Direct from Gaza!

Dear all,
I'm now writing from GAZA! The two CodePink busses of 100 delegates made it past the Raffah border at midnight this evening. I cannot describe how incredible it felt driven straight past a wide open border. It almost all seemed too easy.

The group of freedom marchers is full of inspiring people from everywhere; Palestine, Canada, South Africa, Turkey, USA, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Lebanon, China, and 4 Othodox Rabbis (Jews for justice)! Their projects and profesions are everything from journalism, film production, writers, doctors, phychotherapists, social workers, teachers, and palestinians who wish to reunite with their families.

Finally deciding to going on the bus was one of the toughest decision I have ever made. I cannot put words to how terrible I felt when the bus was leaving and they were people standing by the bus stop screaming and crying "traitors" at the busses. Kat and I both fully agree that President compromise only allowing 100 out of 1362 activists into Gaza is a completely unfair deal! And the entire rushed undemocratic procedure through which delegates were chosen to be on the list (reminding everyone of horrors of Schlindler's List and Apartheid) was emotionally torturous for everyone.

However, ultimately the aim of our project is to attempt to break the siege for the sake of the palestinians in Gaza. This is the altruistic end we must focus on, not the individual claims of democracy and egalitarian principles of 'everyone or no one'. Sadly, this project had to be restrained within the realm of RealPolitik due to an egyptian police state led by Mubarak and his wife (hiding behind a propagande-infiltrated interest in women and peace). We couldn't let the busses leave without at least one of us being on it to go to Gaza and make a further step towards the breaking of the siege. However, we were both torn, so Kat decided to stay and I to go.

Being here I do feel like a traitor, and I don't believe I deserve this place. Most importantly, I really wished Kat was here with me. Yet, I was jsut on the phone to our friend Ahmed and he was laughing of happiness and can't wait to join us all at the march tomorrow! That made me believe we made the right decision afterall.

We received an incredibly warm welcome by the Palestinian Gaza Freedom March Leader and Hamas. The two busses passing the Raffah border was NOT the breaking of the siege, however it was indeed a step towards opening the borders of Gaza to the rest of the world.

Peace to you all, Marie

Kat: Cairo, Marie: Gaza

Hello everyone,
Ok so I'm alone now in Cairo. I wanted to write what happened this morning it was pretty awful. 

Marie and I were feeling a bit weird about being part of 'The 100' who were going. it was a really shit decision that was made within about 10 minutes about who would go. nothing was discussed, nobody elected and as a result certain people who should've gone were not on the official list. for example, there are a bunch of south africans here and only 2 of them were going compared to 34 americans. 

it just so happened that marie and i were at the right place the right time. too fucking lucky and were on the list. 

the deal was that 2 buses would be able to go to gaza. only two, which really isnt enough. Code Pink agreed to the deal, but later said it was a mistake they made. it seems like they have no idea what they are doing, don't have a clear leadership and are shit at ocmmunicating. 

anyway there was massive dissent and huge division were created along very opinionated lines. ppl were shouting, accusing of betrayal, crying, screaming literally hating. no more solidarity. 

when we got on the second bus, the ppl on the first bus got off and we then also got off, we decided to. we then soon left the scene because it was too horrible to stay. 2 hours later though we went back and the buses were still there. at this point it was an "anyone can go" policy, which is a little ridiculous. but marie and i decided that she will go and i will stay. 
1) she really needs to, she wants to work in development and she's got the right mind for it. 
2) there are still 1000 ppl here and we're doing more stuff in cairo, pressuring harder so i might stay here, but i dunno. i feel quite shit right now and very low. 

Im really happy Marie is there, she also wanted it more than I did at that point, I was too drawn into the politics of it all. 

I must say that I am honestly shocked by all of this. It seems as though everyone has forgotten why we are here. It's too divided now and I don't know what to do. I regret not getting on the bus, but I couldn't do it. Not under these circumstances and I am sorry But Marie is there and I am so pleased that she has gone. 

Thank you all though. We also felt that we owe it to you that we go. You've been amazing, you really have. 

Kat

29/12/09 To Gaza!

Code Pink has been permitted access to Gaza for 100 delegates for 48 hours only.
This has been arranged by President Mubarak's wife, who apparently is quite into women issues and organisations etc. (she has a women's foundation). However, this is not certain and there is a chance we may not board the bus, but fingers crossed.

Marie and I managed to get on the last, pretty much through being at the right place the right time rather than anything else. Apparently the Code Pink ppl were given 2 hours to decide who should go on the bus. This message started to circulate as a rumour, then happened to be fact while we were all at a demonstration. As a result, bus seats were handed out on a first come first serve basis.


