Gaza Mission - September 2010

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Dear friend

Despite the recent claims by Israel that they have "eased" the siege on Gaza , vital medical supplies and equipment are still prohibited from entering the besieged region. In June, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that Israel blocked the delivery of essential medical equipment, including a CT scanner, defibrillators and monitors.

In addition, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Israel confiscated seven oxygen machines, donated by a Norwegian development agency, and refused to allow delivery of x-ray machines, claiming they could be used for military purposes. As a result, there is a critical shortage of vital medicines and essential life saving equipment. Other supplies are expected to run out this summer, harming chronic disease sufferers the most. In addition, only 30 percent of the medical aid, sent to Gaza after the last Israeli military offensive 19 months ago, was used at hospitals and medical aid centres. This was due to the fact that there was a surplus supply of certain medical supplies, and other medical supplies were out of date.

Another significant problem is an over-supply of bulky items like cotton wool which requires expensive storage, and the disposal of waste medical supplies in an area where rubbish disposal is a major issue. In the light of this, Viva Palestina is working closely with the Ministery of Health in Gaza and independent medical organizations to accurately identify the kind and quantity of medical supplies that Gaza actually needs. We intend to bring a wide range of these vital medical supplies and equipment on board the upcoming convoy. These urgently required supplies will go a long way in helping to ease the suffering of so many in Gaza .

Viva Palestina are appealing for people to donate towards the cost of these medical equipment and supplies. People can donate via the web site at: http://www.vivapalestina.org/vp5/donate.html Alternatively, if people have access to medical aid that they can donate, please contact us via email at: aid@vivapalestina.org. Please send a detailed list of this aid, and if it is on the required list, we will arrange collection.

We also need dedicated volunteers to join us on our next convoy to Gaza, leaving on September 18th 2010. If you can raise money to help the people of Gaza, we want to hear from you. Please visit the Viva Palestina 5 website

http://www.vivapalestina.org/vp5/intro.html

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George Galloway on aid to the Gaza Strip
26 Aug 2010
radiolive.co.nz
Marcus Lush talks with British Parliamentarian and Viva Palestina founder, George Galloway, about a vehicle convoy set to transport aid to the Gaza Strip.

download mp3

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Aid convoys prepare to head to Gaza
17/09/2010

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Jordanian workers' union will send 50 truckloads of aid to Gaza as part of the fifth Viva Palestina convoy, a spokesman for the British organization said Thursday. Zahir Berawi said 50 trucks from Algeria would also join the European convoy when it reaches Syria in October. The convoy is due to leave London on Saturday and head to the Egyptian Al-Arish port.

New Zealand activist Nicola Enchmarch visited Jordan recently to coordinate the aid, while former British parliamentarian George Galloway visited organizers in Algeria.

While the Algerian and Jordanian contributions were the largest from the Arab world, Berawi said Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Mauritania were also sending aid with the convoy. Delegations from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Canada and the US have arrived in London to join the convoy which will travel through Europe to Turkey and then Syria before reaching Egypt.

Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Wednesday that an aid ship organized by European Jewish groups was ready to sail to Gaza, although the departure point remained a secret. Jews for Justice for Palestinians said the campaign was organized in cooperation with German group Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East and sponsored by European Jews for a Just Peace, American Jews for a Just Peace and Jewish Voice for Peace.

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Viva Palestina sends new Gaza mission
Sep 18, 2010
presstv.ir

The Viva Palestina charity has sent a new aid convoy, Lifeline 5, to the Gaza Strip despite the likelihood of a new Israeli aggression against the mission. Part of the aid convoy set sail from London on Saturday and is scheduled to be joined on by other parties on its way to the coastal sliver.

"Well, it's unique actually in two respects. First of all, it will be by far the biggest convoy so far. And secondly it's leaving from three places simultaneously," one of the organizers, former British lawmaker George Galloway, told a Press TV correspondent in London. "We'll be many hundreds of vehicles strong with, I hope, some 10 million plus dollars worth of aid. As we speak, the convoy is pulling out of Kuwait and will pick up vehicles throughout the Persian Gulf and in through Arabia into Jordan, linking up with a huge contingent from Jordan and driving up to Syria," Galloway said.

