Viva Palestina USA « Live The Revival

Viva Palestina USA: July 4, 2009 – July 18, 2009

VIDEOS:

Shifa Hospital in Gaza:

Entering Rafah Border:

LIVE UPDATES:

7/18/2009, 3pm (local time Corona, CA): Alhamdulilah made it back home safe and sound. Arrived at LAX around 11:15am. Although at the time almost everything seemed a bit surreal, I have to say I’m starting to really miss Palestine. Nevertheless, we have a lot of work to do of our own and with even a fraction of the determination of the people of Gaza I’m certain we can help them with what they need most: lifting the unjust siege on Gaza. Hopefully I’ll be able to document everything from the delegation and convoy in the coming weeks to benefit everyone willing and able to support the cause.
7/16/2009, 8pm (local time Gaza): We are currently on our way back to the Rafah border heading towards Egypt from Gaza City. Our sadness to leave the people of Gaza after such a short period of time is indescribable. The Egyptian government has tortured our hearts to have only allowed us 24 hours with our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We are EVERMORE determined to return to Gaza in the near future inshaAllah/God-willing! AlHamdulilah/Thank God today we accomplished a lot with the help of our host “NGO’s”. BRIEFLY: We first attended a press conference with the Prime Minister of Palestine. We were then given a tour of the Gaza Strip and witnessed first-hand it’s destruction at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces. During the tour we visited the American International School which was literally demolished to rubble and it is simply INCONCEIVABLE that this building was destroyed by mistake/accident. Such a building could not have been destroyed to such a condition with just one missile strike. Throughout Gaza it was MORE than evident that the destruction of homes, schools, and hospitals were deliberate acts of war crimes. We then saw the demolished parliament building in Gaza. Followed by a visit to the patients of Shifa Hospital. Some of us including myself had the opportunity to get a tour of the hospital and meet some of the patients. I am warning you now some of the images/videos from within this hospital will be very disturbing. Lastly we met families at the Ministry of Prisoner Detainees (the title is a bit misleading, it’s the ministry for the support of Palestinian’s who have family members in Israeli prisons: 11,000 as of now) who lost family members during the Gaza War, as well as those who currently have family members in Israeli prisons. All in all, there is SO much to say, so many pictures to share, so many stories to reveal… I hope to do all that and more once I get back home to Southern California tomorrow iA!
7/16/2009, 1:52am (local time Gaza City): WE ARE IN GAZA CITY! AlHamdulilah (all praise/thanks are due to God) we made it through the border at 9:30pm. According to the negotiations with the government of Egypt, on the conditions of our entry we have until 9:30pm today, 19 hours from now, to exit Gaza from the Rafah crossing and back into Egypt. Arriving here and meeting everyone has definitely been the BEST experience of my entire trip away from home for the past month. The people here are SO hospitable and friendly and the joy to be in Gaza is so great that it actually feels like we have arrived home! We’re already sad that we have to leave so soon, but in the busy schedule that has been organized for us starting 7am today we hope we can accomplish enough inshaAllah/God-willing.
7/15/2009, 6:12pm (local time Al-Arish): We just made it to the city boundaries of Al-Arish. We’re driving toward the Rafah border, some 40km from our current location. Everyone on the bus is overwhelmingly excited to finally be here and to meet the people of Gaza. As we are driving through the streets, our two emergency vehicles turned on their sirens and numerous people through the streets are welcoming us with cheers, peace signs, and waves of support. Should be at the border (and hopefully across) by nightfall inshaAllah/God-willing!
7/15/2009, 6am (local time Cairo): Convoy members have been up since 3am loading and preparing the trucks to head out for Gaza. Over the night we received confirmation that we should be able to depart for Gaza this morning. We should be heading out within the next hour inshaAllah/God-willing. We’ll be driving 11 rental trucks and 4 large buses (for the convoy members) as well as 2 ambulances. Gaza is about 7-8 hours drive from Cairo; however, considering the size of our convoy and including stops along the way we should be at the Rafah border in roughly 9 hours: 3-4pm local time Rafah. The conditions of our entry STILL include: no vehicles that have been purchased by Viva Palestina (47 vans, trucks, and cars worth $500,000) will be allowed into Gaza nor are they being released from the Alexandria port, AND Viva Palestina convoy members will only have a 24-hour open window to enter and exit Gaza.
7/14/2009, 10pm (local time Cairo): Still waiting at the hotel in Cairo. Obviously we’re not heading out tonight, although that was the original plan. Convoy members have been notified that we’ll be briefed at 7am tomorrow morning about the status of negotiations between the Egyptian government and George Galloway, Cynthia McKinney, and Charles Barron. The entire convoy is in Cairo, ready at a moment’s notice to leave for Gaza; however, due to the demands of the Egyptian government we are unable to leave for Gaza without their approval. This convoy is completely different than the British convoy in February. We are completely dependent on the whims and demands of the Egyptian government which has already placed numerous obstacles in our way to leave for Gaza. EVEN if we wanted to, we wouldn’t be able to leave Gaza from our hotel in Gaza until the Egyptian government fully agrees considering Egyptian security forces have been accompanying, monitoring, and influencing our every move since we arrived.
7/14/2009, 3:30pm (local time Cairo): Waiting… Everyone is packed and ready to head for Gaza. Drivers group arrived back to the hotel from the US Embassy around noon. Our luggage is actually still on the bus ready for us to head out for Gaza. Now we’re just waiting at the hotel to hear from George Galloway, Charles Barron, and those negotiating with the Egyptian government about the status of our convoy.