We are meeting tomorrow morning at 7am,... and it's quite hard to believe we are actually going. Another Warwick student, Andrew, who was an active student at uni during the 70s is coming with us. He is a psychotherapist and within the 48hrs we have will be training people in Gaza at the Palestine Trauma Centre on how to deal and help traumatised children. There was an article in the Guardian about this particular issue, so Marie and I are considering giving our donations towards this specific charity. Please let us know your thoughts.


We'll be taking pictures, contacting students and filming. We'll be back in 48 hours prepare for update.

Thank you for all your support.
Kat & Marie

Email received 29/12/09 from another student currently in Cairo.

Dear all

PLEASE DISSEMINATE WIDELY

1,300 international activists gathered in Cairo hoping to take part in a historic march in Gaza to break the Israeli siege have been prevented from leaving Cairo to reach the Rafah border. The Egyptian government, having previously agreed to allow the delegation, which is taking aid to the impoverished Gaza strip, to cross the border, is now showing its true colours and cracking down on the peaceful attempts by activists to raise attention to the plight of Gazans and to demand that they be allowed to enter Gaza. Egyptian state security and police have been beating international demonstrators as they gather outside their respective embassies to appeal for help, and arresting Egyptian journalists trying to report on the actions.

Meanwhile, the Viva Palestina convoy, which is carrying desperately needed medical aid to the strip, was kept waiting at the port of Aqaba in Jordan for five days, its cargo rapidly spoiling in the heat, due to the Egyptian government's refusal to allow them entrance to Egypt through the port of Nuweiba (the fastest route to the Rafah border crossing). The convoy have now agreed to return to Syria where they will sail from Latakia to the port of Al-Arish on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, where Egypt says it will grant them entry and passage to Gaza.

Meanwhile Egyptian state security are continuing their repression of Egyptian pro-Palestinian activists, who marked the anniversary of the attacks on Gaza last year with a peaceful candlelit vigil in Downtown Cairo on the 27th. Protesters, many of them women and young people, were beaten by police and even senior security officials, and their cameras stolen.

Egypt's complicity in the Israeli siege on Gaza is becoming harder and harder for the Mubarak regime to hide. Whilst loudly declaiming their solidarity with their Palestinian 'brothers' and clinging to their reputation in the West as a 'moderate' Arab regime, the Egyptian government has begun construction of a wall on its border with Gaza which will destroy the tunnels used to bring food and other vital necessities into the impoverished strip, and is consistently clamping down violently on all grassroots Egyptian support for the Palestinians.

Egypt must stop colluding in Israel's crippling siege of innocent Gazan citizens, and the US must stop funding the corrupt and repressive Mubarak regime.

Please write to your representatives, foreign offices etc, and to the Egyptian embassy in your country to express your disgust at their cooperation in this bloody affair.

6th update 28/12/09

We demonstrated all day at the UN today, demanding that
1) the UN put pressure on the Egyptian government so that we can continue our march
2) help let all our aid through to Gaza
3) organise a small group of delegates to Gaza to at least represent all the countries and be in bloody Gaza!!!

Answer:
No
No
and No.

It was a really peaceful demonstration, with lots of music, dancing, chess playing, talks by Walden Bello and Anna Haas (journalist).
Led by the 85 year old holocaust survivior Hedy Epstein, 14 are now on hunger strike. We were barricaded by police however, not allowing to leave the area for a few hours. Lol, we made a makeshift pee area but the atmosphere was super awesome.

Also, Netanyahu is coming to Cairo, to meet with Mubarak about Gilad Shalit.

The French delegates, around 300, have been camping outside the French embassy for the last 2 days. We will be joining them tonight, but they managed to get the French ambassador to negotiate and talk. The ambassador has been talking to the Egyptian government as a result. However, there were over 1000 riot police and since today they have not allowed any of the French people to leave or enter.

Any attempts for smaller groups to get to Gaza have been stalled. People have either been detained, put under hotel arrest or been forced to return to Cairo.

We are feeling quite demoralised, since we have put so much effort into getting to Gaza as has everyone else here. We are relying on support from back home, so please keep writing.

At this point you have more power than we do.

Marie & Katerina

Stuck in Aqaba! News from Fred

Hello all - glad tidings etc.

As you may be aware, I am currently on the Viva Palestina with my co-driver, also from Warwick Uni. We are on a mission to deliver urgently needed supplies and medical aid to the people of Gaza, who are under siege as part of a genocidal long-term strategy by Israel, supported by our government and the USA, as well as Egypt.