"Simultaneously, another group is leaving Casablanca. The Moroccan and Algerian governments have agreed to open the border, which, as you know, is not something that happens everyday, and from Algeria to Tunisia, Libya and then a ship from Benghazi to join us in Latakia in Syria, and then this European, North American and Southeast Asian contingent… for we have Malaysians even New Zealanders here from London."

The convoy would leave from Latakia to the port of El-Arish in Egypt.

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Biggest convoy yet sets off to Gaza
Friday 17 September 2010
by Lizzie Cocker
morningstaronline.co.uk

The biggest international aid convoy yet to beleaguered Gaza sets off from London on Saturday. It aims to break the Israeli siege of the territory and deliver crucial relief supplies.

Two survivors of the Mavi Marmara massacre, Nicci Enchmarch and Kevin Ovenden, are among the activists taking part. They were on board the ship on May 31 when Israeli commandoes killed nine of their Turkish friends and fellow activists. Following the attack they were held incommunicado in Israel's Be'er Shiva prison in the Negev desert. The two will lead the Viva Palestina Lifeline 5 land convoy of 200 vehicles carrying medical supplies, learning aids and materials to build a maternity facility in northern Gaza, a mosque and a school for orphans.

With activists from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, the US, Britain and Northern Ireland, Lifeline 5 aims to be the fourth land convoy to break the Israeli siege on Gaza in the past 18 months. It will liaise with an international flotilla travelling by sea to arrive in Gaza at the same time.

The Israeli commando attack on the Freedom Flotilla sparked international outrage and widespread calls for an end to the Gaza blockade. Although the Israeli authorities responded by pledging to ease some of the draconian restrictions on items that can get into Gaza, a Viva Palestina spokesman stressed that "despite the international reaction to the Mavi Marmara massacre in May, Gaza is still under siege."

Undeterred by the Egyptian police's attack on members of a land convoy in January which led to the deportation of former Respect MP George Galloway, the activists will be seeking to enter Gaza via the Egyptian port of El Arish. "We have every confidence we will get our vital medical and humanitarian aid through," the Viva Palestina spokesman said. "We will not be entering Israeli waters but instead heading - as is our right - from Syria to the Egyptian port of El Arish. We hope and trust the Egyptian authorities who, unfortunately, have helped to enforce the siege, will bow to international public opinion and ensure our safe passage into Gaza."

Two other Lifeline 5 land convoys from Casablanca and Doha with activists from Morocco, Algeria, the Gulf States and Jordan are scheduled to leave at the same time as the sea flotilla.

Mr Galloway and human rights lawyer Jim Nicholls will be among those who will see off the British convoy at 9.30am from Embankment in London.

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Viva Palestina 5 Convoy Log
Monday 20th September

The convoy was welcomed in the city of Valux-en-Velin, adjacent to Lyon, by the mayor, M Bernard Genin. The city has the distinction of being the only one in France to fly the Palestinian flag. But not if the French government gets its way. The regional prefect, responsible for the central government administration of the area, has told the city that the flag has to come down. 'I've written back to him to say that he's welcome to try,' responded the mayor, 'if he can fight his way through the mass crowds who will defend it.'

The convoy left Paris early - the muster was 6am - after another night on the floor of the gymnasium. Most of the 85 had less than four hours sleep, but the road south was mainly motorway and the group, split into three elements, arrived at a service station outside Lyon shortly after 1pm. After a quick lunch provided by local supporters the convoy moved off first to the Hotel de Ville (town hall) in an ear-splitting cacophony of noise, horns honking and the sirens of the two Swedish ambulances screaming.

After the meeting with the mayor the convoy moved off again to the main square in Lyon, the Place Bellecour, parking the 36 vehicles in the middle of it and setting up a stage and amplification for a rally. Hundreds of people crowded around, dozens of postcards and posters were handed out and the organisers had to rebuff the appeals of dozens of people to come on the convoy to Gaza.

After another meal provided by VP local volunteers the convoyers were put up in a hotel, the first time they has slept on a mattress, between clean sheets since they set out.

