Thursday, July 16, 2009

Viva Palestina Arrives in Gaza and Meets with Hamas

Approximately 200 American activists belonging to the Viva Palestina US convoy were allowed to cross into Gaza on the evening of July 15. Egyptian authorities are only permitting them to remain in Gaza for 24 hours.

While in Gaza today, the activists on the Viva Palestina US convoy met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, according to media reports. Haniyeh specifically met with the Neturei Karta members who were part of the convoy and reportedly told them that Jews aren’t the enemy. He said, "We view you as heroes, you are opening the eyes of the world to the siege in the Strip."

George Galloway and New York City Councilmember Charles Barron led the convoy as it arrived in Gaza. Galloway then gave a press conference to some international and local media outlets and said, “We are all here to say that the siege of Gaza must end… because it is a criminal siege which is killing people because of how they voted in a democratic election.”

At the press conference, Galloway also reiterated that he intends to organize a convoy from Venezuela and that Hugo Chavez will join the Venezuelan convoy.



The Viva Palestina US convoy had raised more than one million dollars but were only allowed by the Egyptian authorities to transport about a half million dollars worth of medical supplies to Gaza.

For more, see Viva Palestina: Supporting Hamas Under the Guise of Humanitarianism

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Does Egypt bear no responsibility for this "siege"? Last time I checked Gaza had two borders...