We are currently stuck in Aqaba, Jordan, waiting for a ferry to Nuweiba. The Egyptians are preventing us from getting on the ferry and entering Egypt. They have said we are allowed in, but only through Al Arish, on the Mediterranean side. This is simply a chimera. If we comply with this demand, we will be in an even weaker position than we already are - they have also given us a list of conditions for getting into gaza - that we donate all of our aid to UNWRA, that we coordinate with Israel (!!!) and a load of other rubbish. These channels have a terrible track record of getting aid into Gaza. Essentially they are trying to make it impossible for us to get our aid into Gaza.

Therefore I am asking you to put pressure on the Egyptian government in any way you can. The simplest way is to email / phone your local embassy. However, if you have the time and the inclination, you can go further - contact media, press, local organisations, whatever. The main point is to maintain the momentum we already have here in the Arab world, and to cross over into the European news.

The situation we find ourselves in is extremely precarious - we could easily be stuck here for several weeks. If this isn't a major news story, the Egyptians will not feel the need to let us in. We won't get to Gaza. The aid we are carrying will be useless. You can make a difference.

Please help, and take the time to do something about this. You could send an email to your local embassy. Putting pressure on English embassies in Egypt will also help.

Thank you, tell all your friends

Fred

linkz:
http://readingpsc.org.uk/convoy/
http://vivapalestina.org/home.htm
http://www.presstv.ir/search.aspx?q=viva%20palestina

5th update 27/12/09

Dear friends,

Marie and I are writing from Cairo, where the Egyptian police have been doing everything to stop us from gathering, protesting and getting to Gaza.

We were scheduled to leave today, yet the bus company that we had hired to take us were shut down and are now out of business due to the government's interference.

There are 1300 of us here and the consensus is that we stay here united in Cairo to put pressure on the UN, all the respective embassies and ultimately the Egyptian government.

Some smaller individual groups have moved on to Al Arish, which is about an hour away from the Raffah border, but we have not heard much from there. From the last we did hear, 30 were put under hotel arrest and are being followed by police.

All of us marchers have been engaging in protest activities in Cairo today.

We met up at the October 6th bridge and attempted to hang and distribute commemorative cards. These were all either ripped off or taken away by the police, who shooed us away from the bridge.

Later in the afternoon we had planned to hire Felucca boats on the Nile to place candles in float boats on the river. Marie, Kat and our group were actually on the boat ready to take off when about 40 policemen came and shut down the boat hiring place.

However, ALL the delegates had come to the Nile and we had an impromptu, and successful, protest. There was a lot of media coverage and we managed to march and sing along the Nile passing the Four Seasons Hotel as well as many others. All marchers were holding a candle to commemorate those who died during the siege in January.

Finally, in the evening we gathered to meet other delegate groups and discuss possible opportunities. Political activist and politician Walden Bello came to speak, he is part of the march. Tomorrow morning we are all going to the main bus station to see whether we can board buses that will take us to Al Arish.

Marie and Kat are feeling frustrated and deflated... we are stuck in Cairo and sense the urge to demonstrate here but also try to attempt to get to Gaza. We are doing our best to create and have the biggest impact we can while we are here, so that the Freedom March can continue. There was talk of pressurising the embassies more and also the UN by doing sleep-outs and hunger strikes.

It's a great atmosphere, everyone is super friendly- especially the local and non police Egyptians. We have been meeting excellent people, who are motivated to do stuff. If only everybody could meet these kinds of people. Perhaps they would be inspired to change.

We really appreciate all of your support. We urge you to keep contacting politicians to put pressure on the Egyptian government to lift their ban on the March.

Marie and Katerina

Jordan border crossing 22/12/2009

I was on the phone to Nora yesterday. They are well and at the time of speaking to her, she was sat in the van at the Jordan crossing, waiting to pass. They had been there for a couple of hours and Fred has snuck over to another van to play Playstation.

Apparently Syrians received them extremely well, offering accommodation and providing a great morale boost with their generous and warm welcome. The drive through Syria was calm, but Jordan may pose some troubles.

The only Arab countries to have signed agreements with Israel are Egypt and Jordan. The convoy explicitly implies "no deal with Israel", to which Jordan must react. In a way they are obliged to, as a result of the deal with Israel.

Hours later I stumble across this article, which details the events following my phone conversation with Nora. As predicted, Jordan did cause the convoy some troubles.