Watch convoy at La Place de La Bastille in Paris at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjVzDoujqOk

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Viva Palestina's international leader George Galloway today responded to the statement by the spokesman of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry that he would not be permitted to enter Egypt. The British parliamentarian is currently leading an international convoy to Gaza which intends entering the besieged Palestinian territory through the Egyptian port of Al Arish. Responding from Paris he said:



" I am currently leading a huge international effort to break the siege on the Gaza Strip, imposed by Israel and its allies to punish the people for how they voted in a free, democratic election. The convoy will travel through France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Syria and thence by ship to Al Arish. It will be joined by convoys which set out on the same day from the Gulf and from North Africa. I intend to continue to lead this convoy and I appeal to the Egyptian Government to reconsider the decision announced last night in Cairo. I was not deported from Egypt and I am not "persona non grata" there. No official notification of either has ever been conveyed to me. I have no wish to have a fight with the Egyptian government; my fight is with Israel.



"We have already shown our willingness to co-operate with the Egyptian authorities by re-routing to Latakia in Syria where we will complete all formalities required by Egypt. I am already forbidden to enter Palestine by Israel. If I am now unable to enter through Egypt this amounts to an exile from Palestine, a country I have struggled for these last thirty five years and which is deep in my heart. I ask my friends in Egypt to do all they can to persuade the government to change this decision. Meanwhile I will continue with my responsibilities to get the convoy of desperately needed aid through, and try to break the siege on Gaza. Long live Palestine, free, Arab, dignified." 

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The convoy has arrived, safe and sound in Turin, Italy

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Viva Palestina 5 Convoy Log
Tuesday 21st September

It should have been an easy ride from Lyon down through the Italian border and to Turin and then Milan. It didn't turn out that way. As the first vehicles arrived at the border they were greeted by an arc of French border police. It was clearly pre-arranged. As lorries and cars sped across unaccosted VP5 vans were flagged down, each person had to hand over a passport and then that was phoned in to, presumably, police computer operators. Many of them were also searched - 'What, no weapons?' the senior police officer joked. Possibly!

The process meant that the convoy was split and each van left on its own into the Frejus tunnel which leads to Italy. Two hours later the last van was allowed to leave. This meant that the day's programme had to be substantially curtailed as the delay wiped out several of them. However the Italian police were much more accommodating, dozens of motorcycle cops were on hand to escort the convoy into Turin, passing dozens of supporters, several of whom sent off smoke flares of welcome.

After a rally in beautiful Castle Square in the dying sunlight the vans set off for Milan and the first night under canvas.

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Libyan aid convoy to head to Gaza
21 September 2010 10:25
Omar Ghraieb
paltelegraph.com

(Pal Telegraph) The Libyan Civil Mission to Support the Palestinian People is preparing to conduct a convoy holding the title of "Jerusalem 5" heading to the Gaza Strip in conjunction with the launch of the British aid convoy "Lifeline" which will be led by British MP George Galloway heading to Gaza early next month.

Libyan site “Libya 24” quoted bin Othman saying: "The ‘Jerusalem 5’ will be launched from Britain towards Palestine to the besieged Gaza Strip through Latakia and Tripoli / Libya, stressing that the coordination in this regard is going on with the concerned authorities of the British convoy and the British Association.

He added that many of Arab and North African parliamentary characters would be among the members of the convoy. He noted that the influx of aid convoys would come from Europe and North Africa to Libya as of October 10, 2010 and will continue until the 15th of the same month, then the convoy will head to Gaza after two days of this date.

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Ed Milliband's mother supports Jewish activists sailing the aid ship Irene:

"Marion Kozak, the mother of the new leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband, is a prominent member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians, one of the groups supporting the ship. Ms. Kozak survived the Nazi occupation of Poland and is a well-known human rights activist.

Mr. Miliband, who told London’s Evening Standard last month, “Obviously I’m Jewish, it is part of my identity, but not in a religious sense,” has been outspoken in his opposition to the blockade of Gaza by Israel. His older brother, David, served as foreign minister in the previous Labour government. In an interview this month, Ed Miliband said that British foreign policy in the region should not be too influenced by American policy telling Politics.co.uk:

[O]n the Middle East and Israel-Palestine, they’re always going to have their particular view. We’ve got to have our particular view. So I was certainly outspoken at the time about the attack on the Gaza flotilla. We need to do that. The Gaza blockade needs to be lifted."

