Israel Matzav

Ships carrying aid heading for 'beleaguered' Gaza

Yom Kippur was a popular day for the departure of ships carrying 'humanitarian' aid to 'beleaguered' Gaza. In addition to a ship full of Leftist British Jews that left from London, a ship left the Syrian port of Tartus (which is soon to be a Russian base).

The reason why these ships have some hope of making it to Gaza is that they are heading for the Egyptian port of El-Arish and not directly to Gaza. There, their cargoes will be offloaded and trucked over land to Gaza via the Rafah crossing point. State Minister for the Syrian Red Crescent Basahr Al-Shaar said the ship will bring 650 tons of humanitarian aid, including 40 tons of medical supplies, and will travel to Gaza via the Egyptian port of Al-Arish.

''The Syrian people, from all walks of life, took part in the donations, mainly the NGOs and economic bodies,'' said Al-Shaar told the news site.

Chairman of the Syrian Red Crescent Abdulrahman Al-Attar said he hoped the aid would arrive in Gaza to ease the plight of the Palestinians living in the blockaded coastal enclave.

There are more ships and trucks on their way too.

Jordanian workers' union will send 50 truckloads of aid to Gaza as part of the fifth Viva Palestina convoy, a spokesman for the British organization said Thursday.

Zahir Berawi said 50 trucks from Algeria would also join the European convoy when it reaches Syria in October. The convoy is due to leave London on Saturday and head to the Egyptian Al-Arish port.

New Zealand activist Nicola Enchmarch visited Jordan recently to coordinate the aid, while former British parliamentarian George Galloway visited organizers in Algeria.

Of course, the Egyptians may not let all these cargoes in. But you'll hear less about that, because it's the Egyptians and not the Israelis. And something tells me that if the Egyptians board those ships, they won't be using paintball guns. Heh.

The picture at the top is Gaza's Grand Castle Hotel. It looks real impoverished, doesn't it?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:02 AM