Tag Archive for 'Egypt'

Protesting Egypt’s wall of shame against Gaza

Published on 2 March 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Resistance is continuing in Egypt:

Activists and opposition groups are stepping up pressure on the Egyptian government to stop constructing a barrier along the border with the Gaza Strip. Officials say the barrier will prevent cross-border smuggling, but critics say it will seal the fate of the people on the Gaza Strip.

“The Egyptian border was the only opening left to the Gazans — their only means of staying alive,” Gamal Fahmi, political analyst and managing editor of opposition weekly al-Arabi al-Nassiri, told IPS.

More here.

Violence is a means and an end: an interview with Mark Danner

Published on 2 March 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

My latest article for New Matilda is an interview with leading American reporter Mark Danner:

Leading US journalist Mark Danner calls a spade a spade and examines the political value of violence in this exclusive interview with Antony Loewenstein

Mark Danner has some unusual characteristics for a mainstream US journalist.

He has published in some of America’s finest literary journals and is an irregular contributor to the New Yorker and New York Review of Books. Yet despite his impeccable media establishment credentials he remains entirely capable of critiquing its failures.

In an exclusive interview with newmatilda.com last week, Danner covered a lot of ground. He is haunted by his country’s use, abuse and boasting of torture on “enemy combatants” and the inability or unwillingness of Obama to challenge the criminality of the Bush years.

I raised with him the roughly 700 military bases or outposts across the world that Washington acknowledges it operates, according to American historian Chalmers Johnson. When I asked Danner what the US needs them for, he spoke with a frankness unusual in a mainstream journalist about the way the media avoids using words “empire” and “imperialism” to describe America’s role in the world.

“People don’t want to use that kind of terminology because they’ll get placed on the Left. It is viewed as an inherent denunciation of American policy. To talk about empire, you’re automatically Noam Chomsky, you’re making a point about hegemony but I don’t see it like that. The United States has imperial visions and responsibilities and that’s just a fact. It obviously works differently to the Roman Empire or the British Empire.

“But the US worldwide has interests and it controls the sea-lanes. The American navy is absolutely unparalleled in the world and nobody rivals this power. There is no other worldwide navy, though the Soviets tried to build one and failed. That’s what empires do — they keep the sea-lanes clear. China is building a blue-water navy but it’s generally thought that Beijing wants to construct a ‘string of pearls’ — military bases from China to Africa because at this stage their foreign policy is primarily focused on securing resources.”

Danner was in town last week to give a talk at Sydney University, and to promote his most recent book, Stripping Bare the Body. During his talk Danner challenged the core beliefs of the American-led battle against terrorism by outlining the wide gulf between reality and rhetoric. He cited President Barack Obama’s “eloquent address” in Cairo last June that articulated the importance of reframing the relationship between the West and the Muslim world.

But Washington seemed to ignore the contradictions of an African-American president talking about democracy and human rights while still wholeheartedly backing dictatorships in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are key targets for al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Danner observes that while such inconsistencies might escape the mainstream Western voter, they are at the very centre of the way people in non-Western countries see US behaviour. Obama’s seeming endorsement of the policies of client states such as these — or at least no public moves to condemn their brutality — plays directly into the hands of those who point to America as the great hypocrite.

In that context, Danner argued that the Muslim Brotherhood gaining influence in Egypt through democratic elections should be cautiously welcomed and a “salutary” lesson for a super-power long used to backing anti-democratic forces.

He argued that after one year in office, Obama would get a failing grade on the project of completely ending torture and closing Guantanamo Bay. More ominously, lamented Danner, many polls find a majority of Americans now believe that torture is necessary to keep the homeland safe from terrorist attack. “Fear is now a permanent feature of American life”, Danner said.

He reminded the audience that the filibuster technique, ruthlessly used by the Republicans in the last 12 months to block Democrat-led initiatives in Congress, had an ironic history. “It used to be something Democrats used to block civil rights legislation to allow African-Americans to vote”, Danner explained, “and today the same tool is being used by the Republicans against a African-American President.” He wasn’t optimistic that this political gridlock would be broken anytime soon.

Far from being a beltway analyst, commenting on events from the safety of the US, much of Danner’s fame stems from his influential first-hand coverage of conflicts outside the US and of the effects of his country’s foreign policy. As well, his work has dealt frequently with the seeming inability of the corporate press to report honestly on conflicts and trauma both near and far from America. “The verdict since 9/11 is quite mixed”, he told me. “What the press did in the run-up to the Iraq war was a terrible job. One of the mitigating reasons for that was that the Bush administration chose to make its case [over Iraq] on intelligence grounds and put journalists in the position of being seals, wanting fish. The ones who clapped most agreeably, such as Judith Miller at the New York Times, got the biggest fish. Intelligence stories depend on leaks. Secondly, the political elites essentially closed ranks over the invasion.”

Danner argues that the Iraq invasion potentially hurt the Democrats more than the Republicans, as the so-called “Left” didn’t want to be seen as being on the wrong side of history. “Anybody on the Democratic side who thought they might be President in 2004, such as Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, all supported the war; it was the smart vote, in part because of what happened after the earlier Iraq conflict in 1991 when Democrats opposed a very popular war.”

Violence as a catalyst for action is something that Danner looks at in a variety of ways in his book. As he says, “for leaders in a democracy, charged with crafting a foreign policy that can attract consensus or at least acquiescence, the instinctual power exerted by the spectacle of violence is a reality to be managed and sometimes feared.”

And that’s a dynamic that has certainly applied to the rapacious relationship between the US and a place in which Danner did some of his most powerful early journalism: Haiti. In the aftermath of the recent earthquake, Danner wrote in the New York Times that the country needed a serious and long-term commitment from Washington to build a “new Haiti”, but not of the militaristic kind: “Haitians have grown up in a certain kind of struggle for individuality and for power, and the country has proved itself able to absorb the ardent attentions of outsiders who, as often as not, remain blissfully unaware of their own contributions to what Haiti is. Like the ruined bridges strewn across the countryside — one of the few traces of the Marines and their occupation nearly a century ago — these attentions tend to begin in evangelical zeal and to leave little lasting behind.”