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/jewish-activists-sail-toward-gaza/

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Viva Palestina arrives in Istanbul on way to Gaza
September 28, 2010
Hürriyet Daily News

Activists with the Viva Palestina movement are determined to break the siege on the Gaza Strip with a convoy carrying humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, members said during a stop Tuesday in Istanbul. “We will go in peace and will not stop until we reach our final destination, Gaza,” George Galloway, a former United Kingdom member of Parliament and the founder of the Viva Palestina initiative, said in a speech in Istanbul after the convoy arrived in the city.

Galloway, who has been involved in the Palestinian issue for 34 years, called for the governments of the 25 countries represented by activists joining the convoy to protect them during their journey to Gaza. He also asked the Egyptian government and authorities to allow the convoy and the activists to pass peacefully into Gaza. “We will comply with all formalities [Egypt] requires,” he said, adding that they had also changed their initially planned route at Egyptian authorities’ request.

Convoys from different countries will all meet in Syria before traveling to the city of al-Arish in Egypt, passing by the spot where the Mavi Marmara, a previous aid flotilla to Gaza, suffered a deadly raid from Israeli military forces on May 31. “There, we will halt our engines, throw flowers and pray for the martyrs [who lost their lives on the Mavi Marmara],” Galloway said.

Other countries’ Viva Palestina representatives also gave speeches, calling upon the Egyptian government and Egyptian authorities to allow them to break the siege. Many in the convoy said they would not stop their campaign until “justice and freedom was gained by the Gaza people.”

Activists from 25 countries paid visits to the graves of Cevdet and Necdetin, two of the nine activists who lost their lives in the attack on the Mavi Marmara. “We are honoring them not only because of their heroism and sacrifice on board but because we believe that the attack on the Mavi Marmara changed everything forever,” Galloway said.

“I am proud of my husband and feel honored [that activists from all over the world prayed for him],” Derya (wife of a victim) told the Daily News on Tuesday. She said she could not join the visit due to her bad health, but added that she believed her husband would have gone to Gaza again had he not lost his life in the Mavi Marmara attack.

Refika, the widow of Yıldırım, also told the Daily News on Tuesday that she wanted to thank all the activists for their support. “Although we do not know each other, we believe in each other,” she said.

Activists from around the world support Gaza people. “After hearing about the brutal killings on May 31, we immediately replied to the call for another international convoy [to break the Gaza siege],” Roger Fowler, the team leader for Viva Palestina New Zealand, told the Daily News. Fowler, who is a 62-year-old community worker and has been active in peace movements for Palestine since the 1970s, said they had run a nine-week campaign in New Zealand to collect $100,000 to purchase six vans with humanitarian aid and join the Viva Palestina convoy.

“The people of Gaza are in desperate need for food, housing, hospitals, schools, but they are unable to rebuild them because of the siege,” Fowler said.

Reacting to experts from The Israeli Project who said aid convoys disturbed peace in the region and that the Israeli military attacks on the Mavi Marmara were justified by the need to make sure there were no weapons aboard, Fowler said, “These are Israel’s lies.” He also said Israel knew very well that the convoys were carrying humanitarian aid and that people on board were activists. “Everything was open.”

Fowler further said the convoy was not under any special protection of the New Zealand government during the trip, adding that the government authorities had advised the six Kiwi volunteers not to travel to the region. However, Fowler said their government had sent all their contact information to all the embassies in the region for emergency situations.

Asked whether he was concerned about his security during the trip, Fowler said, “The level of [my] anxiety does not compare with what the people of Gaza are experiencing.” “We have to break the siege in Gaza. It is impossible for the people there to continue like this,” Alfredo Tradardi, leader of Viva Palestina Italy, told the Daily News on Tuesday.

He said there were 15 activists joining the convoys from Italy and six vehicles with humanitarian aid provided by Italian organizations. Tradardi also said they did not have any protection from the Italian government for their trip to Gaza.

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I hadn't seen a word about this until now...

