Stuart Littlewood – Egypt lacks the milk of human kindness
By Haitham Sabbah • Dec 31st, 2009 at 17:45 • Category: Analysis, Features, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, Somoud: Arab Voices of ResistanceSent to me (Haitham Sabbah) by the author and first published at Sabbah Report.
It is desperately sad to see the noble efforts of the Viva Palestina expedition turning sour in front of our eyes as the forces of darkness plot once again to derail humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Admittedly the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (joint organizers) are avoiding questions about whether or not they obtained clearance from Egypt for the route. This encourages speculation that convoy members were led up the garden path when they headed for Aqaba. The cost in time and expense (and lost pay, as many took time off work to make the trip) of having to re-trace their steps to Syrian, and divert to the port of Latakia, is an added burden they could have done without.
Funny that George Galloway apparently said nothing at the time about Egyptian Embassy correspondences on 10 November and again on10 December, which stipulated that the convoy must reach Gaza through the Egyptian port of El Arish, and simply pressed ahead in the knowledge that they would probably be blocked if an attempt was made to enter Egypt from Aqaba and through the port of Nuweiba.
Surely, he should have made Egypt's 'impossible' conditions public and brought the issue to a head before setting out.
Galloway, for all his heroic initiatives and brilliant style, has a liking for brinkmanship and it has got him into trouble this time.
But Egypt's latest demand that the convoy must reach Gaza by 3 January – that's after insisting in their letter of 10 December that the aid should not arrive before the second week in January – is another piece of bloody-minded nonsense. What is the point of this confusion if not to thwart the whole enterprise?
Forcing the convoy to take ship and re-route down the East Mediterranean coast through the playground of Israel's marauding gunboats is the sort of lunacy that could have dangerous consequences. Many here are predicting a Dignity-type attack on the ferries that Viva Palestina has been obliged to hire.
I suppose it is a fitting end to a rotten year… a year that began with promise and high hopes but turned out to be one of double-cross and despair. Freedom activist are complaining that all this bickering with Egypt has diverted attention from the main culprits, Israel and America. But other culprits lurk in the evil swamp and Egypt is one of them. It is no bad thing that the spotlight falls on their treacherous behaviour.
Egypt has responsibilities for keeping the Gaza border open under the AMA (Agreement on Movement and Access) treaty but hides behind a wobbly get-out clause, namely that Gaza is "Palestinian territory that is still under Israeli occupation… Under international law and the 4th Geneva Convention in particular, as the occupying power, Israel must ensure the basic needs of the inhabitants of the territory it occupies are met, such as electricity, water, fuel, food and medicine."
So Egypt seeks to legitimise Israel's illegal occupation by colluding with it, and recently has gone further. It is building an Iron Wall to create a hermetically sealed border against the besieged and starving Palestinians, a despicable act that reveals, apart from a cruel streak, an apparent lack of any sense of brotherhood or compassion.
No-one can accuse President Mubarak of being like Macbeth – "too full of the milk of human kindness".
* Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine
Haitham Sabbah is an uprooted Palestinian blogger. He is the webmaster and editor of Palestine Blogs, also webmaster and co-editor of Palestine Think Tank. His personal blog is Sabbah's Blog: http://sabbah.biz/
Email this author | All posts by Haitham Sabbah
oh stop whining about the damn thing! Egypt already informed the envoy 3 months ago that they will pass through Al Arish port, and yet they went to Al Aqaba port. It's not a game, where they go wherever they want and expect the borders to be opened for the sake of aids and whatnot! There are roles to follow!
And don't whine too about the so called "consequences" of changing the route again, cause the envoy, in the first place, are the people who got themselves into trouble! You're fearing Israel will attack the envoy carrying those aids to Palestinians, then fine you should seek the help of someone and show the whole world the "real color" of Israel (who claims to be a peaceful country and all of this BS) instead of getting angry and crazy about Egypt!
And Egypt has ALL THE RIGHT to build the steel wall to protect the borders. I'm Egyptian and my brother-in-law is serving at the borders. He says Palestinians cross the borders all the time, attack Egyptian soldiers and steal their weapons and food! wth is that?! these are borders for god sake! Egypt stood still for a very long time not wanting to harm those "starving" Palestinians, but enough is enough! A steel wall will protect Egyptian soldiers from the continuous attack from the Palestinians and stop the smuggling!
Selva, when it comes to humanitarian aid everyone expects borders to open, and why not? This is the 21st century and we're supposed to be civilised. What was the real excuse for not letting the convoy in through Aqaba and Nuweiba, apart from the desire to be obstructive?
Once again Egypt is demonstrating it is under the thumb of Israel and America.
It is despicable that the Egyptian government lets 1.5 million fellow Muslims starve and suffer by aiding the Israeli Siege.
If Egypt wants to help the Palestinians and act in dignity, they should open the whole border with Gaza as it was before when Gaza was under Egypt's control. Egypt should stop living in fear of Israel’s attack on them. As a free country Egypt should be able to open this border without any permission from Israel or US. But is Egypt free?????
They should ask all the US and Israel’s people who are building this wall of sham to stay out of Egypt. They should listen to the will of their people rather than surrendering to the bullying of Israel. Selva claimed that Palestinians are dangerous to Egypt not the Israeli who bombed and killed many Egyptian in Rafah, Sinai and Gaza.
What ever Selva’s excuse is, building the wall to tighten the blockade on Palestinians is not a manifest of Egypt independency, in the contrary it is a manifest of Egypt’s collaboration and treason.
Egypt knows well the only thing the Palestinians want is to help them to survive this brutal blockade by Israel. Apparently Egypt cannot see that or perhaps they do not want to see it. Their fear of Israel makes them the most coward country in the world. They are remorselessly aiding and abetting the Israeli in massacring the Palestinians.
Remember that Egypt will be better rewarded, for generation to come, dying with the Palestinians than living in shame of collaborating in killing Palestinians.
In the beginning I would like to point out that the campaign organizers, did not adhere to the directives of Egyptian was agreed before the planning for the campaign
The agreement with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry that are entered into the campaign through the port of El Arish – Why did the campaign to the port of Nuweiba?
That the western media and the world might have been wrong on the show Egypt's role is not effective with the Sultan of the Gaza Strip – they are wrong – let us ask ourselves why not go to campaigners, the Gaza Strip via Israel and have diplomatic relations with all countries of the world? Why change the plan through the port of Nuweiba and not through the port of El Arish
Where diplomatic efforts with the Israeli side? What is the benefit the European diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv? All this nonsense
Forget about which rout the Egyptian government had decided.Remember that traitors always search for an excuse to justify their nefarious activity.
If you see your neighbour been attacked by a mob and left to starve and then you have the opportunity to help them through a window or a hole in the wall will you help them or block the window and the hole?
Let see your answer if you are a man of dignity or not.
The Palestinians are starving not because of Israel but because of Egypt. Had Egypt open the border for the Palestinians, they will never starve.
Gaza, even before 1967, was blockaded by Israel and Egypt was their only open border and lifeline. This means that from Israeli side nothing changes. The only change was from Egyptian side where the border is closed.
According to human rights convention what Egypt is doing is a crime against humanity.
According to Islam and Christianity saving life of one person is saving the whole people