Events have brought Haiti back to attention in the most unfortunate way. But it is hard to see a lot of hope for the US altering the way it goes about its business there or elsewhere. In one of the most telling passages in Stripping Bare the Body, Danner describes another US intervention in Haiti, this time during Clinon pesidency: “The Americans, exerting their overwhelming power to reshape the politics of a tiny immiserated land, failed disastrously in Haiti. They underestimated the nationalist response that would accompany their every move, blundering about like a watchmaker blinded by his own shadow.”

And to anyone who has watched the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, that’s a description that sounds tragically familiar.

Hillary Clinton’s love of Egyptian torture

Published on 19 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Need any more evidence why Washington’s supposed desire for Middle East peace is regarded as a joke across the region? Even the Washington Post understands:

According to State’s latest report on Egypt, issued Feb. 25, “the government’s respect for human rights remained poor” during 2008 “and serious abuses continued in many areas.” It cited torture by security forces and a decline in freedom of the press, association and religion. Ms. Clinton was asked about those conclusions during an interview she gave to the al-Arabiya satellite network in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Her reply contained no expression of concern about the deteriorating situation. “We issue these reports on every country,” she said. “We hope that it will be taken in the spirit in which it is offered, that we all have room for improvement.”

Ms. Clinton was then asked whether there would be any connection between the report and a prospective invitation to President Hosni Mubarak to visit Washington. “It is not in any way connected,” she replied, adding: “I really consider President and Mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family. So I hope to see him often here in Egypt and in the United States.” Ms. Clinton’s words will be treasured by al-Qaeda recruiters and anti-American propagandists throughout the Middle East. She appears oblivious to how offensive such statements are to the millions of Egyptians who loathe Mr. Mubarak’s oppressive government and blame the United States for propping it up.

What Egypt could like look when free

Published on 4 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas, a brave soul and long-time enemy of the US-backed client state, speaks out on what he dreams for his country:

Abbas is bought and sold and he’s happy about it

Published on 1 February 2010 in Israel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

This Guardian “exclusive” interview with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is a thoroughly dispiriting affair. It’s a profile of a man with little or no freedom to move, totally bank-rolled by the Western powers (while the ever-expanding occupation making true independence utterly impossible) and powerless to do much except imprison Hamas officials and anybody who opposes the dictatorship known as the PA.

What a sick Western creation.

Jessie Boylan reports on the wild lands of Sinai and Gaza

Published on 31 January 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I posted a few days ago a wonderful essay by Australian photo-journalist Conor Ashleigh about his experience in Egypt and Gaza during the Gaza Freedom March. A colleague Jessie Boylan was with him and she has also filed a compelling travelogue on the journey.

Conor Ashleigh on “My Journey to Gaza”

Published on 29 January 2010 in Israel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

An Australian colleague, photo-journalist Conor Ashleigh, recently embarked on the Gaza Freedom March but his experience, told exclusively on this website below, is something to behold.

He shot some stunning photographers in Gaza itself, “One Year On”:

Here is Conor’s story:

My journey began on December 26th or Boxing Day as its known in Australia. Three plane trips and 25 hours later I emerge through an early morning haze of pollution in Africa’s biggest city, Cairo. I head straight away to meet up with two Australians who have been working in the region for the last year and have both been involved in the Gaza Freedom March and previous delegations to the Strip. Over a glass of coffee I get an update on the march. The murmurs I heard before my departure are confirmed; its quite clear that the Egyptian Government doesn’t intend to let the 1400 strong international delegation into Gaza. I was so disappointed by this news; all the effort to generate support to travel to Gaza seemed pointless, at least for a few hours until the two Australians propose that I travel with them to the border town of Rafah to establish a protest camp from where we can attempt to enter Gaza. Trusting their sense of judgment coupled with the idea of being stuck in crazy Cairo with 1400 extremely frustrated peace activists the decision was made, I would leave as soon as possible for the border. After a few hours racing around Cairo buying supplies which included a huge canvas tent we jumped in a mini bus filled with locals and zoomed off towards Al-Arish.

Al-Arish is the closest city to the Rafah crossing and a central hub for goods travelling into Gaza via the tunnels. Throughout the day reports had been flooding in that foreigners were being refused entry and that people already based in the city for the march were being held in their hotels under house arrest. While this was a concern we had been in contact with certain people in the port city who promised to hide us as long as we could reach safely. With the girls covered in headscarves we slipped through two checkpoints, while just 200 kilometres from Al-Arish we reached a more established point with at least 20 Egyptian security officials. Again the door to our mini bus was opened and people were asked to show their Egyptian identification cards. Unfortunately I was next to the door and my sleeping act was interrupted by a police officer demanding my card, after replying to his barking demands with blank stares it became clear I was not in fact a local but one of the foreigners the many extra security officers were stationed to find.

Caught, we piled out of the mini bus, grabbed our bags and tent from the roof and sat down while the many plain clothed security officials discussed our situation. We had stupidly handed over our passports and being an identifiable fugitive wasn’t particularly appealing so a quick escape wasn’t possible. Once the initial hype settled we realised there were two Britons also waiting at the checkpoint. Soon after another two foreigners were stopped and ordered out. Our group refusing to return to Cairo had quickly become eight. While the security officials continued to tell us that our only option was to return to Cairo we maintained our peaceful protest and refused to move. The police and security detail weren’t sure what to do with us but our presence at the checkpoint was not appreciated. Constantly the security men tried to intimidate us by screaming in our faces ‘yalla yalla’, which is Arabic for ‘go go’. We refused to move for quite some time, eventually another four vehicles full of armed plain clothed security arrived, the intimidation mounted until we were given no other option but to move up the road. By this point it was well past midnight, no one had eaten and multiple layers of clothing were being creatively added. Once we established our canvas mansion we all collapsed to sleep for a few well-needed hours before the sun was on its way back out.

