Just One Reason

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالإِنسَ إِلاَّ لِيَعْبُدُونِ [Qur'an, 51:56]

Gaza Freedom March

GAZA FREEDOM MARCHERS REJECT EGYPTIAN OFFER TO LET JUST 100 ENTER GAZA (VIDEO)

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After three days of vigils and demonstrations in downtown Cairo, Suzanne Mubarak’s offer to allow just 100 of 1,300 delegates to enter Gaza was rejected by the Gaza Freedom March Coordinating Committee as well as many of the larger contingents – including those from France, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and New York State (U.S.).

The Canadian delegation voiced their decision the night the offer was made, at the Netanyahu protests being held on the steps of the Journalist Syndicate, to a crowd of 500 strong composed of Egyptian activists and Gaza Freedom Marchers. Here’s Basem Emara sharing the sentiments of the Canadian delegation:

[youtube eP0590Qm48A Journalist Syndicate]


“We flatly reject Egypt’s offer of a token gesture. We refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza. Our group will continue working to get all 1362 marchers into Gaza as one step towards the ultimate goal for the complete end of the siege and the liberation of Palestine” said Ziyaad Lunat a member of the march Coordinating Committee.

The morning the buses were to leave with the 100 people, the rest of the delegates showed up to the bus stop with their backpacks to protest and boycott the decision and ask the question, “Where are the rest of the buses?” Basem Emara speaks to the crowd:

[youtube 4a9mpCHxuc4 Bus Boycott]


The Gaza Freedom March was organized to focus attention on the one-year mark since Israel’s 22-day assault, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, injured more than 5,000. Although the invasion technically ended, the effects on the ground have only worsened in the past 12 months. No re-building materials have been allowed in and more than 80 percent of Gazans are now dependent on handouts for food.

The marchers had planned to enter Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah Crossing on Dec. 27, then to join with an estimated 50,000 Palestinian residents to march to Erez Crossing into Israel to peacefully demand an end to the siege. However, the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced just days before the hundreds of delegates began arriving in Cairo that the march would not be allowed to go forward. It cited ongoing tensions at the border. When marchers demonstrated against the decision, the government cracked down, often using heavily armed riot police to encircle and intimidate the nonviolent marchers. Egypt’s decision to allow 100 people into Gaza shows that the “security” argument is bogus.

(GFM Update 12/27)