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Viva Palestina convoy heads to Gaza as ‘drop in the ocean’
Activists from the aid convoy held a press conference at İstanbul's Feshane Cultural Center on Tuesday.
October 1st 2010
todayszaman.com

The Viva Palestina 5 aid convoy, en route to Gaza, was given a warm welcome and wide media coverage when it entered Turkey on Monday. The Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), which organized an aid flotilla that was attacked by the Israeli navy as it sailed to Gaza, resulting in the deaths of eight Turkish and one Turkish-American volunteers, was also there to greet the convoy. The assault took place in international waters. A UN body is currently conducting an investigation into the Israeli assault. Another international investigation, also led by the UN Human Rights Council, was recently completed and found Israel guilty of an unacceptable level of brutality.

The Viva Palestina initiative has been growing and gaining more support at a time when the international community appears to either be inefficient or disinterested in the blockade of Gaza. The fifth Viva Palestina aid convoy, comprising 43 vehicles and activists from 25 countries, was led by the British politician, author and broadcaster George Galloway. Its aim is to raise global awareness about the Palestinian question and keep alive the memory of the earlier flotilla while protesting the illegal blockade of Gaza. The convoy arrived in Turkey after passing through France, Italy and Greece. On Tuesday those in the convoy met with other Turkish activists at a press conference at the Feshane Cultural Center.

The volunteers joining the convoy come from a diverse range of backgrounds and very different countries, from Europe to Asia and Africa and even Australia. "We’ve been absolutely amazed with the excellent support as we came down through France, Italy, Greece. It’s just been growing and growing,” said Julie Webb-Pullman, a convoy participant from New Zealand. “It’s been very heartening to us because we feel that we’re on the right path. We know that we reflect international opinion in our mission. Support grows the closer we get to Gaza,” said Hone Fowler, another volunteer from New Zealand. “It’s like a snowball effect.”

However, they are all aware that the journey will get tougher after they leave Turkey. “We expect to run into resistance along the way,” Webb-Pullman said, adding: “We are committed to a peaceful mission. We are not carrying any weapons. We are totally committed to peace and to peacefully taking humanitarian assistance into Gaza. If there will be any appearance of violence, it will be violence put upon us, rather than us inflicting it on anyone else. But we hope there won’t be any.”

Today’s Zaman also had the opportunity to talk to Galloway, who referred to the initiative as a “drop in the ocean.” Galloway called for immediate action to be implemented around the world against the flawed actions of the Israeli state. “There is no change in Israel’s politics,” he said, referring to the earlier flotilla incident. “But [there is] in the politics of everyone else around the world. Everybody in the world has fallen out of love with Israel. Nobody loves Israel. They have relations, they have interests, but no country in the world loves the state of Israel.

They are bankrupt in international public opinion. This UN report, there’s no defense to it other than non-recognition of the report because no point in it can be argued. So, the question is to move beyond the international public opinion’s condemnation to international action by the governments of the world and by supranational organizations like the UN.”

“The UN report is devastating,” Galloway said when speaking about the recent report of the UN Human Rights Council on the May flotilla attack. “The question is, what punishment will follow this guilty verdict? How come Israel can be repeatedly found guilty of breaking international law and not be punished but be rewarded? Israel is being rewarded for breaking international law while others are punished. Can you just imagine for one second, if Iran had attacked an international aid ship in international waters on the high seas and murdered nine aid workers and left a 10th brain dead, had captured hundreds of aid workers and taken them illegally to a prison in the desert? Can you imagine the international scandal and the sanctions and the threats of war that would follow? And yet, Israel did exactly this! As the UN has now irrefutably found and the first place this would be tested is in the Security Council, of which Turkey, thank God, is a member. And we’re expecting a change from the Security Council, or why should Israel change its international law-breaking ways if it’s constantly rewarded?”

He also shared his views on the recent peace negotiations between Israel and the West Bank, saying he did not believe in the sincerity of the Israeli government.

“It’s a simple equation, it’s not rocket science. No justice, no peace. And if there’s no peace there, there’s no peace anywhere,” said the British activist-politician. “The Turkish position is critically important,” Galloway said, praising Turkey’s stance on Palestine. “I’m full of admiration for the government of Turkey, for the foreign policy and for the domestic policy. I think the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is probably the best government in the world. And I wish Erdoğan was the type of leader we had in all the Arab countries. If we did, Palestine would already be free.”

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