Waking in a canvas mansion in the Sinai desert wasn’t as romantic as it sounds. We had all barely eaten, while personally it had been 24 hours since my last meal. To pass the time we attempted a game of chess and even tried to entice the police to a game of soccer but inevitably these were all just small distractions from our hunger and lack of a plan. Eventually it was agreed that we must find food so three members of the group set out in the direction of a sign that indicated a petrol station wasn’t too far back along the highway. After a few hours the three returned bearing gifts that seemed all so incredible considering our lack of nourishment; pita bread, cheese, bottles of water, canned beef, apple juice as well as exciting news of a possible alternative to our situation. As we made a respectable arms length circle from the goods we made our way through enough food aid to relieve a small refugee camp. We mixed bread with cheese and tahina, while our scouts then went on to share exciting news about meeting a local Bedouin who through the language differences understood our dilemma and offered to help us through the desert and away from the police.

Throughout the day the police presence at the checkpoint had grown to at least 200 personnel including 6 large riot buses full of armed soldiers. Slipping away from the police into the desert with the Bedouin man was not straight forward, as our passports would only be returned if we agree to return to Cairo. We packed down our tent and approached the head security official where we managed to negotiate to have our passports back and return to the nearest town where we could find food and water. Surprisingly the police agreed and hailed down a taxi, after close conversation with the driver we were able to load on our bags and start squeezing into the taxi, as we attempted to affirm with the driver that we would stop in the next town the police interjected saying that we must travel directly to Cairo. In a unified protest we grabbed our bags plus the canvas mansion and made our way back down the highway with passports in tow. After managing to get a kilometre away we stopped behind a house and called our contact, within a few minutes we could see his ute driving down the highway looking for us, as it spotted us it pulled in quickly and somehow we managed to all squeeze ourselves and our gear into the ute and drive off into the desert.

Once we had negotiated a price and another ute arrived we set off into the Sinai desert. It didn’t take much to realise how well these men know the desert, maybe this has something to do with the fact that the endless mounds of golden granules all seem the same to me. My driver’s questions and eagerness to talk became worrying when a few times he slipped off the track and we launched off a tuft of sand, It took quite some time to decipher the odd form of communication between the two cars, as we were scooting along sandy roads at 100km the leading cars lights would turn off or switch to just hazards while at other points the tailing car would kill its lights placing total trust in the path taken by the first. After two hours we stopped and were met by two men in a rather flash new 4WD, the driver told us to put our bags in the new car and as he waved his arm around I noticed the handgun tucked neatly under his arm with extra clips stowed under the other. I informed the others quietly about the guy we were now getting in a car with, before we had time to talk about it we were piling in to the car. Being the first to open the door to the back seat I couldn’t help but notice a vest that lay across the back seat, it didn’t take me long to realise it was filled with AK47 clips and without even thinking I picked it up and asked where I should place it. Once it was resting safely in the front next to the Kalashnikov our group like a three-dimensional game of Tetris managed to squeeze into the car. After another few hours driving we arrived at a small thatched hut where a few very surprised looking men sat around a pit of glowing coals. The group in the little hut had tripled once our group arrived, after a cup of tea and a chat with the men the morning was fast approaching and we all fell into a hazy sleep.

The next day we awoke to find other men arriving in the little camp, with just Jessie speaking Arabic we managed to tell the Bedouins about our trip so far as well as our plans to travel to Gaza to take part in the Gaza Freedom March, the men were all supportive of our plan as well as the struggle of the Palestinians. It was interesting to hear the men talk about how they identify not as Egyptians but as Bedouins, as a people who move freely not bound by the typical borders, we heard stories of how these men guide refugees and goods into Israel as well as providing supplies for the tunnels into Gaza.

In true Bedouin fashion we were given more food then we could eat and once our expanded stomachs had resigned from what seemed like a bottomless plate of food we set off in two 4WD’s for the desert. As the cars turned off a sealed road into the sand dunes I wondered why they would feed us so well if they planned to take us into the Sinai and finish us off, soon enough we stopped on top of a large sand dune from where we could see Israel and Gaza. The men went about deflating the car tires and as we all hopped back in we started to descend the sheer drop of the dune. I am not sure if it is physically possible for a car to role end over end but I was convinced this was about to happen, the fear of rolling down the epic dune was shared with attempting not to land on the AK47 that bumped along on the back seat next to me, after starting slowly the driver then floored the car as we bounced away with our drivers giggling at our serious stares from the rear vision mirror. Once the novelty had worn off we stopped at a rather large house in the desert. We were ushered into a palace where elaborate ground cushions ringed the large marble floor. After our adventures from the previous few days I felt naughty sitting in this incredible house, we all seemed out of place but the head man of the house made us welcome and busied us with plates of food and cups of tea and coffee. After our second meal we made up our beds with the women sleeping upstairs and the men on the luscious cushions in the main room. My life experience so far has shaped my rational mind while my time in Egypt which included escaping the government’s check points and then being warmly welcomed by AK47 wielding desert people has totally crippled any sense of normality I have known and I still hadn’t reached Gaza.

The next morning we received confirmation that a bus with just 70 of the1400 Gaza Freedom Marchers had left Cairo for Gaza. With knowing little about the current politics of the Gaza Freedom March or the actions that had been taking place in Cairo which was where the majority of the marchers remained, we set out in the late afternoon for Al-Arish. Travelling in the second carload with the two Australians and a Turkish girl we sped through the desert at 160km loud Egyptian music pounded the car while a handgun and four mobile phones sat on the front seat between the driver and myself.

We arrived at the agreed hotel in Al-Arish to meet the buses with the GFM delegation from Cairo, instead we were met by members of the Gaza Freedom March a few in particular who were trying rather aggressively to convince us not to enter Gaza. A meeting surrounding the politics of the buses entering Gaza swarmed inside, many people were quite critical of the token number of people given access while five members of our group decided not to travel. I am thankful that I left in the second car and didn’t have the best part of an hour to become overwhelmed by the intense negotiations that had been exploding at the hotel or take part in the larger issues that had been dominating the international delegation in Cairo while our adventure had been unfolding. I recognise the sentiment that a smaller group entering Gaza was a political sell out, but I also know that individual’s intentions for travelling to Gaza are very diverse, some members of the group who entered were returning to Gaza to see family they hadn’t ever met or seen for decades. Despite the messy politics involved with the trip, I came to Egypt for one reason and that was to visit Gaza, to bear witness and share the stories I was able to learn about with a wider audience in Australia and around the world.