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Dear all,
Today, on this one-year anniversary of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Gaza Freedom March had a very busy and eventful day here in Cairo. As you all know, our plans have been derailed time and again by the Egyptian government and today was no different.
After our morning briefing meeting, we all met at the Kasr al Nil Bridge to tie flowers and letters to the wrungs of the bridge as a sign of solidarity with the people of Gaza. We were at this for about an hour and managed to attract some attention. The Associated Press, PressTV, and other local media were there to cover the memorial. It was truly a beautiful sight to see!
Unfortunately, after about an hour, we were approached by Egyptian military officials who asked us to stop what we were doing and move off the bridge. It took a while to get everybody mobilized, but we eventually began heading towards the end of the bridge, but were still in a large mob formation…the military officials did not like that. Apparently any group of more than 6 people is illegal without a permit. We were slowly herded like cattle all the way down to an open field where we were left alone but still watched from the sidelines.
After this, we all decided that it would be better to split up into smaller groups so as not to attract attention and cause more problems. Basem and I went back up to the bridge to look for some people we’d lost contact with, and saw that the officials (or someone) had ripped down all our flowers and letters to the people of Gaza…such a terrible feeling to see the bare yarns and ribbons hanging, empty on the bridge.
We had some time to kill until the next planned action for the day, so Basem and I spent some time with his cousin – an Egyptian citizen who, because of his citizenship, is not allowed by the Egyptian government to even sign up for this march, sadly.
Next item on the agenda for the day: Take a bunch of felucca (boat) rides and light up 1,400 candles to place in the Nile River; one candle for each life lost during the assault on Gaza last year. We were really counting on this making a huge visual impact for the media and for the Egyptian people. Well, by the time we got to the meeting place on the corniche, there was a huge mob of Gaza marchers in front of the entrance to the felucca boats, which had apparently been shut down because of us.
I don’t know what they expected we’d do after this; but we definitely didn’t back down! We stood our ground on the corniche and inadvertently staged a protest and rally in support of the people of Gaza and pleading with the Egyptian government to let us in to the strip. We held our candles in our hands, chanted, sang songs, etc. It was really something! This in a country where it is illegal to assemble and protest in public places without prior permission and a permit to do so! Needless to say, we commanded the attention of all those passing us by on the very busy Nile River Corniche.
Before we knew it, more and more members of the press showed up to our event including Press TV, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, and some local and foreign media as well. Many of us were interviewed and photographed during the event and we are sure it will make local and global news! Fun Fact: I gave 2 Arabic-language interviews! God only knows how those turned out, lol!
As the night went on, our crowd got larger and the Egyptian authorities made their presence known by blockading off the sidewalk to keep us off the street. They attempted to employ some basic crowd-control tactics, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t; but the entire night was completely peaceful and non-violent. Near the end of the night, retired Colonel Ann Wright began negotiating with the authorities to allow us to secure a meeting spot for our scheduled orientation meeting at 7pm (they revoked our permits for the original meeting location). After a few back-and-forth exchanges, they agreed to let us meet in front of a large building near the Egyptian Museum at 7:30pm. Ann (along with Ehab Lotayef from Canada)was later interviewed by Al Jazeera and others. To sum up her main request: “If you would like to us to leave and clear this road for you, all we ask is for you to allow us to enter El-Arish and Rafah. We are not here to cause problems for Cairo; we are simply here for the people of Gaza.”
At 7:30pm, nearly all 1,360 delegates convened on the front garden of the large “Mogamma” building in downtown Cairo for our “orientation meeting”. There were a few speeches, some updates on other information, and then we broke up into our regional/affinity groups to figure out our plans for the next day.
As per our schedule, we are supposed to be boarding the buses tomorrow morning (Mon.) at 7am to head to El-Arish, but the Egyptian government has revoked our permits for the buses and informed all buses not to take any foreigners towards El-Arish or Rafah. Last night, a smaller delegation made up of French, American, and Greek citizens managed to make it up to El-Arish on their own, but we found out today that many of them were detained in El-Arish and questioned for hours. Today, the rest of the French delegation has staged a sit-in in front of the French embassy here in Cairo and they managed to get the French ambassador and his wife to come out and negotiate with Egyptian officials!
Here’s the plan for Monday:
7am – Meet at the bus station with our backpacks to look like we are ready to travel. We know we will not be going, but we want to show through the media that we were packed and ready to go but Egypt will not let us leave.
8am – Join the French delegates at the embassy and stand in solidarity with them.
9:30am – Daily briefing meeting
11am – Small Press Conference
12pm – Action at the UN
3pm – Women’s contingent will meet and deliver a letter to Mubarak’s wife.
4pm – Hopefully visit the Canadian embassy


Dear all,

Today, on this one-year anniversary of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Gaza Freedom March had a very busy and eventful day here in Cairo. As you all know, our plans have been derailed time and again by the Egyptian government and today was no different.

After our morning briefing meeting, we all met at the Kasr al Nil Bridge to tie flowers and letters to the wrungs of the bridge as a sign of solidarity with the people of Gaza. We were at this for about an hour and managed to attract some attention. The Associated Press, PressTV, and other local media were there to cover the memorial. It was truly a beautiful sight to see!

Unfortunately, after about an hour, we were approached by Egyptian military officials who asked us to stop what we were doing and move off the bridge. It took a while to get everybody mobilized, but we eventually began heading towards the end of the bridge, but were still in a large mob formation…the military officials did not like that. Apparently any group of more than 6 people is illegal without a permit. We were slowly herded like cattle all the way down to an open field where we were left alone but still watched from the sidelines.

