the Egyptian government." He blamed the 18-day delay on "diplomatic and bureaucratic obstacles." Israel and other states may be behind this delay, he added.

One of the convoy's chief organizers, the Palestinian-English Zaher al-Berawi, said Viva Palestina, international institutions, the Egyptian government, the Egyptian people, and all the free people of the world, hope and strive to end the siege on Gaza. He praised "the Egyptian government's efforts, and its coordination with us to make this dream a reality."

The convoy includes 140 vehicles and a total of 340 delegates from 30 countries, according to al-Berawi. He added that over 80 percent of the aid is in the form of medical supplies, 10 percent in educational material and school supplies, and another 10 percent are emergency and relief equipment. The supplies are valued at US$5 million.

"The aid does not include any building materials [concrete, reinforced steel, pipes, etc.] as it was not allowed according to the agreements we had concluded with the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus," al-Berawi told Al-Masry Al-Youm. Jordanian associations and trade unions intended to deliver construction materials as part of the convoy but were not permitted to join, he added.

Israeli authorities have explicitly prevented the entrance of all such construction materials into the besieged Gaza Strip since 2007.

Even after its devastating war against Gaza from December 2008 to January 2009, Israel maintained its stance.

Egypt had similarly closed off its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized power in 2007. Egyptian authorities re-opened the Rafah border following the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza -- on May 31, 2010 -- in which eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed by Israeli commandos.


One of the 115 Algerian activists participating in the convoy, former Algerian MP Mohamed Douibi was previously part of the Freedom Flotilla. He was aboard the ship that bore the brunt of this Israeli attack, the Mavi Marmara. He pointed to his injured eye and said, "Israeli commandos boarded the ship I was on and fired a rubber bullet at my face. It hit me in the eye, and I'm still being treated for this injury I sustained."

"This assault made me even more adamant in my decision to defy Israel's siege on Gaza. This is why I am participating in this convoy."

This is the first Viva Palestina convoy in which he has participated. He said that he intends to partake in forthcoming Viva Palestina convoys "until the siege is lifted."

John Hurson, from Tyrone Ireland, one of eight Irish delegates partaking in this convoy, described Egypt's decision to deny entrance to 18 activists as "ridiculous."

"The Egyptian government told the world that it would open its border with Gaza indefinitely," said Hurson. "It has now become obvious that this announcement is a lie." Egypt's decision to bar these activists "puts more of a spotlight on Egypt as being a party complicit in this siege," he added.

George Galloway is considered persona non grata by the Egyptian government. He was barred from entering Egypt during the Viva Palestina 3 convoy attempt which arrived in the Port of Arish in January, 2010. Having waited for several days in the Jordanian Port of Aqaba, for clearance from Egyptian authorities, it was then ordered to be rerouted to Latakia. The convoy arrived in the Syrian port only to be delayed for several more days.

Upon arrival in Arish, the convoy waited again for clearance. Impatience and frustration led some activists to break down one of the port's gates. Clashes between Viva Palestina activists and Egyptian police ensued. More than 20 members of the convoy were injured, along with around 10 policemen.

Mahmoud Khaled, one of 90 Viva Palestina 5 activists from Jordan said, "we're happy to be in Egypt, but we'll be even happier when we get into the (Gaza) Strip and are able to deliver our aid to that besieged populace."

He added that nine Jordanians were denied entrance into Egypt, including 83-year-old Ismail Nashwan. Egyptian authorities reportedly claimed that Nashwan is a Turkish troublemaker, "although he is not a Turk, and is too old to be a troublemaker," according to Khaled.

The Viva Palestina 5 convoy originated in London. It departed Saturday, 18 September and drove southwestwards through Europe and Turkey, and arrived in Latakia on Saturday, 2 October. In Latakia, the convoy was joined by two other contingents from Algeria and Morocco.

*See also

Viva Palestina

Palestinian Relief

Gaza TV News

***

Egyptian Government Bans Gaza-bound Aid Convoys

AFP
Egypt bars Gaza-bound aid convoys
CAIRO — Aid convoys bound for the Gaza Strip will now be banned from travelling across Egypt after activists this week clashed with police, the foreign minister said in remarks published on Saturday.

Ahmed Abul Gheit told government newspaper Al-Ahram that members of one convoy led by British MP George Galloway committed "criminal" acts on Egyptian soil on their way to the blockaded Palestinian coastal enclave.

"Egypt will no longer allow convoys, regardless of their origin or who is organising them, from crossing its territory," Abul Gheit said.

"Members of the (Viva Palestina) convoy committed hostile acts, even criminal ones, on Egyptian territory," the foreign minister added without elaborating.

On Tuesday night activists with the Viva Palestina convoy clashed with police in Egyptian the port town of El-Arish, 45 kilometres (30 miles) from the Gaza border.

They had been protesting an Egyptian decision to send some of the convoy's trucks to Gaza through Israel.

