No biases to Gaza: turned back at Suez Canal #GFM

According to a tweet from someone who boarded one of the two buses that left for Cairo they have been turned back at the Suez Canal, returning to Cairo.

"No busses to Gaza, at all! We were stopped at the Suezcanal, on our way back to Cairo #gfm #gaza"
- Steun Palestina (@steunpalestina)


Sent from my iPhone

The National: Egypt's role in the Gaza blockade #GFM

Egypt's role in the Gaza blockade

Paul Woodward, Online Correspondent

  • Last Updated: December 30. 2009 10:18AM UAE / December 30. 2009 6:18AM GMT
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While Egypt is reported to be receiving technical assistance from the United States in constructing an underground steel barrier along Gaza's southern border, Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, told The National: "The Egyptian state and people paid a very high price and paid with their blood for more than 50 years in support of the Palestinians. No one should compare himself with what Egypt did and is still doing for the Palestinians."

via thenational.ae

NYT: Marchers to Gaza Gather; Egypt Says Few Can Cross Border

Protesters Gather in Cairo for March to Gaza

Amr Nabil/Associated Press

Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor, center, was among hunger strikers in Cairo on Tuesday showing solidarity with Gazans.

By MONA EL-NAGGAR

Published: December 29, 2009

CAIRO — More than 1,000 people from around the world were gathered here on Tuesday for a solidarity march into Gaza despite Egypt’s insistence that the Gaza border crossing that it controls would remain closed to the vast majority of them.

read the whole story at nytimes.com

 

I am not on a bus to Gaza. The struggle goes on. #GFM

This was a very difficult morning. Many delegations to the Gaza Freedom March rejected the Egyptian offer of two buses to Gaza. Personally I wanted nothing more to be in Gaza. I did get on a bus. But I could not go when people I know and trust in Gaza did not want us to come under such conditions and when there was so much opposition to this. For me that was the bottom line. Their fear is this small delegation would be used by the Egyptian government for propaganda and there was great anger at the statements made by the Egyptian foreign minister last night maligning the Gaza Freedom March. I understand the agony of people on those buses who wanted to reach Gaza. I felt that. But it was impossible. We need to keep up the struggle to end the siege. We've come this far. Solidarity means standing together and continuing the struggle.

AFP: Egypt to allow 100 protesters into Gaza #GFM

Egypt to allow 100 protesters into Gaza

By Samer al-Atrush (AFP) – 4 hours ago

CAIRO — Protest leaders stranded in Cairo accepted an Egyptian offer on Tuesday to allow only 100 out of about 1,300 protesters into blockaded Gaza after the activists staged demonstrations and a hunger strike.

The decision split delegates from more than 40 countries who came to Cairo planning to reach the Palestinian enclave, which shares the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Some organisers said Egypt's offer was a victory after it initially refused to allow any of the protesters into the Gaza Strip for the Gaza Freedom March, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday.

via google.com

It's not enough and the pressure and protests should be kept up. The deciding factor for me is what the organizers in Gaza want, and they want this group to come to Gaza. I understand all the objections to accepting a small offer, but everything else is secondary. It is essential however that the protests continue and the demand that all Gaza Freedom Marchers be allowed to travel. However, getting 100 or 1300 into Gaza does not end the siege by itself. This is not about getting some or even all into Gaza, its building global support and pressure to end the siege of Gaza. Our demand must remain the same, and it must be pressed loudly and insistently: open the border, end the siege.