After this, we all decided that it would be better to split up into smaller groups so as not to attract attention and cause more problems. Basem and I went back up to the bridge to look for some people we’d lost contact with, and saw that the officials (or someone) had ripped down all our flowers and letters to the people of Gaza…such a terrible feeling to see the bare yarns and ribbons hanging, empty on the bridge.

We had some time to kill until the next planned action for the day, so Basem and I spent some time with his cousin – an Egyptian citizen who, because of his citizenship, is not allowed by the Egyptian government to even sign up for this march, sadly.

Next item on the agenda for the day: Take a bunch of felucca (boat) rides and light up 1,400 candles to place in the Nile River; one candle for each life lost during the assault on Gaza last year. We were really counting on this making a huge visual impact for the media and for the Egyptian people. Well, by the time we got to the meeting place on the corniche, there was a huge mob of Gaza marchers in front of the entrance to the felucca boats, which had apparently been shut down because of us.

I don’t know what they expected we’d do after this; but we definitely didn’t back down! We stood our ground on the corniche and inadvertently staged a protest and rally in support of the people of Gaza and pleading with the Egyptian government to let us in to the strip. We held our candles in our hands, chanted, sang songs, etc. It was really something! This in a country where it is illegal to assemble and protest in public places without prior permission and a permit to do so! Needless to say, we commanded the attention of all those passing us by on the very busy Nile River Corniche.

Before we knew it, more and more members of the press showed up to our event including Press TV, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, and some local and foreign media as well. Many of us were interviewed and photographed during the event and we are sure it will make local and global news! Fun Fact: I gave 2 Arabic-language interviews! God only knows how those turned out, lol!

As the night went on, our crowd got larger and the Egyptian authorities made their presence known by blockading off the sidewalk to keep us off the street. They attempted to employ some basic crowd-control tactics, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t; but the entire night was completely peaceful and non-violent. Near the end of the night, retired Colonel Ann Wright began negotiating with the authorities to allow us to secure a meeting spot for our scheduled orientation meeting at 7pm (they revoked our permits for the original meeting location). After a few back-and-forth exchanges, they agreed to let us meet in front of a large building near the Egyptian Museum at 7:30pm. Ann (along with Ehab Lotayef from Canada)was later interviewed by Al Jazeera and others. To sum up her main request: “If you would like to us to leave and clear this road for you, all we ask is for you to allow us to enter El-Arish and Rafah. We are not here to cause problems for Cairo; we are simply here for the people of Gaza.”

At 7:30pm, nearly all 1,360 delegates convened on the front garden of the large “Mogamma” building in downtown Cairo for our “orientation meeting”. There were a few speeches, some updates on other information, and then we broke up into our regional/affinity groups to figure out our plans for the next day.

As per our schedule, we are supposed to be boarding the buses tomorrow morning (Mon.) at 7am to head to El-Arish, but the Egyptian government has revoked our permits for the buses and informed all buses not to take any foreigners towards El-Arish or Rafah. Last night, a smaller delegation made up of French, American, and Greek citizens managed to make it up to El-Arish on their own, but we found out today that many of them were detained in El-Arish and questioned for hours. Today, the rest of the French delegation has staged a sit-in in front of the French embassy here in Cairo and they managed to get the French ambassador and his wife to come out and negotiate with Egyptian officials!

Here’s the plan for Monday:

7am – Meet at the bus station with our backpacks to look like we are ready to travel. We know we will not be going, but we want to show through the media that we were packed and ready to go but Egypt will not let us leave.

8am – Join the French delegates at the embassy and stand in solidarity with them.

9:30am – Daily briefing meeting

11am – Small Press Conference

12pm – Action at the UN

3pm – Women’s contingent will meet and deliver a letter to Mubarak’s wife.

4pm – Hopefully visit the Canadian embassy




Egypt May Open the Borders! (GFM Update 12/27)

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Great news! It seems like there might be an opening of the Rafah border after all and we will be re-adjusting our plans to try to leave Cairo on Monday morning, as previously planned!

