INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR VIVA PALESTINA CONVOY

July 15, 2009 at 17:51 (Activism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, International Solidarity)

Yes….. the Convoy got through! Their plight was kept alive on the Blogesphere….. We can all take pride in their efforts!

The following commentary is by Chippy Dee, the photos are by Bud Korotzer….. one of the many demos held yesterday in front of Egyptian government buildings…. this one, in New York.

VIVA PALESTINA!
VIVA PALESTINA LIBRE!!

Despite careful attention to all the necessary paperwork before leaving the U.S. the Viva Palestina-US medical aid convoy to Gaza met with constant bureaucratic obstruction when they arrived in Egypt. Once they completed one task a new one was imposed. This went on for 10 days. Phone calls to Obama’s office and the State Department yielded no results. At one point convoy participants surrounded their buses holding hands and the bus drivers lost the keys to the buses so they couldn’t be moved.

On Monday evening, 7/13, the International Action Center sent an e-mail to convoy supporters asking them to petition the Egyptian government and to meet on the next day at various Egyptian government offices in the U.S. In New York the meeting place was the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations on East 44th Street at 4 o’clock.

Minutes after we arrived there was a call to Sara Flounders of the IAC from the VPUC convoy. MP George Galloway said that thanks to the heroic efforts of the convoy participants and the strong response from people all over, an agreement had been reached. He said that after being stuck in Cairo for 10 days, 200 Americans were headed for Gaza within the next 3 hours bringing life saving medicine. But there were conditions: the ambulances would be allowed to pass but the trucks would not. Galloway said that negotiations would continue on that issue. If they couldn’t bring the trucks into Gaza the convoy participants would unload the medical supplies and carry them into Gaza with their own hands. Also, they were not allowed to stay in Gaza for more than 24 hours because the Rafah crossing would be closed and they didn’t know when it would be re-opened. He added that in December there would be a joint U.S.A.-U.K. convoy to bring additional aid into Gaza in time for the first anniversary of the Israeli attack last year. Perhaps, he said, we can bring a good new year to Palestine.

Cynthia McKinney, making her third effort to get into Gaza with aid, got on the phone and said that nothing is impossible when there is human will.

Then NYC Council member Charles Barron spoke. He said, we will not be stopped from getting material aid to the children of Gaza. The American people are doing more than their government and on this day “the spirit of Palestine is free”. The deafening global silence has allowed Israel to turn Gaza into a death camp. Long live the people, the innocent children, and the strong women. “Long live the struggling people of Palestine.”

Photos © by Bud Korotzer