Gaza Diary 9 - Last Thoughts on the Viva Palestina Convoy

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Furkan Dogan is forever in Gaza
Arshad’s suit is there too

The hand-made poster from Istanbul is in the window
We are leaving on a convoy of buses
Into Egypt—police escort us off the premises

This is my last email.

This convoy was an outstanding success

The Bottom Line:

• $5 million aid
• 147 vehicles
• 15,000 litres of fuel
• A poke in the eye for Israel
• More cooperation from the Egyptian people

But Palestinians didn’t ask about aid
NGO’s rightly did

Palestinians had but one message
“Tell your country about us”
Breaking the siege suggests medicine and essential goods
But this was breaking the isolation
And that we did big time

This was hope on wheels
To people with hope in their hearts

A powerful combination—determined
Remember the words of amputee Mohammed Mosa Joma
“I want peace but Gaza will not fall down”

Remember that I saw much smiling
And no-one on their knees

We on the convoy are inspired

There is that gap
What is needed to be done
What can be done
No lecture
Do what you can
Identify with the Palestinians

In the early 70s I asked our good friend Paul Foot (born in Palestine) to write “Why you should be a socialist”
Today I would ask him to write the sequel “Why you should be a Palestinian”

There is much to be done
We are all Palestinians