British MP Galloway Kisses Gaza Ground

10/03/2009    |    almanarTV   |    Hanan Awarekeh

 

At a time the Gaza Strip had been left by itself without any solidarity from most of the Arab leaders and officials, foreigners come to show their support to the besieged Strip challenging the Egyptian authority at Rafah borders after being delayed and not paying any attention to the Israeli occupation army threats.
 
Some 24 days after leaving Britain, part of a Gaza aid convoy finally arrived in the Strip via the Rafah border crossing on Monday, prompting British MP George Galloway, who headed the group, to say that the convoy was only the beginning of his battle, and reinforced his comment with a flamboyant kiss to the Gazan ground.  
 
The convoy, brainchild of the 'Viva Palestina' organization, included 99 vehicles that made a journey of over 12,000 km through France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and finally Egypt. It included ambulances, fire trucks, and a boat-carrying truck. The activists carried food, medicine, and toys for the people of Gaza.
 
The convoy reached the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Sunday, but it was delayed due to the Egyptian security forces' objection to the delivery of non-medical aid. The activists spent the night in El-Arish, where, reportedly, locals pelted them with stones and also sprayed anti-Hamas graffiti on their cars.
 
Eventually, an agreement was made with Egypt, whereby some of the non-medial supplies - including electrical generators and the fire engine - were unloaded and were to be transferred via the Egyptian Red Cross through border crossings under Israel's control after being checked by the Israeli occupation army.
 
A Hamas border official said that about 50 British and Scottish volunteers and 100 vehicles carrying food, clothing and medicine had passed through the Rafah terminal. Galloway said 300 British citizens and 200 Libyans would be entering Gaza.
 
After entering the Strip, Galloway called the aid "a drop in the ocean," but said the trip was to send a message that "the lifeline from Britain to Gaza is in."
 
He vowed that more such aid convoys would follow and that Gazans should not feel they were alone. "I have entered Palestine many times but the most emotional of these is after the 22-day genocidal aggression against the Palestinian people," he told reporters.
 
Receiving the activists, Ahmed Kurd, Hamas' minister of social affairs, thanked Galloway for the "noble goodwill gesture" and called the lawmaker a "hero."