Seven protesters were arrested during Tuesday's clashes but police [REPORTEDLY] swapped them for four policemen held by the activists.

A prosecutor in El-Arish later issued warrants for the arrest of seven activists, including two Britons and an American woman.

Abul Gheit was speaking to Al-Ahram from Washington where he is on a visit to discuss the Middle East peace process. He said that, from now on aid, to Gaza must be handed over to the Red Crescent at El-Arish who will turn it over to the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim relief organisation in Gaza.

The comments come a day after a foreign ministry official told Galloway he was no longer welcome in Egypt as he flew out of the country.

Later on Friday, Galloway told Sky News television he and a friend had been "bundled into a car" and given little choice but to get on a plane out of Egypt. "On the steps of the plane a representative of the foreign affairs ministry in Egypt told me that I was declared persona non grata," he said.

Egypt accused Galloway, who once called at a London rally for the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, of trying to embarrass the country, which has refused to permanently open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

Viva Palestina: Gaza or Bust

AL-MASRY AL-YOUM
Gaza or bust
Wed, 06/01/2010

Jano Charbel


Arish--Egyptian security forces put down a protest staged by international activists from the Viva Palestina convoy in the Mediterranean port of el-Arish late on Tuesday night. More than 20 members of the convoy and at least ten riot police were injured in the clashes. Six convoy members were reported missing and are assumed to have been arrested.

The Gaza-bound convoy, consisting of some 200 vehicles, had been shipped to Arish on Monday 4 January via the Syrian Port of Latakia. Last week Egyptian authorities demanded that the convoy be rerouted to Arish--from its planned course via Aqaba in Jordan to the Red Sea Port of Nuweiba. However, since their arrival the Viva Palestina convoy has been deadlocked in negotiations with Egyptian authorities, who opened the Rafah border crossing in Gaza from 3 until 6 January.

Commencing its journey from the UK and Turkey, the Viva Palestina convoy comprises some 200 ambulances, vans and trucks loaded with humanitarian aid. On Tuesday afternoon Egyptian authorities welcomed and received Viva Palestina's chief delegates--including British MP George Galloway and several Turkish MPs--but raised objections regarding 59 of the vehicles in their convoy, deeming them non-essential. According to Egyptian authorities these 59 vehicles could enter Gaza, but at a later point in time, through the el-Auja border crossing with Israel.

Viva Palestina delegates rejected the terms imposed on them. At the port Galloway announced “They instructed us to hand over 59 of our vehicles to Israel at their checkpoint, where they would never be seen again. This is 25 percent of a convoy which drove thousands of miles and for which people worked very hard. This is in direct contradiction to the written agreement which we made with the government of Egypt through the Egyptian consulate in Aqaba.”

Convoy members--520 of them, from 17 countries--began protesting at the port and chanting slogans in support of Gaza, along with others against the Egyptian regime. Shortly afterward a group of angry youth activists pushed and pulled on a port gate until they broke it open. Security forces were swift to mobilize rows of riot police, armored personnel carriers, firetrucks and lorries to block the exit and prevent the convoy from leaving.

Outside the port a junior state security officer in civilian clothes informally asked three journalists from Al-Masry Al-Youm, “Are you going to write that they broke down the gates to the port? That they beat up one of our conscripts? That they are burning tires inside? Are you going to write about all of this?” The officer concluded: “We're going to clean this mess up in a little, you'll see.”

An angry Arabic-speaking Turkish youth activist sitting on top of a port wall said, “Yes, we broke down the gates, but they were rusty gates anyway.” He denied that fellow activists had beaten a conscript and insisted that they weren't burning tires inside. Moments later, however, the thick smoke of burning tires could be seen billowing from within.


An assortment of riot police and plain-clothed officers with clubs moved into action just before midnight. Rocks were being hurled back and forth amidst shouts, screams and curses, and the sound of breaking windows and windshields. The firetrucks opened their water canons. The clashes lasted less than 15 minutes. The protesters withdrew into the port, and security forces took a few steps back. Inside the port a group of activists announced that three Britons, two Americans, and one Kuwaiti had been arrested.

An elderly (unnamed) English activist told Al-Masry Al-Youm, “We didn't want any clashes. Well I can't speak for everybody in the convoy, since some lads are keener on confrontation. We just want to deliver the medicine and aid that we collected back home.” He added, “We drove 3000 miles to Aqaba and then back through Syria. Now we're just 25 miles short of our destination, we want to get this convoy through.”


Addressing convoy members from on top of a Turkish car, Galloway said, “We bent over backwards to cooperate with these people, they asked us to come to el-Arish, they told us that we would be welcome in el-Arish, and now we know what they mean by 'welcome'.”

He added, “We had a solemn and binding agreement signed by both parties, through which we agreed to withdraw from Aqaba. It came at a huge expense of money, energy, time and health. This means that the agreements of the Egyptian dictatorship cannot be trusted even when they are signed on paper.”