So in short after the complicated arrival in Al-Arish I did board the bus for Gaza along with 83 other people including Palestinians living abroad, human rights workers, Orthodox Rabbis opposed to the siege, peace activists as well as a bunch of other incredibly talented individuals, journalists and story tellers.

My time in Gaza

After a delayed crossing in Rafah we were finally allowed into Gaza where we were greeted by a large contingent of Hamas officials who escorted the group to our hotels. After another late night and a few hours sleep the Gaza Freedom March awaited us, initially Code Pink the group organising the GFM had estimated that 50,000 Palestinians would march in opposition to the continuing siege. After talking quietly with a few locals it was made clear that the march had been taken over by Hamas and many civil society groups who had been preparing for months were no longer welcome at the march. Hearing this news was devastating, I considered not attending in protest but I reminded myself that I came to Gaza to document and I’m sure I wouldn’t find much in my hotel.

The march was quite obviously not what anyone expected, there were barely any local women present and only 500 marchers at a generous estimate. Numerous Hamas police and security officers ringed the march in particular the Orthodox Rabbis from New York, it was an impressive sight to see these Rabbis marching along waving their Palestinian flags and holding anti-Zionist signs. Once the marchers reached the Erez crossing passionate speeches ensued as well as chants from the international delegation. After the march the foreigners were rounded up and taken on a bus tour of some areas that were badly affected by the bombings a year ago. It was extremely frustrating to be stuck on a bus and not allowed to interact with the local people, the strict leash Hamas held was starting to agitate many foreigners including myself. Once we returned to the hotel myself along with another Australian photographer Jessie Boylan escaped from the hotel and despite the security details attempts to stop us we marched off keen to experience some real Gaza. Jessie has been working in the region on projects for over a year and had already visited Gaza twice before, her knowledge and friends made it possible for me to learn about the reality Hamas desperately want us not to see.

Through Jessie I met an incredibly inspiring person named Doa’a, she is 25 years old and has recently graduated in medicine from a university in Gaza. Outside the Emergency Department in the hospital where Doa’a works she showed us a tent filled with shrapnel from the bombings a year ago. Doa’s shared with us stories from the chaotic time when the bombs including white phosphorous fell on homes, schools, UN warehouses and other civilian infrastructure. Doa’a was obviously uncomfortable reliving these memories from a year ago, the conversation quickly turned to her engagement and upcoming wedding. When Doa’a is married she will move to Sweden to live with her husband also a Palestinian doctor, she seems understandably sad to be leaving her friends and family behind but at the same time life under the siege offers little opportunity or hope for young people such as Doa’a and an opportunity to work and study further in Europe would be hard to pass up.

As the year of 2009 was fast coming to an end I found myself at a Palestinian hip-hop gig come candle light vigil. With a full moon watching over what a friend Gazan friend Ahmad called ‘the worst year of his life’, the candles and sombre mood seemed fitting for a moment of reflection. P-Unit is a hip-hop crew who use their art form to tell of the injustice and struggle Gazans face, P-Unit took to the stage and it didn’t take long to have the crowd going crazy, people were cheering and dancing on top of chairs which pushed the rappers even harder with their Arabic rhymes. After just the second song the Hamas security officials decided people were having too much fun and shut down the show, it was so disappointing this happened but the rappers themselves told me it happens to them quite a lot when they perform. While Gaza is a war zone it is also a place of incredible culture where education and the arts are highly regarded therefore witnessing this censorship was important as it allowed me to understand the lack of freedom many people face in Gaza.

The next morning, the first day of 2010, Hamas had another bus tour planned for the group however Jessie and I had other plans. After avoiding the bus we met up with a friend of Jessie’s who had organised a press taxi that was fitted with a police siren and driven by a man who used to drive for the previous political leader in Gaza, I believe. After flying along the coast we ended up in Rafah the area that borders with Egypt. The siege of Gaza means the closure of all borders into the territory, in order for the 1.5 million people to survive tunnels under the Egyptian border have sprung up throughout Rafah. I was able to visit the tunnels and to see first hand the process of survival, it was seven metres below the surface in a small tunnel where I met 20 year old Mahmoud. Mahmoud has been working in the tunnels since he was 17. He works for 12 hours each day and earns US $45 a day. Not a bad wage in a place where most people survive from aid deliveries but the catch being the danger associated to working in the tunnels. The week before I stood there hunched over three young men just like Mahmoud died in a tunnel collapse, it’s a common occurrence I am told made worse from Israeli bombings.

Moving through the tunnels is everything from petrol to fruit and this lifeline is soon to be stopped, the Egyptian government recently announced their plans to build a large metal barrier under the border crossing. I asked the man in charge of the tunnel what would happen when Egypt completes this underground barrier he told me with conviction that they will find a way to penetrate it, I believe they will but what will be the costs in the meantime and how will Gazan’s manage to survive with growing prices for basic essentials.

Since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 eerie remains of their former settlements still stand as reminders of their dominance and control of Gaza. I was walking close to the ocean through the skeleton of an Israeli green house when I heard the distinct sound of rapid gunfire. We drove down to the beach where we met Gazan border police who confirmed the gunfire was coming from an Israeli patrol boat that patrolled just a few kilometres off the coast. In order to survive fisherman head out in their small boats only to come under fire from Israeli patrol boats who accuse them of crossing into Israeli waters. As we set out for Gaza city I scanned the landscape and watched the Palestinian boats zip across the water in a game of cat and mouse while on the shore the Strip’s sewage flowed freely into the ocean, this siege affects every part of life including the most basic forms of infrastructure.

Once we arrived back in Gaza City Jessie invited me to visit a family she knows well. Gaza is reportedly the most densely populated region in the world and this family like their many neighbours live in an overcrowded apartment. The home I entered was lovely, everyone I spoke to inspired me with his or her courage and intelligence, in particular Asma. Asma and her family experience a lot of social stigma for the fact that she is divorced, she is harassed for her work as a writer and activist while the facts that she has male friends and doesn’t cover her head also cause her trouble with Hamas. Currently writing her third book titled ‘Gaza is Haram’, Asma knows that when it comes time to be published she will have to leave Gaza for sometime as it wont be safe for her to remain with the expected religious backlash. While sitting and chatting with the family in the lounge room the sound of a not too distant bomb fills the room, Asma’s mother instantly reaches for the radio as she holds it to her ear her fingers furiously turn the knob searching for a station with information. Nothing is known about the bomb as night falls and unfortunately we must leave this incredible family to return to the hotel where the international delegation is meeting for a presentation from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

Without knowing my last night lay before me in Gaza I sit down and chat with my new friends and make plans for the next week, as we sit smoking a shisha and drinking Turkish coffee I received a text message from another young Gazan inviting me to stay with her family for the rest of my time in Gaza.