As not predicted, however, many Jordanian civilians protested against the Jordanian police's treatment of Viva Palestina, taking to the streets to support the convoy. Eventually the police let Nora, Fred and all other vehicles through.

Now our friends are in Jordan, creeping ever closer to the Gaza border. The Egyptians have released this statement:

"any attempts to violate the law or public order by any group, whether local or foreign, on Egyptian soil will be dealt with in conformity with the law"

Is it a psychological threat? Are the Egyptians standing up to us just like Jordan stood up to the convoy? We do not know.

I wonder in amazement at the sheer force and power that collective agreement or disagreement can have, just look at the people in Jordan. Please support the convoy as much as you can through word of mouth or by writing to your local MP or newspaper. The more support it receives the greater its effect.

Thank you for reading!

Katerina

Phone Call from Nora and Fred 17/12/09

It was a tired but happy Nora I got on the phone, after my 127^th attempt to reach her UK mobile this evening from my snowbound home in Copenhagen. Can’t even put words to the incredible feeling of relief and excitement I got when I finally heard her voice!

They were both safe and intact – though Nora explained how her ONE pair of jeans started to smell of puke (I promised her Kat and I would bring her an extra clean pair!) and her hair was turning into one massive dread, whilst bearded Fred was turning into a Santa look alike. I heard him joking in the background that it would probably make him blend in perfectly well with the local people in Gaza. Nora said they’d had to spend many sleepless nights in the van, as the cold weather conditions weren’t suitable for tents. However, despite the tough trucker lifestyle, Nora said they were still having an incredible time with the rest of the Viva Palestina team and with all the wonderful support they had been receiving along the way they were only getting more and more motivated to reach their final destination in Gaza.

The convoy has now safely arrived in Turkey, Istanbul, where they received a truly unforgettable reception. Hundreds of people stayed up till 3-4am standing outside in the cold and rain on the motorway to wave and greet the Convoy vehicles as they arrived at the Turkish borders, and provide them with food and accommodation.

Nora told me that the convoy received massive support by the people in Istanbul- political as well as practical, providing everyone with food and accommodation. In Istanbul there have been lots of press conferences, rallies through the city and speeches by MP George Galloway. Turkish National TV is reporting live coverage as the convoy moves through their towns. A lot of Turkish supporters have given the Viva Palestina convoy very generous donations of aid, and a huge numbers of Turkish vehicles have joined the convoy doubling the convoy size to around 200 vehicles!

The next stop is Ankara, and from there the convoy will be heading on towards the Syrian borders. Nora says calmly that she believes Syria should hopefully be a safe drive-through.

The latest news is that the Convoy has received a warning letter from the Egyptian authorities that no aid vehicles will be allowed past the Egyptian borders and that they will use all means to stop the convoy from entering Egypt. Nora explained how this was especially worrying as the last Viva Palestina Convoy’s border-crossing in Egypt got really violent.

Fortunately, MP David Miliband has contacted the Egyptians to request safe passage for the convoy.

Nora, Fred and the rest of the Viva Palestina team urges everyone to help get the word out and contact media. It would especially be helpful to put pressure on the BBC Middle East Correspondent to come to Egypt to cover the Convoy’s arrival at the Egyptian borders, to pressure the Egyptians to let them pass by safely.

Nora and Fred both send you all their love and biggest thanks for all your support. They are deeply sorry they haven’t been able to update you more frequently themselves, but they have sadly had very limited access to internet. Next time they get the chance they promise to try to upload some of the many million photos they have taken so far.

Until then, please make sure to follow updates from the Viva Palestina Convoy on: http://readingpsc.org.uk/convoy/

Peace,

Marie

First convoy update 12/12/09

Dear Friends,

Everything's going good so far. The atmosphere on the convoy is really good and positive, an amazing learning experience for all of us. We have a super team leader, and so our team has gelled really well. There's a massive cross-section of people on the convoy and in our team - we are the youngest, there are a few environmentalist / vegetarian / hippy dreaded types, several middle aged strict muslims, some older women and assorted others. Everyone is amazingly nice and theres lots of banter. If everyone could meet these people there would be no more racism.


Our problem so far is that we've pretty much been living a motorway / motorway services lifestyle. That means that most of the places don't have internet, and if they do we are only there long enough to fill up our tanks and go to the toilet... the good news is that from here onwards the people are much more receptive to what we're doing, which means we will (hopefully) get hospitality from locals, and gives us much more likelihood of getting online. We've been focussing on filming video, we plan to edit that tonight and tomorrow, and upload it tomorrow. It has short interviews with other people on the convoy, and basically a video diary of what has happened since we left. I've been mostly shooting film, but there are also some digital photos we can upload.