7/14/2009, 6:44am (local time Cairo): We are back in Cairo, VP Convoy reunited with all members, joined by George Galloway, Cynthia McKinney, and everyone else who is here to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Last night we were informed that George Galloway and New York City Councilmember Charles Barron have been negotiating with the Egyptian government about the terms of our entrance into Gaza. As representative of Viva Palestina USA, Charles Barron informed us that the Egyptian foreign minister has laid the following terms before us (for negotiation): we can enter Gaza tomorrow (Wednesday) morning AND we can take all of the medical aid with us; however, we CANNOT take any vehicles into Gaza (an investment of $500,000) that has already been spent to buy vehicles that are STILL waiting at the Alexandria port (at the order of the Egyptian government) AND we cannot stay in Gaza for more than 24 hours. Barron assured us that today he would try to renegotiate the terms of our entrance into Gaza to include ALL 47 vehicles. RIGHT NOW, we are heading to the US Embassy to pay $30 to have our rights waived in the event that we come in danger in Gaza…
7/13/2009, 5pm (local time Alexandria): We’re heading back to Cairo in 30 minutes. We’ll be staying in Cairo tonight, heading to the American Embassy in the morning at 6am and be the first ones in as they open at 8am. Get our affidavit release forms, head straight back (drivers group) to Alexandria by noon, drive our vehicles from the Alexandria port to the border of the Sinai (Ismailiya) by evening of tomorrow (Tuesday), reunite with the entire Viva Palestina convoy, and head to the Gaza Border (Rafah) by late Tuesday and arrive early Wednesday. Should be entering Gaza on the morning of Wednesday, July15 inshaAllah/God-willing!
7/13/2009, 1pm (local time Alexandria): AlHamdulilah we have received custody of the vehicles! Many of us in Alexandria will be driving to the port (in Alexandria) to prepare them for departure. However, BEFORE we can depart a new set of obstacles have been placed in front of us. We now need to acquire forms from the US Embassy in Cairo (an affidavit) stating that the US Government is not responsible for our safety and cannot do anything for us if we were to go into Gaza. These forms cannot be obtained until tomorrow (Tuesday) morning between 8am and 11am. SO after we acquire these forms, prepare the vehicles for departure, unite the entire Viva Palestina USA convoy tomorrow in Cairo, we can THEN depart for Gaza inshaAllah/God-willing. Considering all these delays it now seems that our most likely date/time of entry into Gaza will be Wednesday morning inshaAllah!
7/12/2009, 12pm (local time Alexandria): The Viva Palestina USA Convoy is currently split in three groups: a group in Cairo securing all the medical aid, a group from Cairo with medical aid stuck at the Sinai border, and a group in Alexandria (including us from Southern California) waiting for Egyptian customs to drive the convoy’s vehicles (trucks, vans, cars, and ambulances). According to Kevin Ovenden (convoy leader), it seems like we’ll be meeting up with EVERYONE at Ismailiya by tomorrow (Monday) (a city at the border of the Sinai and the Suez Canal), and heading out for the border from there as soon as the ENTIRE Viva Palestina USA Convoy is reunited.
7/11/2009, 10pm (local time Alexandria): We’re still waiting for Egyptian customs clearance of the vehicles. Drivers group of the convoy is still in Alexandria. It seems the vehicles will not be available until late Sunday or perhaps even Monday. In the mean time, Taher and I decided to go to the Library of Alexandria (built on the ruins of the Ancient Library of Alexandria) in order to find some road maps of Egypt to plan out our route from Alexandria to Al-Arish and to bring copies for all the drivers. After searching the entire day we came to the conclusion that they simply don’t exist. Egypt doesn’t have road maps OR if they do they’re not for sale to the public…
7/10/2009, 2:30pm (local time Alexandria): Convoy drivers are in Alexandria! We just finished Jum’ah prayer at the local Mosque. Waiting until tomorrow for customs clearance to obtain the vehicles for the convoy. We arrived in Alexandria yesterday around 2pm. However, we weren’t able to obtain the vehicles at that time because the customs were closed. Considering today is a non-working day in Egypt we’ll be waiting until tomorrow for all the vehicles to clear customs and heading out EARLY Sunday morning to Al-Arish inshaAllah/God-willing!
7/9/2009, 10:50am (local time Cairo): we’re heading out to Alexandria RIGHT NOW! Should meet up with the rest of the convoy at the Al-Arish border!
7/8/2009, 11am (local time Cairo): Just finished having a briefing meeting with all the convoy members and the convoy leader, Kevin Ovenden. After 48 hours of planning, deliberating, and waiting WE ARE READY TO GET TO WORK. Kevin announced that starting early tomorrow morning we will be splitting up into two groups. One group will be heading to Alexandria to drive the vans to the AlArish border (Rafah crossing into Gaza), and the other group will stay behind in Cairo to prepare the medical aid and will join us in 2 days at the Rafah crossing. Many of the So-Cal guys and I will be joining the Alexandria group and heading to AlArish. We probably won’t have internet until we get to AlArish OR until we get into Gaza on Sunday or Monday. Please keep us and the people of Gaza in your prayers!
7/7/2009, 5pm (local time Cairo): Arrived last night, joined the convoy members, waiting for instructions from group leaders. Convoy organizers are sitting through meetings (one after another) to finalize the purchase of vans and medical supplies. In the mean time, convoy members are touring Cairo. Today we went to Khan alKhalily and AlAzhar Mosque & University (The Oldest University in the World). We also saw the citadel of Muhammad Ali, and numerous other historic mosques and government buildings.
7/6/2009, 4:40pm (local time Amman): At City Mall in Amman. Waiting for flight at 7:45pm. Should arrive in Cairo at 9:15pm and join convoy members from the US inshaAllah/God-willing!