The arduous journey of the Viva Palestina third aid convoy to Gaza has finally come to an end, its last leg proving to be more difficult than anticipated, Amira Howeidy reports Breaking the siege of Gaza is certainly no easy task, especially if it's a group of 450 internationals with $4 million worth of aid that is attempting to do so in defiance of Israel's -- backed by Washington -- diplomatic, political and military might. Viva Palestine -- the British-based registered charity -- which sent two aid convoys to Gaza last March and July, has had to suffer immensely on its third mission dubbed "Return to Gaza" which took off from Britain on 6 December. The aim of crossing into the besieged strip on 27 December is to mark the first anniversary of Israel's 22-day Operation Cast lead. But Egypt, the convoy's chosen entry point to Gaza because of it being the only passageway to the Strip not controlled by Israel, had a surprise in store for the organisers. The convoy, headed by British MP George Galloway and member of the Respect Party Kevin Ovenden, took off a month ago from the UK. It included 60 vehicles consisting of passenger cars, ambulances and trucks (including medically designed pick up trucks) packed with medical and humanitarian aid to be donated to the besieged population of Gaza. Having crossed Europe driving under difficult weather conditions with little rest and few sleeping hours, VP stopped for four days in Turkey where it was joined by its new Turkish arm, IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation. More donations -- 70 vehicles -- and volunteers from Turkey, Malaysia and other contingents united with VP at this stage, brining the total number of the convoy's participants to approximately 450 and vehicles to 198. After crossing Syria to Jordan's Port Aqaba from where the convoy was to cross the Red Sea to the Egyptian port of Noweiba on 25 December, the Egyptian authorities refused to allow the passage of the convoy into Egypt, and insisted it must enter through the Mediterranean port of Arish. The shocking news left the convoy's leaders at rage, but they eventually decided to comply with Egypt's demands. The decision was reached after intensive negotiations between the Turkish delegation accompanying the convoy and the Egyptian consul-general in Aqaba. The Turkish delegation consists of five members of parliament, including the head of parliament's Foreign Relations Committee Murad Margan. According to VP's spokesman Zaher Berawi, while in Aqaba, negotiations with Egypt resulted in the Egyptian authorities pledging to allow all participants and the full load of the convoy to enter Gaza. Information on every vehicle accompanying the convoy was processed. "It was agreed that vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes will not cross via the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing and will have to pass through the Israeli-controlled border crossing of Ouja. These are six vehicles only," he told Al-Ahram Weekly in a telephone interview from Arish. "Our position was to refuse any cooperation with the Israeli occupation, but because we wanted to get our aid through and because we were talking about six vehicles only, we accepted this arrangement" he explained. The convoy returned to Jordan, drove all the way up north to Syria's Latakia sea port where all its vehicles were shipped to Port Arish accompanied by half of VP's volunteers. The other half flew from Syria to Arish. Egypt's "surprise" demands came at a price. It cost the organisers a staggering $300,000 that was not planned and which VP did not have. It also meant that since its take off from the UK last month, Viva Palestina crossed a total of 8,000km. "Our Turkish arm donated half the costs and in response to Galloway's call for emergency donations, Gulf money came through and that's how we covered the added cost," said Berawi. Egypt's official position since the convoy's arrival to Aqaba has been that it has informed VP from early on that it must cross via Arish city. According to Berawi, the Egyptians failed to mention, until very late in the journey and only when VP was in Jordan, that the convoy should use the Mediterranean port of Arish as its entry point into Egypt. Having complied with Egyptian demands the organisers believed that was the end of the trouble. However, once VP's volunteers arrived in Arish, a series of problems unfolded in what turned into a nightmare. The first batch of VP -- 152 volunteers -- arrived in Arish on Monday. The authorities in Arish then took all their passports, stamped them with entry and departure visas and demanded that they get into Gaza immediately. But because two more flights carrying 157 and 202 volunteers respectively had not arrived yet which meant that only a portion of the participants will enter Gaza, leaving the rest behind, VP's leaders insisted they will not comply with this unexplained Egyptian demand and insisted that all the convoy will enter Gaza together. At this point, a member of the ruling National Democratic Party, Mohamed Heiba, went to Arish to negotiate between the convoy's leaders and the Egyptian authorities. And according to Berawi, the problem was resolved and the convoy was promised a smooth entry the next day (Tuesday). And indeed, all the volunteers moved to Arish port and were united with their vehicles in preparation for the move on Tuesday morning. But at this point, the Egyptians informed VP that 59 vehicles -- and not just the six agreed upon in the Aqaba negotiations -- would not be crossing Gaza via the Rafah border crossing. "Heiba told the convoy's leaders that Egypt's sovereignty dictates that these vehicles cross through Israel's Ouja crossing, which was unacceptable," said Berawi. "When we agreed with the Egyptians on everything in Aqaba, there was no mention of the ban regarding these extra 53 vehicles, we really couldn't tolerate or understand what the reasoning behind this was. If we leave 59 vehicles to cross through Israel, they will never arrive to Gaza and that means 25 per cent of the convoy's donations will perish." A Viva Palestina-US convoy donated most of the vehicles Egypt refused to allow into Gaza last July. This group had purchased 47 passenger cars from Egypt with the intention of donating them to Gaza. The Egyptian authorities refused to allow these cars into Gaza but gave permission to the convoy's 200 volunteers to cross to the Strip. Last month, the Turkish IHH shipped all 47 vehicles to Turkey, then shipped them back to Arish port to join Viva Palestina III. Faced with the organisers' refusal to accept this condition, Heiba walked out of the meeting and never returned. Shortly after that, 2000 police conscripts surrounded Arish port and according to Zaher, some of them started pelting the convoy's volunteers with stones. "This provoked the convoy's participants who reacted back." Hell broke loose: 25 VP volunteers were injured due to the clashes and the footage of the violence aired on Turkish TV prompted thousands of Turks to take to the streets of Istanbul demonstrating against what they considered an Egyptian unwarranted provocation. "Is this what Egypt calls sovereignty?" an angry Zaher cried out on the phone Wednesday morning, "attacking the volunteers? Besieging the people who want to break the siege of Gaza", he asked rhetorically, departing from his diplomatic discourse which he maintained through VP's 31-day old journey. As Al-Ahram Weekly was going to press Wednesday afternoon, VP's Galloway had announced that the convoy will depart to Gaza. According to Zaher, VP decided to leave the 59 vehicles behind so that the Turkish IHH will ship them to Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon. The convoy has permission to stay in the Strip for 48 hours only. "We were faced with no other option," he said. Despite this, a fourth Viva Palestina is already being planned in which, Galloway announced, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will participate. "Nothing will stop us or break our determination," said Berawi.
