Interview with George Galloway Inside Gaza

One month, thousands of miles, ten countries, one ship and a four flights later, Viva Palestina has entered the besieged Gaza Strip.

George Galloway surrounded by reporters, but almost none from Western news agencies, in Gaza. Courtesy: Press TV

(GAZA/SALEM) - The people behind a 200+ car convoy who arrived in Gaza yesterday entered this embattled city with only about 75% of what they had hoped to deliver.

55 of these humanitarian aid activists were bloodied during attacks by Egyptian police.

The group's most noted figure, George Galloway, Member of Parliament, says it was still worth it, especially based on the reactions of the Palestinian people who saw the bloodstains on the clothing of these humanitarians, that nobody had time to launder.

It should be clear to Israel and Egypt after this that no amount of political or police or military pressure is going to stop the humanitarian aid missions to Gaza.

Several more are currently in the works and all of it combined will not be enough to help everyone.

In spite of that, Palestinians, particularly the residents of Gaza, say they appreciate the generosity more than they can adequately express.

Galloway has received scant coverage from Western media. Their struggle has been mostly ignored by groups like the NY Times, though they came to life when an Egyptian soldier was killed. I don't think they even referenced the five Palestinians who were killed, at least in their online version yesterday.

Press TV ran this interview with George Galloway following his entry in Gaza with the Viva Palestina Aid Convoy. It originally aired on 7th January 2010.

MP George Galloway speaks from Gaza

The 3rd International convoy departed on December 6th 2009 and arrived in Gaza January 6th 2010.

The main word today in Gaza among this group was "Mission Accomplished!" and in spite of their hardships and extended bloody struggle, they prevailed.

Galloway says the Egyptians look very bad in the world over their treatment of these civilians.

It is interesting that the world seems unable to prevent terrorists from boarding airplanes, but so quickly able to band together and halt a humanitarian aid convoy.

People who believe the Gaza blockade is just, many in this convoy say, need to reexamine the facts. The people here have been under a siege that intensified in 2007, ultimately leading to the Israeli attack a year ago that left over 1,400 people dead, mostly civilians, among them several hundred children.

Israel is known for its ultra high tech weaponry that includes targeting capability that is supposed to be the best in the world. In spite of this obvious ability to distinguish targets, the Israeli Defense Forces managed to strike over half of Gaza's already under-equipped hospitals.

Schools were another specific target of the Israelis.

How the world is allowing this type of approach from Israel to continue is beyond most people's imaginations. It is clearly obvious that Israel is fighting a losing battle against world public opinion, and that can have huge ramifications.

Kevin Ovenden, Viva Palestina convoy leader, said the level of support internationally for the mission has been tremendous.

"We`ve been understandably in a bit of a bubble - especially when we were barricaded in at the port of Al Arish. But we´ve got some sense of the scale of solidarity events and of media coverage."

But it was the sight of people lining the streets - virtually the full length of the Gaza Strip, that Ovenden will not soon forget.

"It´s advanced the front in a number of ways - including, vitally, building a political case against the role of the Egyptian government in the area, and reinforcing the nexus between aid, solidarity and campaigning."

He calls this group of 518 people incredibly diverse.

"Thanks to everyone who responded to the calls to action from the VP office. There are thousands of emails to respond to and we will do as soon as we can. We are now working on further plans for coordinated initiatives over the next 12 months, which will be announced shortly."

• Jan-07-2010 Interview with George Galloway Inside Gaza - Tim King Salem-News.com
• Jan-06-2010 Viva Palestina Rolls Into Gaza After Violent Attack by Egyptian Police - Salem-News.com
• Jan-04-2010 Noam Chomsky Says Media is Blacking Out Effort to Aid Gaza - Tim King Salem-News.com
• Jan-02-2010 Gaza Freedom Movement Remains Determined Despite Challenges - Tim King Salem-News.com
• Jan-01-2010 Gaza: The Next 72 Hours are Critical - Salem-News.com
• Jan-01-2010 Shoeless in Cairo - Mary Hughes-Thompson Special to Salem-News.com
• Dec-30-2009 Gaza Freedom March Rumbles Into Egyptian Security Services - By Max Ajl Special to Salem-News.com
• Dec-29-2009 Viva Palestina Still Blocked From Reaching Gaza - Salem-News.com
• Dec-28-2009 Pink Floyd's Roger Waters Issues Message of Solidarity with The Gaza Freedom March - By Roger Waters Special to Salem-News.com
• Dec-28-2009 Hedy Epstein Begins Hunger Strike to Open Gaza Borders - Salem-News.com
• Dec-28-2009 Gaza Freedom Marchers Maintain Pressure in Cairo for Border Opening - Salem-News.com
• Dec-24-2009 Egypt Allows Humanitarian Viva Palestina Convoy to Enter Gaza - Salem-News.com
• Dec-22-2009 Syrians Hail Viva Palestina Convoy - Salem-News.com
• Dec-21-2009 Egypt Seeks to Halt Gaza Peace March - Salem-News.com
• Nov-15-2009 Anti-Globalization to Organize Massive Solidarity March to Gaza - Salem-News.com

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com