"We
are all under the same sky"
Adam Keller's report of the aid convoy to
Gaza
"There is a problem" said the elderly
woman who phoned urgently on the day before we set out. “The food which I and
my husband bought for the
This Tel Aviv couple was among the very many
people, in Israel as all over the world, touched last week by the plight of
Gaza and trying to do something about it – preparing personal aid packages,
distributing leaflets at street corners and on university campuses, working
feverishly deep into the night to take care of numerous logistical hitches in
the preparations for the convoy, sending a stream of donations from all over
the world, picketing Israeli embassies and convoys with signs reading “Let the
Convoy Pass!”.
After many months in which it had festered,
virtually unnoticed by the world at large (though full reports were available
on the net for any who cared to look), the Siege of Gaza has suddenly burst
into the headlines and the TV screens. A
new situation was created by the decision of Defence
Minister Barak to make an already terrible situation
completely intolerable by altogether closing down the border passes,
In fact, a relief convoy had been in stages of preparation already
for several weeks before these stirring events. The initiative started in late
December, when Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj
- the well-known Gazan< psychiatrist and human rights
activist - got a permit to enter
(At some stages in the preparations, it was
proposed that the Israelis would stand on a hillside overlooking the Gaza Strip
and the Palestinians come to a nearby field on their side of the border, so that
denominators on both sides could see each other; this creative idea was foiled by the army declaring
said hill "a closed military zone" and surrounding it with barbed
wire).
There were weeks of intensive preparations,
meetings held every few days, adherence of more and more activists, endless
phone calls and emailing, the drafting of manifestos and statements which were
translated back and forth between Hebrew, Arabic and English, amended and
amended again so as to satisfy all 26 of
the peace groups which eventually
joined the initiative – having considerable difference in political and
ideological programs and, no less important, in the age and general outlook of
their membership (the full list appears in the end). A single slogan was
chosen, uniting everybody: "
On occasion, petty rivalries and quarrels flared
up, sometimes acrimoniously – as they must in all human enterprises, however
well-intentioned. Still, many activists from various organizations worked day
and night, and new faces we had not seen before suddenly stepped in to take a
heavy share of the burden. Gush Shalom started a fund-raising campaign among
its sympathizers. Hundreds of checks came pouring in from
In
consultation with Dr. al-Sarraj it was decided to
buy, not only five tons of essential food-stuffs - flour, sugar, rice, oil,
salt, beans and lentils - but also water filters.
In the original meeting with him in Tel Aviv, one
of the salient details was how polluted and undrinkable water is in the
January 26, and the weather forecasts were far from auspicious: “Rain and
thunderstorms all over the country, rainfall will increase during the day.”
Already in the preceding night, we had been woken up by strong thunderbolts. "Who is
going to get up early on Shabbat morning in such stormy weather, in order to
participate in an open-air protest rally and carry sacks of food?"
But a single look at any of the bustling
rendezvous points (
As requested by the organizers, hundreds of
families came in their private cars, all of which were soon decorated by
posters showing a map of Gaza surrounded by barbed wire, and the slogan “End
the blockade!” in three languages. Some added on their own cars older placards
and posters left over from earlier campaigns: “
It was the veteran Ya'akov
Manor who had come up with the idea of asking demonstrators to bring private
relief parcels and to add personal letters "from family to family".
This touched a chord among activists who had seen the distressing TV broadcasts
from
At the assembly the rain was slight, no real
hindrance. But during the drive southwards to the Erez
Border Crossing it grew heavier and heavier, pouring
down, making it almost impossible to see the road, and considerably slowing
down the numerous cars. Enough to make the most obdurate of atheists utter a
fervent prayer, precisely the opposite of what peasants in this land have
prayed for since time immemorial “No rain! No rain! Please, please, can you not
stop it for two hours! Just two hours, that is all I ask!”
A call from the Reuters TV camera crew: “We are
positioned at Erez and waiting for you. All set to
start world-wide live broadcast at 12.45 sharp. Please be punctual – these
satellite links cost a lost of money, you know”. A hasty cellphone
consultation from car to car, and the organizers' resolve: “We must make it, by
hook or by crook, even
if we all get soaking wet. We just CAN’T afford to miss that broadcast!” Dr. Sarraj, calling from the preparations for the Palestinian
parallel rally in
And so it proved. By the time the convoys from
all over the country converged on the Yad Mordechai Junction and set out for the final few kilometres, there were only large puddles on the ground to
remind of the fury of the elements. The sun broke out to give camera crews a
full chance to capture the long long, slow moving
line of cars, buses and trucks.
Disembarkation at the locked gates of the Erez Checkpoint – once a crowded thoroughfare, where tens
of thousands of Gazan workers passed very early every
morning on their way to low-paid jobs in Israel, now a concrete wasteland which
only “exceptional humanitarian cases” are granted the rare privilege of
traversing. Jewish and Arab demonstrators – about half and half, with a
leavening of Swedes, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Japanese and a single
Korean – held aloft aid packages and placards, marching along the high walls
separating the Strip from Israel.
From the loud-speaker atop a van chants were initiated in
Hebrew and Arabic, enthusiastically picked up by the marchers: “
Mounted police shadowed the march, and a cordon
of police and soldiers was stretched along the Wall. Ahead, the truck loaded with sacks of flour
was already waiting, covered with heavy tarpaulins against the weather – to be
used as an improvised speakers' podium.