Tonight, the Ma’am News Agency put out a release saying, “Despite earlier announcements that the crossing would be closed until January, Egyptian officials will open the Rafah crossing for four days next week, three for general traffic and a fourth for Egyptian citizens. Head of the Administration of crossings in the de facto government Ghazi Hamad announced Saturday that the crossings would be open starting Tuesday 29 December. On Friday Egyptian nationals only will be permitted to cross. Each day 10-12 buses loaded with 60-70 passengers each will leave Gaza”

The Foreign Ministry, however, has told us they knew nothing about this and that our situation, i.e. being denied entry, had not changed. For us, however, this represents a major change because it means there might be an opening since the government can no longer say that the border is too unsafe.

I was watching Al Jazeera at family’s house earlier today and we saw Col. Ann Wright on tv! We are all over the news here and the Egyptian people are well aware and supportive of our efforts 🙂

Saturday officially marks the one-year anniversary since the attacks on Gaza and it will be a very busy day of meetings, briefings, memorials, and commemorations. Just to give you an overview, some information is below:

  • 8:30am:     Briefing meeting for plans for the rest of the week
  • 11 am:        Gaza memorial at Kasr al Nil bridge
  • 4:30pm:    Felucca (Boat) memorial at Nile River corniche
  • 6 pm:          Gaza commemoration (Egyptian supporters of the march will have a rally to call for lifting the seige and have invited us to join them!)
  • 8 pm:          Orientation meeting

On Monday morning, we will still meet at the original meeting stop for the buses where we will board buses at 7:00 and head for Al-Arish. We have been warned by the organizers that the Egyptian authorities may very well prevent us from banning buses, but we believe it is well worth the try. We will be discussing this more tomorrow night, and I’ll update you when we get more info.

Wish us luck and thanks for all the comments and support. Keep them coming!

Open Letter to President Mubarak from the Gaza Freedom March

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The Gaza Freedom March appeals directly to President Mubarak

In an open letter, the organizers of the Gaza Freedom March, representing 1362 individuals from 43 countries, are appealing directly to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to grant them passage into Gaza.

After being in communication with the Egyptian government for months, denying the March passage to Gaza, which was only communicated to them this past Sunday came as a shock to the organizers.  “We had no other option but to appeal to the President directly.” said Ann Wright, the March’s coordinators.

The letter, attached, will be delivered to the presidential palace in Heliopolis, today, Saturday, by representatives of the March.

As per the organizers, the Gaza Freedom March is scheduled to take place inside Gaza on December 31 at 11AM, from Ezbet abd-Rabbou to the Erez border crossing demanding that Israel lift its illegal blockade imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza for years.

December 25, 2009

Dear  President Mubarak;

We, representing 1,362 individuals from 43 countries arriving in Cairo to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, are pleading to the Egyptians and your reputation for hospitality.

We are peacemakers. We have not come to Egypt to create trouble or cause conflict. On the contrary. We have come because we believe that all people — including the Palestinians of Gaza — should have access to the resources they need to live in dignity. We have gathered in Egypt because we believed that you would welcome and support our noble goal and help us reach Gaza through your land.

As individuals who believe in justice and human rights, we have spent our hard-earned, and sometimes scarce, resources to buy plane tickets, book hotel rooms and secure transportation only to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza living under a crushing Israeli blockade.

We are doctors, lawyers, students, academics, poets and musicians. We are young and old. We are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and secular. We represent civil society groups in many countries who coordinated this large project with the civil society in Gaza.

We have raised tens of thousands of dollars for medical aid, school supplies and winter clothing for the children of Gaza. But we realize that in addition to material aid, the Palestinians of Gaza need moral support. We came to offer that support on the difficult anniversary of an invasion that brought them so much suffering.