Hope must be exceedingly hard to find in a place where freedom is only an intellectual notion but as I sat talking and joking with such a well educated, creative and ambitious group of youth I am sure there is much hope for the future of Gaza.

The following morning I awake before the sun and meet up with Jessie and a Gazan named Ahmad who has a great sense of humour, we shake off our yawns and head down to the sea for the daily fish markets. These markets must be a bizarre display from a distance as men gather round a particular box of seafood and aggressively bid until a winner is found, then just as abruptly as the catch has been won the tightly formed crowd shuffles to the next box. After a while of wrestling my way through these circles we walked down to the port where the fishing boats are docked. The shoreline is scattered with remains of buildings that lay as a constant reminder of the reality in Gaza.

Pushed for time we head back to the hotel to pack, the majority of the international delegation is leaving after the short window of time given by the government has come to an end. While people mill around saying goodbye to family and friends, myself and a group of others who intend to stay longer in the world’s most densely populated region try to avoid being shoved onto the buses. As the buses pull out from the hotel my Gazan friends join me as we plan for the day which includes visiting the Jabailya refugee camp and meeting the family I will live with for a week. As we attempt to leave the hotel a wall of Hamas security officers stops us, while I have been able to avoid the spook’s grip in previous days the suit and sweater types barricading the doorways are determined to not allow any of the foreigners out of the hotel. After an emotional few hours where I couldn’t help but cry my friends told me ‘Conor, smile, you’re in Gaza’. After an hour or so my Gazan friends were  forced to leave the hotel, at this point sitting in the lobby surrounded by Hamas guards I felt very much alone. Elsewhere in the hotel other internationals that planned to stay longer tried to hide in the hotel but were eventually rounded up, then we were all dumped on a bus from where we watched Gaza leave us behind as we drove silently to the border. As we drove along at dusk I sat there still in shock that my time had come to an end so quickly, I had planned to be in Gaza for another week and the idea of just so few days experiencing life there was heartbreaking. The official reason that our stay couldn’t be extended was that the Egyptians would close the border at midnight and after that we wouldn’t be allowed to leave, after a painfully slow border crossing into Egypt I arrived in Cairo around 3am dumped my bags in Jessie’s house and fell into a deep sleep on a pile of cushions on the ground.

Reflections

In the days since I left Gaza it’s become quite evident that in fact the border was not totally closed as Hamas stated. It is difficult to not let my frustration overwhelm my other emotions and experiences from my time in Gaza. Hamas didn’t allow us the freedom to document and listen to the people in Gaza but the time I had with people in Gaza I was met with such openness and warmth that I distinguish greatly between the people and the government. Finally, I must acknowledge how lucky I am to possess a passport that allows me to leave Gaza under siege unlike the many Palestinians that desperately need to cross the border to receive medical care or try to return to university in Egypt.

It has taken me quite some time to process my experience. I avoided putting pen to paper for a few days in Cairo as I felt totally overwhelmed by my intense journey and I was quite insecure about writing this story in a manner that would do justice to the places I visited and the people I met.

Without the tunnels, Gazans would disappear

Published on 20 January 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Earlier this week I wrote about an American friend, Nitin Sawhney, currently working in Gaza.

His latest dispatch discusses a visit to the tunnels that bring in essential goods:

Yesterday I visited the Rafah refugee camp along the southern frontier to meet an UNRWA supported Woman’s center and learn about their programs with poor families and children living in the narrow alleys of the camp. As I heard from staff there, the biggest challenge in the community seems to be dealing with young boys working in the tunnels (or “Anfaq”) to sustain their families. Many of them are killed or imprisoned each year by regular bombings of the tunnels by Israeli F16s (a 14-year old died last week) and Egyptian raids on the other end. After visiting the center my taxi driver agreed to show me some of these tunnels along a dirt road facing imposing Egyptian security fences.

Walking along the muddy path in front of bombed-out homes from the war in January last year, I noticed an array of small tents each with a work crew living with minimal belongings there. I was able to gain entry into the first tent by a hospitable worker, but could not negotiate to use my video camera as they wished to keep their identities anonymous. I soon came upon an elaborate setup with an impressive shaft going over 50 meters deep into the muddy ground below, lined with wood paneling and two-way radios. Each tunnel often takes nearly two years to construct at an expense of over $100,000. The boy below signaled to prepare the next payload to lift up the shaft. The work crew insisted on having me use the pulley to lower myself in the tunnels for a brief visit. I declined their kind offer of underground transit into Egypt, though I may have to take them up if my crossing tomorrow at the border fails.

In the second tent, I was able to gesture to the busy crew with my camera turned on dangling from one hand, but I soon let them know I wished to film their massive undertaking. The lens could barely capture the breathtaking view from above as I tried to hold steady and not make an inadvertent free-fall dive into the shaft. The next payload of cooking oil in large green canisters quickly emerged up the pulley, as I pulled away to frame the shot. These tunnels as I later learned provide all the fuel for the Gaza strip, an unbelievable feat that relies on poor young boys risking their lives each day along a dangerous underground frontier. A new steel wall, 50 meters below ground, being built by Egypt along the frontier (with support from the US and Israel) may all but evaporate this thriving tunnel economy, tightening the continued blockade of Gaza. I can only imagine the ingenuity of these young boys, working around the new steel walls, by hoisting their green canisters on radar-evading hot-air balloons or shooting giant slingshots by moonlight…

Haiti from the centre of hell

Published on 20 January 2010 in General and Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The devastation in Haiti is heart-breaking but most of the Western media is missing the key reason behind the chaos; the militarisation of humanitarian aid.

