The story of Viva Palestina

I want to give a little background on Viva Palestina US, the aid convoy that Tom and I are participating in. 

In December and January, Israel carried out a brutal assault on Gaza. For a year and a half before the bombing in December, Israel imposed a blockade on the people of Gaza. Everything, from food to building materials, to international money transfers--along with countless other things to maintain a society. (Check out this BBC report on the blockade for more information.) Israel systematically starved Gaza and then bombed it in one of the more catastrophic aerial sieges of our lifetimes. The attack killed 1,400 Gazans in a month and devastated Gaza in every possible way. Reports from Gazans during the attack describe the systematic and criminal nature of Israel's attack and its aftermath, how they targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure, and used weapons banned by international law.

Since the assault ended the day before Obama's inauguration, Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza.  Israel has forbidden the entry of basic humanitarian supplies to Gaza, including "school textbooks, clothes, shoes, toys, lentils, pasta, pumpkin, fruit juice, chocolate, cigarettes, toilet paper, musical instruments, and seedlings."  The result is that Gazans have been unable to reconstruct their society since the bombing ostensibly ended in January.  Despite the lack of coverage in the US corporate media, even the Israeli press have documented the devastation that has resulted.  The Israeli Navy has enforced the blockade, terrorizing Gazan fishermen, which has further devastated the economy.

There have been a number of attempts by activists to break the blockade and bring aid into Gaza.  Several have been undertaken by the Free Gaza Movement, which has sailed ships loaded with humanitarian aid from Cypress to Gaza in an effort to break the siege.  The other effort has been the Viva Palestina project.  The project was initiated by British Member of Parliament George Galloway, and involved assembling a convoy of vehicles, including ambulances and a fire truck, to transport aid to Gaza.  The convoy left the UK on February 14 through western Europe and north Africa, arriving in Gaza on March 9 with £1 million of aid.

After the success of the British convoy, Galloway initiated a convoy from the US.  Coming from the United States, which gives more political and economic support to Israel than any other country in the world, we aim to send a powerful message that growing numbers of people in the US don't stand with "our" government; we stand with the people of Palestine.  Most of us converged in New York City on July 3 to depart from JFK airport on July 4--using the symbolic date to call for independence for Palestine.  Our mission is to contribute to the breaking of the siege with medical aid and solidarity.  We hope to inspire more people to learn about Israeli crimes in Gaza (committed with American support), to question the legitimacy of the blockade, and to contribute to its end.  

We brought a truckload of medical supplies to Egypt and our delegation is gathering in Cairo, with new people arriving every day.  There are over 200 of us from all over the US and all kinds of backgrounds.  In the coming days, Tom and I plan to write more about the people on the convoy and the significance of the project for those involved.