The idea of the Gaza Freedom March—a nonviolent march to the Israeli Erez crossing– emerged during one of our trips to Gaza in May, a trip that was kindly facilitated by the Egyptian government.  Ever since the idea emerged, we have been talking to your government through your embassies overseas and directly with your Foreign Ministries. Your representatives have been kind and supportive. We were asked to furnish information about all the participants—passports, dates of birth, occupations—which we have done in good faith. We have answered every question, met every request. For months we have been working under the assumption that your government would facilitate our passage, as it has done on so many other occasions. We waited and waited for an answer.

Meanwhile, time was getting short and we had to start organizing. Travel over the Christmas season is not easy in the countries where many of us live.  Tickets have to be purchased weeks, if not months, in advance. This is what all 1,362 individuals did.  They spent their own funds or raised money from their communities to pay their way. Add to this the priceless time, effort and sacrifice by all these people to be away from their homes and loved ones during their festive season.

In Gaza, civil society groups—students, unions, women, farmers, refugee groups—have been working nonstop for months to organize the march. They have organized workshops, concerts, press conferences, endless meetings—all of this with their own scarce resources. They have been buoyed by the anticipated presence of so many global citizens coming to support their just cause.

If the Egyptian government decides to prevent the Gaza Freedom March, all this work and cost is lost.

And that’s not all.  It is practically impossible, this late in the game, to stop all these people from travelling to Egypt, even if we wanted to.  Moreover, most have no plans in Egypt other than to arrive at a predetermined meeting point to head together to the Gaza border.  If these plans are cancelled there will be a lot of unjustified suffering for the Palestinians of Gaza and over a thousand internationals who had nothing in mind but noble intentions.

We plead to you to let the Gaza Freedom March continue so that we can join the Palestinians of Gaza to march together on December 31, 2009.

We are truly hopeful that we will receive a positive response from you and thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely

Tighe Barry, Gaza Freedom March coordinator
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, USA
Kawthar Guediri, Collectif National pour une Paix Juste et Durable entre Palestinens et Israeliens, France
Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Alessandra Mecozzi, Action for Peace-Italy
Germano Monti, Forum Palestine, Italy
Ehab Lotayef, Gaza Freedom March, Canada
Ziyaad Lunat, Gaza Freedom March, Europe
Thomas Sommer, Focus on The Global South, India
David Torres, ABP, Belgium
Ann Wright, Gaza Freedom March coordinator
Olivia Zemor, Euro-Palestine, France



Gaza Freedom March Update (12/26)

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Greetings from Cairo!

We have made it here safe and sound; but not without a few kinks on the way. Our flight was delayed and we ended up waiting in Amman airport for over 10 hours and arriving in Cairo a half a day later than expected. It took us some time to figure out our internet situation, but thankfully we now have a USB modem which we will just refill with Vodafone whenever we need more online airtime.

It’s been 2 days since I checked my email and I logged into my email today and found over 80 emails…kind of overwhelming but doable, lol 🙂

International citizens from around the world have already begun arriving in Cairo and we are so excited for this first of many steps that will take place for this coming week.

There have been A LOT of new developments for our trip; everything still points to Egypt boldly and blatantly targeting us and completely banning us from entering Gaza. They have even gone as far as revoking our license for the orientation meeting we were to have tomorrow night (Sun.) at a school campus in Ramses Square. We are still told to show up to the location tomorrow night at 7pm, but if there is no word by 7:30pm, we will meet at another location at 8pm.

There will be a briefing meeting tomorrow morning where I will get more information and share with you here 🙂 But other activities that are planned include:

  • Tying flowers and names (of all those who died during the assault) to the wrungs on the October 6th bridge.
  • Take felucca boat ride on Nile River where we will place 1,400 lit candles into mini-feluccas/baskets and float them down the river to commemmorate the lives of the 1,400 dead during the assault.
  • On Monday morning, Hedy Epstein (a marcher who is also a holocaust survivor) will begin a hunger strike to demand that Egypt opens it’s borders and allow us into the Gaza strip to continue with our plans.
  • Later in the day, we will converge at a location downtown for a rally and protest to Egypt’s decision to ban us from entering Gaza. We understand this is a risk (since any assembly larger than 6 people is illegal without a permit), but we are sticking to our plans and demanding that our voices be heard.)
  • Updates on further actions and activities to take place throughout the rest of the week will be coming in daily and as I receive them, I will post as much info here as I can (without sabotaging our efforts).