Some of the finest reporting I’ve seen is from Democracy Now!, now in Haiti itself. Here’s Amy Goodman explaining the chaos and producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous detailing the trauma. Jeremy Scahill writes in the Nation about the almost tragically inevitable involvement of private military contractors in the quake zone. Curiously, one American commentator questions the entire rationale of US aid…and argues for a cutting of support for Egypt and Israel.

Finally, he’s Al-Jazeera with the pictures:

Political islam in the US client state of Egypt is refreshed

Published on 19 January 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has a new leader.

How Hamas will manage the impending Egyptian wall against Gaza

Published on 15 January 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Abu Murrad, a nomme de guerre, senior commander in Rafah of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas:

It’s not a big problem. There are already holes in the wall, and the Egyptians know this. We’ll go through it or under it. Already there are tunnels deeper than the wall.

This is what we do. When the Israelis were here we smuggled, either for profit or resistance. Whether the border is under Egyptian or Israeli control, smuggling never stopped, never will. The only way to stop the smuggling is to open the borders.

…

Without the tunnels, Gaza would starve.

Galloway has a few words for dictator Mubarak

Published on 15 January 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Following the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina, two humanitarian efforts bringing assistance to the people of Gaza, British MP George Galloway unloads on the US-client state of Egypt in a typically brash effort:

I have been in a few dangerous places in my life. In the mid 80s along with an ITN news crew I was bombed by the Ethiopian air force.

My face pressing into the dirt, with no cover around, I saw the shrapnel tear and kill small children and watched others die on a wooden table in a grass hut after they bombers had gone.

I have been bombed by Israel in Beirut and held with an Israeli machine gun at my chest in Nablus during the first Iraq war.

Involuntarily, I put my hands up and the blue-eyed blonde “Israeli” said that if I didn’t put my hands down he would kill me.

I’ve never, however, been in a more dangerous situation than last week in the tiny Sinai port of Al Arish to which the Egyptian dictatorship had insisted we bring our convoy.

I made my own declaration to him which was that he and his fellow torturers would one day face the wrath of the Egyptian people, who had queued up at the airport in full view of the goons, to shake hands with us. Later, his department stated I had been banned from Egypt because I was “a trouble-maker”. Mr Tinpot tyrant 99.99 of the vote Mubarak, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Five hundred foreigners from 17 different nationalities with 200 vehicles were crammed into a compound without water, food or toilet facilities. They included 10 Turkish MPs one of whom was the chairman of Turkey’s foreign relations committee.

We captured on film from a third floor office the thugs of the Mukhabarat (Intelligence) piling stones and sharpening their sticks behind the backs of several ranks of riot police with helmets, batons and shields. Then mayhem.

We may have complaints about our police, but I tell you, when you see policemen hurling half-bricks into a crowd of women and men who’d come to deliver medicine to desperate people under siege, you thank your lucky stars we don’t live in such a state. Fifty five of our 500 were wounded and, but for the shocking effect on Arab public opinion (our own media didn’t give a damn) of the live footage (all on Youtube now), we might still be there yet.

Next day, the dictatorship wanted us on our way. We refused to leave without our wounded comrades and the seven of our number who had been taken prisoner. After another stand-off our demands were met and we proceeded to a tumultuous welcome in Gaza our numbers complete. Word came to me from inside the Egyptian tyranny that I was to be arrested when we came out. Had that happened while I was surrounded by 500 pumped up convoy members there would have been serious trouble.

So I sent them the message that I would come out in the dead of the night before and face the music alone but for my old friend Scots journalist Ron McKay.

McKay is a thriller writer these days but what happened next would have taxed even his imagination.

We emerged into the hands of a grim phalanx of mainly plain clothed secret policemen, none of whom could speak English. They tried to keep our passports but we refused to budge without them – even though there was menace in the air, or perhaps because of it.

They bundled us into an unmarked van which they refused to let us climb out of, at one stage man-handling us.

An Egyptian gumshoe journalist from the Daily News tried to interview us but he was battered away.

We were driven off at speed. I knew we were not going to be killed as we were able to make the necessary calls – well at least the call to the Press Association which makes all the difference in these situations.

We made the formal call to the British Foreign Office but it wasn’t worth the money. During the five-hour journey to Cairo the British diplomats did nothing but tell us to co-operate.

That co-operation was difficult as the police could speak no English and were saying nothing.

Word came from London that Nile News, a mouthpiece of the dictatorship, were reporting in the morning the seven convoy prisoners we had released at al Arish were to be re-arrested on emerging from Gaza.

Thus the bloodbath we sought to avoid now looked inevitable. We demanded to return to the Gaza-Egypt border but were refused. At Cairo airport we refused to enter the terminal and tried to hail a taxi to take us back.

Security forces goons pushed us physically into the airport building and gave close quarter attention to both of us, even in the toilet. They followed us everywhere and when McKay took a picture there was nearly a serious incident. They ushered us up to the entrance of the BA plane and the first English speaker of the night stepped forward to declare me persona non grata in Egypt.

European MPs visit Gaza and realise humans live there

Published on 14 January 2010 in Israel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

At least some politicians in the West don’t regard the people of Gaza as toxic:

The largest delegation of European MPs will visit the besieged Gaza Strip, in Friday, to be updated with the conditions in Gaza after a year of the Israeli war which left thousands of victims.

“The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza,” said in a statement: “It has coordinated with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry concerning the visit of MPs delegation to Gaza via Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.”

The delegation, which represent twelve European countries, members of the European Parliament and former ministers, has begun its preparations to deport to Egypt and then to Gaza Strip. Its aim is to convey the effects of both the war and the siege on Gaza Strip to their parliaments and peoples.

It is expected that the European MPs delegation will meet a number of Egyptian officials and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa, to discuss the humanitarian condition in Gaza Strip, especially in light of the continued siege which Israel has been imposing four years.

“The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza”, which organizes the delegation visit to Gaza said: “The main aim of this visit is to update the representatives of the European countries of the catastrophic circumstances which 1.5 million Palestinian lives in Gaza Strip.”

