COMING SOON: VIVA PALESTINA 6 - THE RETURN CONVOY The events of the recent weeks have certainly revealed one truth - the siege of Gaza remains in place, and with it the suffering of 1.6 million people.
Shamefully, the Greek authorities prevented the boats of the second Freedom Flotilla from leaving for Gaza. In so doing, they are not speaking for the people of Greece, who in their great majority stand with the Palestinian cause, as they have done over the decades. The motivation for the Greek government becoming complicit in the illegal siege on Gaza is clear. The Greek airforce has just finished a two week joint exercise with its Israeli counterpart. Greek officials admit that with the economy facing devastating crisis that the Greek government is looking to investment from Israel, including in developing a new gas field in the eastern Mediterranean. In July of last year, Greek prime minister Giorgos Papandreou entertained Israel's Binyamin Netanyahu and announced closer relations with Israel.
Meanwhile, far from easing, the impact of the siege is as great as ever. International aid agencies reported last week that the economy of Gaza remains crippled. Unemployment is at over 45 percent. The ban on commerce, trade and the import of construction equipment leaves the people of Gaza dependent on periodic aid, which is carefully calibrated by Israel to ensure the population remain impoverished.
Within the last 2 weeks, the Israeli airforce bombed central Gaza, killing two people.
The overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak earlier this year and the ongoing struggle in Egypt for democracy and dignity has forced the easing of travel restrictions at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. But the ban on the movement of goods remains. And the latest reports show that the movement of pedestrians through the crossing remains minimal.
At the same time, calls for a complete end to the siege are growing in Egypt and internationally are growing. And a surge of energy from Palestinian society - within Palestine and in the diaspora - has produced fresh impetus to end the siege, to highlight the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and to unite the Palestinian national movement.
This is a critical time for Palestinians and their supporters, in which their is both the potential to make advances but also a desperate attempt by Israel and its allies to throw back the gains that have been won by siege-breaking initiatives over the last few years and to snuff out the hopes raised by the Egyptian and wider Arab revolutions.
This is a time for serious strategic thought and planning over how the solidarity movement should respond, now that more people than ever are aware of the siege, thanks to the outrageous actions of the Greek government.
The Summer University of Palestine in Beirut from 23 to 30 July will be a place where we can take stock and plan the most effective responses.
The approach underlying Viva Palestina's successful siege-breaking missions to Gaza and its wider activities has been to try to encourage and feed into the great social processes in the Arab region which are now unfolding and which, we believe, are central to not only ending the siege on Gaza but winning wider justice for the Palestinian people.
Among the initiatives that will be discussed at the Summer University is a major mission to Gaza in December of this year, timed to arrive on the anniversary of the beginning of Israel's Operation Cast Lead attack three years ago and focussed on working with the popular movement in Egypt which is demanding that the changes there are carried all the way through so that there is a complete end to the embargo between Gaza and the mightiest country in the Arab world.
It is clear that Israel is investing heavily not only in its military machine, but also in political and diplomatic efforts to shore up its position in the face of rising Palestinian and Arab movements for liberation.
We ask you to consider joining with us as we invest time and energy to explore the most effective ways to frustrate this last ditch effort to maintain the illegal siege and to hold back the swelling pro-Palestinian tide.
We wil have details of how to register soon. Please come back for further updates
They said it was impossible but we did it, against overwhelming odds.We organised and successfully delivered more than $5 million worth of humanitarian aid to the beleaguered people of Gaza. Three huge convoys,
hundreds of vehicles, scores of volunteers, medical equipment, drugs, through dozens of countries, past cheering crowds but also in the teeth of opposition from the governments of some countries.
But it doesn't end there. It cannot. While the illegal siege continues it's our duty to do what we can to pierce the blockade and help relieve the suffering Palestinians. Which is why we're launching Viva Palestina Arabia now.
You are closest to it, you feel it in your hearts, which is why I am asking you to help me, Viva Palestina Arabia and the starving, battered, but indomitable people of Gaza.
Please.
George Galloway
hundreds of vehicles, scores of volunteers, medical equipment, drugs, through dozens of countries, past cheering crowds but also in the teeth of opposition from the governments of some countries.
But it doesn't end there. It cannot. While the illegal siege continues it's our duty to do what we can to pierce the blockade and help relieve the suffering Palestinians. Which is why we're launching Viva Palestina Arabia now.
You are closest to it, you feel it in your hearts, which is why I am asking you to help me, Viva Palestina Arabia and the starving, battered, but indomitable people of Gaza.
Please.
George Galloway