We are around 80 vehicles from Britain, around 250 by the time we get to Gaza. We are split up into teams, each team has a team leader, and we travel in the daytime with our individual teams, meeting up for the night all together. The driving has been quite chilled so far, our team leader Kieran is a genius, he does aid convoys for a living (also to Albania and Kosovo among others). As I said before, our team is incredibly diverse. Hopefully some of that comes across on the video. There have been a few conflicts and disputes in the convoy as a whole so far, but mostly everything has gone smoothly. Once we get into Turkey (there will be a big press conference on the 16th in Istanbul, which will be the most significant international press attention for the convoy so far) we will be driving with a police escort. Obviously the various countries we go through from then will treat us with varying degrees of welcoming and openness depending on their political alignments.

Thanks for all the support from back home, hopefully we will get the chance to write more soon.

Big loves,
Fred & Nora

Thoughts on why we need to end the Siege of Gaza...

Sitting in the library flicking through the BBC News Middle East section, whilst listening to people talking about their hangovers and essay deadlines, I must admit it seems quite surreal to think that in less than a month I will be attempting to break the blockade of gaza together with thousands other people from all over the world coming all the way to show their solidarity.

Talking to different fellow-students at warwick here at the end of term, all talking about their Christmas break at home with their families, it also feels hard trying to convince them and myself why it is Kat, Nora, Fred and I are going to Gaza and why we think it is important...

I believe, we are joining the campaign against the siege of Gaza because we want to give the Palestinians the freedom to travel for study, work, and much-needed medical treatment as well as receiving visitors from abroad. The blockade of Gaza is a violation of international law that has led to mass suffering of the people living in Gaza

This includes the right to education; many students in Gaza have been denied their right to take up university places abroad, moreover, no paper, pens or electricity have been supplied making note-taking and studying very difficult. We want the blockade to end so that students in the Islamic University of Gaza can get degrees from UK Universities like us, giving them a brighter future.

We want to make it possible for people in Gaza to see their family and friends living abroad, who the blockade has isolated them from – just like Nora hasn’t seen her family in Gaza the last 10 years.

The blockade has also prevented sewage pipe maintenance resulting in it mixing with the local drinking water, as highlighted in the UNEP Water Report.

If you want to know more, and learn more reasons for why we need to work together to end the siege, please have a look at this website:

http://gazasiege.org/index.html

Page 3 in The Boar

Minutes before my assessed presentation (cognitive theories) this morning I haphazardly snatched up The Boar, our university's newspaper, and saw our names on page 3. Hurrah! Unfortunately unaccompanied by a fabulous picture of us in the semi-nude as witnessed in boulevard journalism.

Naturally, it gave me a little confidence boost, allowing me to be the winner on the dance floor as I spewed out cognitive theories on trashtalk.


To read the article, please click here.

Most wonderful message

Today, Marie and I both received the following message from a fellow student in Gaza. I wanted to blog it here in the hope that it reaches out to others as it did to the both of us. It is possibly one of the most touching and impacting messages I have received and I hope to remain in contact with Ahmed.




Hi, Katerina , how are you ,

I've seen your group " Can you help us end the Blockade of Gaza this December? "
and am so glad to know that there is people who still care about us
honored people like you , who keep the light of hope inside our hearts .

allow me to introduce myself
my name is Ahmed Shehada , am a 4th year medical student at the Islamic university of Gaza

as you can see , i live in Gaza :.) , and i would love to be part of what you are guys trying to do , and i would love to give all the help i can give

looking foreword to know what you think , and ill be waiting for you arrival to Gaza

yours
Ahmed

No Way Through

Despite only 10 minutes in length, the film's impact is harrowing and its meaning disturbingly lucid. It concerns an issue that bothers me a lot: apathy.

Most people don't care about travel restrictions in the West Bank because they aren't affected by it, it doesn't concern them.

The film is genius because it transposes the terrible implications of travel restrictions in the West Bank to London. Something that seems so remote and doesn't affect us is brought to home turf and suddenly it's relevant.

Is apathy all about context? Still trying to figure that one out...

Please watch the film, leave comments.
Thank you

Written and Directed by: Alexandra Monro + Sheila Menon
Mentor: Jim Threapleton
Music: The Thirst

No Way Through highlights mobility restrictions imposed in the West Bank, that are limiting its habitants’ access to health care, thus violating a fundamental human right.

http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/nowaythrough