Egyptian blogger continues to face repression behind bars

Published on 14 January 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The definition of a US-backed police state, funded and armed by the US tax-payer:

Reporters Without Borders deplores the way the authorities continue to persecute Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, a jailed blogger better known by the pen-name of Kareem Amer. For the third time in a row, one of his lawyers has been denied the right to visit him in Borg Al Arab prison although he had the required permits from the Alexandria attorney-general’s office.

The lawyer, Ahmed Omar, one of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information’s lawyer (ANHRI), was told on arrival at the prison on 10 January that the security services had imposed a permanent ban on visits for the blogger. The ANHRI filed a complaint with the Cairo prosecutor’s office in May 2009 after the first refusal, but no investigation was carried out.

Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the conditions in which Kareem Amer is being held and his physical and psychological health. Imprisoned since November 2006, he has had no contact with the outside world for the past eight months. Reporters Without Borders intends to request permission to visit him as soon as possible.

Getting into Gaza

Published on 13 January 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

My following New Matilda article is published today:

While the rest of us toasted the New Year, newmatilda.com correspondent Antony Loewenstein was in Cairo for the Gaza Freedom March

In late December, one year after Israel’s brutal military assault on the Gaza Strip, some 1300 people from 43 countries descended on Cairo to draw attention to the ongoing Israeli- and Egyptian-led siege on Gaza. I attended the Gaza Freedom March along with activists, journalists, writers, Jews, Christians, Rabbis, Imams, atheists, doctors and assorted others.

The situation in Gaza remains dire. Israel continues to launch deadly air raids on the strip while Egypt helps maintain the siege that imprisons 1.5 million people by blocking the supply of aid. Egypt is building an underground wall on its border with Gaza and now Israel is building a wall on its border with Egypt. The Middle East is again being needlessly divided and separated, with vital resources restricted and geopolitical considerations inevitably leading to more conflict.

Disturbingly, another military assault against Gaza is now being predicted.

Perhaps even more disturbingly, a recent online survey on the website of Israel’s most popular television station, Channel 2, indicated that more than half polled wanted Israel to “destroy Gaza”. Meanwhile The Jerusalem Post ran an editorial in early January ridiculing the idea that Gaza was even under siege.

The Gaza Freedom March was an attempt to bring this unsustainable situation to global attention.

Although our plan to enter Gaza was quickly thwarted by Egyptian authorities (only a handful of protestors were finally granted permission to enter) we staged 10 days of demonstrations, actions, hunger strikes and media events in Cairo itself. The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah live-blogged throughout.

During these 10 days I spent time with Debbie, an American mother of two in her late 40s whose husband of 18 years is Palestinian. Her story epitomised the way in which Palestine has become one of the most important global issues of our time. She had voted for George W Bush in 2000 and 2004 and relied solely on Fox News for her information about the world. She thought she knew about politics and how it worked. Despite her husband’s background, she had never taken a deep interest in the Palestinian issue.

Sometime in 2008, she started questioning her beliefs. She initially disliked Barack Obama because she heard he was a socialist, a terrorist sympathiser and anti-American. And then Israel started bombing Gaza in late December 2008. Three weeks later, she was a woman reborn. She told me that watching images of bombs falling on Gaza “opened something up inside me”. She started finding YouTube videos of Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn lectures and reading “as much as I could, even neglecting my children sometimes” (both of whom were in Cairo with her, chanting and protesting with vigour).

Debbie’s story was remarkable for its simplicity and transformative power. She was softly spoken, polite and knowledgeable about the conflict. I asked her why she came on the march and if her family and friends thought she was crazy. “I’ve started to really understand my husband’s history and America’s role in the conflict,” she told me. “I felt compelled to come and bring my kids.”

The protest unfolded in entirely unpredictable ways. After Cairo’s rejection of our application for entry into Gaza — and the forced removal of any activists travelling towards the Rafah border — it was decided that we should mobilise publicly. Gathering more than a few people at a political rally is against the law in Egypt (President Mubarak has maintained a state of emergency since his ascension to the leadership in 1981) but organisers assumed that foreigners would be afforded some leniency.

One of the key actions was outside the Journalists’ Syndicate in central Cairo. In front of a tall, imposing building, outspoken Egyptian protestors screamed in outrage against Israel (“Down with Israel!)”, the Egyptian system (“Free Egypt” and “Down with Mubarak”) and against visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (“Boycott Israel” and “Down with Netanyahu”). The siege on Gaza was never forgotten but the foreign media who were present highlighted the bravery of the Egyptian protestors, who were shouting in front of hundreds of assembled riot police. These activists faced serious consequences for dissenting against the brutal Mubarak regime, although they protested seemingly without caution.

I asked a few of them if they feared arrest, torture or worse. They all seemed resigned to the situation and protected by each other’s presence. Before the protest, march organisers had encouraged people to physically hold on to any Egyptians who were being taken by police. On a number of occasions, including in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, I saw foreign activists holding on to the shirts of Egyptians as they were being dragged away by plain-clothed officials.

One Egyptian hunger-striker, Ahmed, told me that he wasn’t afraid of his government, “because it’s my duty to support the Palestinians when others are not”. He was 20 years old and a fluent English speaker. “I feel it is my responsibility as an Arab to stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in Gaza,” he said. I sensed that many Egyptians shared his view but couldn’t say so publicly.

Mass protests in Cairo were eventually violently shut down by Egyptian officials and a leading declaration that outlined ways to isolate “apartheid Israel” and step up a global campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions was led by South African unionists.

The Gaza Freedom March was obviously not a roaring success. Not getting into Gaza, in-fighting between leaders and indecision on how to best rally the assembled masses all created moments of tension. But as a participant, I left relatively pleased with the event. Global media coverage was extensive, Egypt’s role in Gaza was highlighted and Gaza itself was a focus of intense media scrutiny.

Palestine is slowly gaining prominence as an issue that inspires and focusses worldwide civil society.

My name is Obama and I believe in American exceptionalism

Published on 12 January 2010 in General and Israel. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Ali Abunimah on his blog points to a former Barack Obama who offers pretty quotes but still supports the fundamentals of American empire:

Just a month after the 11 September 2001 attacks, then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama — a political unknown nationally — spoke to the Chicago Defender newspaper (Chinta Strausberg, “Sen. Obama: Barriers ’sad, symbols of fear,” Chicago Defender, 17 October 2001). The article is not archived online, but I came across it on Lexis Nexis while searching for something else.

