George Galloway: "I ask please open your gates for us and allow us to proceed through the gates of Rafah to besieged Palestine"
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Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:31:17 GMT
British Lawmaker George Galloway
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British Lawmaker George Galloway has appealed to Cairo to
allow the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy he is
accompanying to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The call comes as activists on Viva Palestina faced problems
as the convoy was making its way to the Jordanian capital,
Amman.
The aid shipment, which originally departed from London on
December 3 with the aim of breaking the months-long Israeli
siege on Gaza, was prevented by Jordanian police from
entering Amman, where it was scheduled to hold rallies.
Instead, dozens of the convoy's vehicles formed a rolling
road block on the main highway to the city and shut down
traffic in a move the organizers called a peaceful protest.
After an hour of grid blocked traffic, the police had to
back off and promise to allow the pro-Gazan team into the
capital city amid unexpected gestures of support from
Jordanian drivers stuck in the traffic jam.
In Amman, the founder of Viva Palestina George Galloway
thanked Jordanian authorities for finally facilitating the
convoy's entry into Amman and appealed to the Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak to also open the way for Viva
Palestina.
"I ask him on behalf of our convoy, on behalf of all the
people around the world, whose hearts are bleeding, whose
eyes are weeping for Palestine to please open your gates for
us and allow us to proceed through the gates of Rafah to
besieged Palestine," he urged.
The convoy is scheduled to spend two days in Jordan before
moving to the Red Sea port of Aqaba where it hopes to take a
ferry into Egypt, hopefully, crossing into Gaza.
If nothing intercedes, Viva Palestina is to cross into Gaza
on December 27 to mark the first anniversary of the Israeli
offensive against the blockaded enclave, but this will not
happen if authorities in Cairo refuse to allow the convoy
ashore.
Lifeline 3, the third international convoy headed to Gaza
under the name Viva Palestina, comprises 210 trucks laden
with basic food items and medical supplies
450 activists, including 30 Americans, 150 Turks and a
number of Europeans are accompanying the convoy.
Falk slams world's failure to break Gaza siege
Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:25:43 GMT
The UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, Richard Falk.
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A UN human rights expert has denounced world powers' "tragic
failure" to break the long-running Israeli blockade on the
Gaza Strip.
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, urged
Israel's European and North American allies to press for the
immediate end of the blockade "backed up by a credible
threat of economic sanctions," AFP reported.
"There is no evidence of meaningful international pressure
being brought to bear to end the blockade or to ensure that
Israeli and Hamas officials are held accountable for alleged
war crimes perpetrated during the Gaza attacks," Falk said
in a statement on Wednesday.
He said a three-year blockade had prevented sufficient food
and medicine reaching civilians in Gaza, harming their
physical and mental health, and was still hampering
reconstruction.
"This represents both a tragic failure of responsibility by
the powerful governments of the world and of the UN," he
added.
Falk went on to condemn the Western powers for their failure
to investigate Israel's war crimes against Palestinians
during the regime's war on the strip last December.
SB/SS/RE
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Egypt closes Rafah to block Gaza Freedom March
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MRS/MMA
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Iran, Egypt 'do not differ in strategies' over Israel
Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:13:55 GMT
Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani
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Iran and Egypt do not differ in strategies regarding Israel,
although they may employ different tactics, Iran's
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says.
Larijani, who returned from a four-day visit to Egypt on
Wednesday, told reporters that Iran and Egypt did not vary
in strategies when it came to Israel.
"There may be differing views in tactics (over Israel)
between Iran and Egypt but the strategies of the two
countries are not different," the top official stressed.
He also said that Iran was pursuing a strategy that seeks to
make maximum use of the potentialities of Muslim countries
in confronting Israel.
Larijani flew to Egypt on Sunday to take part in a committee
meeting for the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States
(PUIC).
During his stay in Cairo, Larijani held talks with leading
Egyptian officials, including President Hosni Mubarak,
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and his counterpart Ahmed
Fathi Surur.
The meetings are believed to be the first high-level talks
between the two countries since they broke off official
diplomatic relations in 1980. Tehran was critical of Cairo's
peace treaty with Israel.
Ties between the two were further strained during the
Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January
2009.
Tehran criticized Egypt during the war for its refusal to
open the Rafah border-crossing, the only route for the
impoverished Gaza Strip to receive aid.
In Cairo, Larijani emphasized, however, that Tehran and
Cairo should put aside their differences with regards to the
Palestinian issue.
"It is most important for Iran and Egypt to set aside their
differences and to focus on bridging the gap between
political factions in Palestine," said Larijani in a meeting
with Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit.
AR/MTM/MMA
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