Egypt “bans” the Gaza Freedom March

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8425232.stm

As you may or may not have heard today, the Egyptian government, citing security concerns and escalating tensions, has decided not to let the Gaza Freedom March cross into Gaza.

The foreign ministry has said they would not allow the march to take place because of the “sensitive situation in Gaza.” When was the last time the situation in Gaza wasn’t sensitive? The strip has been under siege and blockade for years now, by not only the Israeli government but the Egyptian government as well. What’s really amusing is while all of this is happening, Egypt has just begun constructing (with US funds) a metal wall along it’s border with Gaza, which will measure 10km long and delve some 18 metres below ground; a desperate attempt to cut the only lifeline the people of Gaza have left – the infamous “smuggling” tunnels. Of course, this is only after they initially denied it. Could their decision to ban the march be an attempt at brushing over the issue of the wall and steering media attention in a new direction?


gaza_egypt_wall


It is interesting just how quickly this story made it to the headlines today. I got a call this morning from our Canadian coordinator for the march, in which she briefly mentioned an email that would come out later this morning informing us of this decision. By around noon today, the BBC story made it to my Facebook feed and from there it spread like wildfire to various alternative news sources. This is the first time since signing on to the march that I’ve seen a story this big about the Gaza Freedom March come out of a news source as well-known as the BBC. It’s as if the Egyptian government was waiting for just the right moment, with just the right statement, before feeding the press the perfect angle with which to cover this march.

Honestly, I may be the only one who feels like this, but I see this “ban” by the Egyptian government as a good thing. First, like the old adage goes: “any press is good press.” And that couldn’t be more true in this case. One of the core goals of this march (to me, atleast) has always been to amass as much media attention to the matter as possible. I wanted to see Al Jazeera, Press TV, Ramattan and others, at the march covering it with a live video feed streaming back to viewers all over the world! Ok, so the BBC article doesn’t necessarily match up 🙂 but it’s a start!

Second, it’s clear the Egyptian government simply just doesn’t care anymore; not about what they say, how they look to the world, or how they’ll be judged or accounted for their actions….kind of like their teacher and master, Israel. And like Israel, they too will be singled-out and targeted by massive campaigns of boycotts (tourism), formal complaints to consulates and embassies, and even just some good ol’ fashioned protests and demonstrations.

So even if we don’t get into the Gaza Strip on the 28th of December (or ever), I still can’t help but imagine what 1,400 internationals gathered at the Rafah border would look like from an aerial view…and that’s not even considering what may or may not happen with the Viva Palestina convoy! I can’t even begin to picture the visual impact that would make as it streams to all the television sets and computer monitors of the world.

Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world have already begun hearing by phone, fax and email from delegates and the supporters of the Gaza Freedom March with the clear message: “Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.”

We set out to break the siege of Gaza and that is EXACTLY what we will do!


If you want to help, please spread and share this information everywhere, through email, facebook, twitter, and blogs. Then, make sure you contact your Egyptian embassies and consulate offices to voice your support for the march and the delegates who are going.

You can find the contact information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website here.

Below is a some sample text you can include in your correspondences:

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to express my full support for the December 31, 2009 Gaza Freedom March, and am in touch with my Member of the Canadian Parliament on this issue.

I respectfully urge the Egyptian government to allow the 1,360 international delegates to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt.

The aim of the march is to call on Israel to lift the siege. It is also humanitarian: the delegates will also take in badly needed medical aid, as well as school supplies and winter jackets for the children of Gaza.

Please let this historic March proceed. Doing so will do much to endear Egypt to both the marchers and their many friends and supporters.

Thank you