A phone call from Dr. Sarraj,
from the rally of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege at
the Unknown Soldier's Tomb in Gaza City, magnified by loudspeaker for the
waiting crowd: "I am proud and honoured to be
addressing you today, this is a significant date in the history of the region.
Maybe the siege and collective punishment are a blessing in disguise, when they
brought us together, Palestinians and Jews, Israelis and Arabs, united in the
pursuit of peace - of security for Gaza and Israel, for Ramallah
and Sderot!"
Prolonged applause, and a reciprocal message of
peace by the undersigned
relayed in the same way to the Palestinian rally. It was even
possible to faintly hear the cheering of the Gazan
crowd.
On more than one past occasion, attempts at such
phone-relayed speeches ended with embarrassing scenes of loud squeaking and
inarticulate noises. But
recent improvement in cellphone
technology have evidently come to the rescue of cross-border peace activism…
“What shall we say to the hungry child and his
mother, seeking bread in the streets of
“Three days ago, the Rafah
Wall has fallen, as the
“Our hearts are with our brothers and sisters in
Advocate Fatmeh al-Ijou spoke of last week’s hearing at the Supreme Court in
“Together with us and with our friends in Gaza,
tens of thousands of people are standing at this moment in demonstrations and
pickets and rallies all over the world, in capital cities and megalopolises as
well as in small towns – all of them demanding the end of the siege on Gaza and
of the occupation in general.” said Professor Jeff Halper,
who went on to call upon the people of Sderot to
rebel against the role imposed on them by the government – “The role of
hostages to missile fire and pretexts for acts of oppression in Gaza, which
only serve to provoke further shooting of missiles". [A list of places where demos took place
appears in the end].
“As soon as the spotlight went
out on the visit of President George W. Bush [a loud “Boo”! from
the audience], the light also went out in the homes and hospitals of
And Balad Mk Jamal Zahalka added: “The so-called negotiations and Peace
Process which the government announced are empty of any real content, a mere
camouflage to hide the crimes committed in
Teddy Katz read out a message from former
Minister Shulamit Aloni, a
scheduled speaker who could not come for health reasons: “Enough of the
killing, murder and destruction, committed in our name! Enough of false
propaganda, media spins which end in death! This is my direct message to the
Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, and his henchmen: The time is over for your
mentality of reckless, unthinking commando raids and assassinations. The time
has come for maturity and rational consideration – a time for peace!” (Aside from her words, Aloni
provided a substantial monetary donation and two personal aid packages.)
A completely unexpected speaker, who came up at
the last moment, was a young woman from Sderot, Shir Shusdig - who climbed the truck/ podium with
some diffidence and took the microphone: "For the past seven years, at Sderot and Kibbutz Zikim, I have
lived under the constant threat of the Qassams. I
have become so attuned to them that even in other, quiet parts of the country,
when I hear a public address system I immediately think this is the missile
alarm. I know that the people on the other side are also suffering very much. I
don’t trust either our government or the Hamas to
solve the problem and bring peace. But, the fact that we have come here, so
many people together, Jews and Arabs and
Palestinians over there, that is what gives hope; that we all want peace!” (very
loud cheers).
At the end, the personal parcels were loaded on a
smaller truck. Since the army is far from already allowing them into the Gaza
Strip, the personal packages, together with the sacks of flour and rice and the
precious water filters, were all taken to a warehouse placed at our disposal by
Kibbutz Kerem Shalom - conveniently located where the borders of
Gaza, Israel and Egypt meet. Getting them into the Strip will require a lot of
negotiations, lobbying and possibly an appeal to the Supreme Court – as we knew
in advance. You will soon hear more
about it.
(A few minutes after protesters piled into the
cars and buses, the rain started again. )
=========================================================
Social TV video of the convoy (Hebrew text, but
you can see the action)
http://www.tv.social.org.il/medini/stv-gaza-relief-convoy-26-1-08.htm
if it does'nt work well, try
instead:
http://www.practivism.co.il/video/stv/stv-gaza-relief-convoy-26-1-08-new.wmv
List of participating organizations:
Gush Shalom, Combatants for Peace, Coalition of
Women for Peace, ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Bat
Shalom, Bat Tzafon for Peace and Equality, Balad, Hadash, Adalah, Tarabut- Hithabrut, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, AIC – The
Alternative Information Center, Psychoactive – Mental Health Workers for Human
Rights, ActiveStills, The Students Coalition (Tel
Aviv University), New Profile, MachsomWatch, PCATI –
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Gvul, Gisha, Local Television on
the Internet, Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue, “On the Left Side”,
Faculty for Palestinian-Israeli Peace (Israel).
Website of the Palestinian organisers:
http://www.end-gaza-siege.ps/IndexEn.htm
List of places where parallel demonstrations took place on this
international day against the blocade of
New York, Phoenix,
Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco,
Anaheim, Los Angeles, Chicago,
Washington DC, Boston, Alameda,
Detroit, Chapel Hill, Durham, Champaign, Anaheim, Charlotte, Costa Mesa, Sioux
Falls, St. Paul, New Haven
U.K
- and
in other places which may have escaped our attention - often with a
considerable participation of Jewish groups opposed to the policies of the
Government of