It’s interesting how his words already display the sort of ‘all things to all people’ ambiguity that is his hallmark — he supports war, but expresses doubts about its effectiveness. His liberal interventionism is already there – the desire to turn other societies into copies of the United States. Notably, he states that terrorism might be bred because people are “suffering under oppressive and corrupt regimes.” This calls for us to “examine the foreign policies of the the U.S. to make sure that we occupy the moral high ground.” I wonder if he was referring to the sort of “oppressive and corrupt regimes” the US continues to prop up diplomatically, militarily and financially from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to Israel, and from Egypt to Afghanistan under his presidency?

GFM claims success in flying the flag for Gaza

Published on 11 January 2010 in Israel. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

My following article appears in today’s Crikey:

I attended the Gaza Freedom March (GFM)  in late December to generate publicity for the disastrous Western-led policies towards Palestine. 1400 people from 43 countries descended on Cairo on December 27 and aimed to travel into Gaza to “break the siege”.

Palestine has become a truly globalised issue and the diversity of participants — from America, Australia, Venezuela, Cameroon, France, Italy and many others — proved that civil society is leading an issue that Western governments are refusing to address.

I travelled to the Middle East as a Jew, human being and journalist.

It was soon clear that Egypt had no intention of allowing the group into Gaza and cited “security” concerns. The Mubarak regime, the recipient of more than $US2 billion annually from Washington, is fearful of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian offshoot, Hamas.

Furthermore, Israel is indirectly negotiating with Hamas, via Egypt, over a prisoner swap deal that would see the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for up to 1000 Palestinian prisoners. This is the political context in which the GFM took place.

GFM organisers Code Pink, an American peace group dedicated to ending Washington’s militarism, were faced with the daunting task of organising protests, actions, hunger strikes and media appearances to condemn Cairo’s intransigence and Gaza’s plight.

Performing in a police state was no easy task. Egyptian thugs were in force wherever we appeared, from outside the US embassy to camping outside the French Embassy for five days. It was fascinating to observe the disparate groups trying to find consensus over the best course of action.

One of most moving moments for me was spending time with 85-year-old Jewish, anti-Zionist Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, a woman of remarkable strength and character. She embarked on a hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Gaza and  generated global headlines for the cause  and issued a humanitarian message.

Epstein told me that she had received great criticism from the organised American, Jewish community — “I’m regularly called an anti-Semite and Israel hater” — but she remained determined to criticise Israel along with other countries. “Why is it not possible to condemn Israeli actions?” she asked. She was a gentle woman who longed to visit Gaza and bring aid to its people.

The week culminated in an event on December 31, a “flash mob” in the centre of Cairo at Tahrir Square. About 500 of us gathered casually in the morning before rushing to a pre-determined position in front of the Egyptian Museum. It was a sight to behold, as traffic was stopped and the group started marching down the road. Security forces raced to break up the gathering but took time to encircle the crowd.

Plain-clothed, government thugs soon started violently kicking, shoving and dragging activists to the sidewalk. I was slightly hit on the back and legs but others were less lucky, with broken ribs and bloody noses. Within 20 minutes, the protest was a lead story on Al-Jazeera and across the world. Mission accomplished.

In many ways, the GFM was forced to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. Splits between American and European groups occurred — not helped by the decision of the Egyptian regime to allow a small group of protesters into Gaza  — but overall the focus remained on Gaza.

The aim of the event was not simply to protest in the streets of Cairo but to take meaningful action back to our respective countries. The Cairo Declaration, led by a formidable South African delegation, was drafted and released to a welcoming crowd. Aside from highlighting Israeli “apartheid” in the occupied territories today, it offers concrete steps forward including a global tour to increase knowledge of South Africa’s pedigree in fighting racial discrimination and adapting those tactics against Israel.

“You’re platinum,” said Mick Napier, chairperson of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee to the South African delegates. “You don’t understand your prestige among activists and trade unions”.

Unsurprisingly, the GFM was filled with disagreements, in-fighting and pressure from Hamas on the handful who were eventually allowed by Egypt into Gaza, but these were minor compared to the achievement of generating global and regional headlines over Gaza and pressuring the international community over its failure to lift the suffocating siege on the Strip.

Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney journalist and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution.

Please explain the real reason we back Mubarak’s Egypt

Published on 9 January 2010 in General and Israel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Seumas Milne writes in the Guardian that Western support for a terror state such as Egypt merely inflames anti-Western anger everywhere:

Decades of oil-hungry backing for despots, from Iran to Oman, Egypt to Saudi Arabia, along with the failure of Arab nationalism to complete the decolonisation of the region, fuelled first the rise of Islamism and then the eruption of al-Qaida-style terror more than a decade ago. But, far from addressing the natural hostility to foreign control of the area and its resources at the centre of the conflict, the disastrous US-led response was to expand the western presence still further, with new and yet more destructive invasions and occupations, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. And the Bush administration’s brief flirtation with democratisation in client states such as Egypt was quickly abandoned once it became clear who was likely to be elected.

The poisonous logic of this imperial quagmire is now leading inexorably to the spread of war under Barack Obama. Following the failed bomb attack of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, the US president this week announced two new fronts in the war on terror, faithfully echoed by Gordon Brown: Yemen, where the would-be bomber was allegedly trained; and Somalia, where al-Qaida has also put down roots in the swamp of chronic civil war and social disintegration.

Greater western military intervention in both countries will certainly make the problem worse.

Viva Palestina finally touches down in Gaza

Published on 8 January 2010 in Israel. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The latest on the Viva Palestina convoy, now inside Gaza, as leader George Galloway explains the reasons behind reaching out to the Gaza Strip:

SBS Radio interview on Gaza Freedom March

Published on 7 January 2010 in Audio and Israel. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I was interviewed in Cairo on New Year’s Eve about the Gaza Freedom March for SBS Radio in Australia.

We discussed the Israeli and Egyptian led siege of Gaza and the reasons behind the global attention on the Strip’s plight.