- Title: SYRIA: Aid convoy set to enter Gaza Strip
- Date: 20th October 2010
- Summary: LATTAKIA, SYRIA (OCTOBER 19, 2010) (REUTERS) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) VARIOUS OF THE ACTIVISTS HEADING TO THE GATE OF THE CAMP WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN WAITING ACTIVISTS VARIOUS OF MUSSA TAHER, ACTIVIST FROM NEW ZEALAND, IN HIS TENT TAHER ENTERING THE TENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSSA TAHER, ACTIVIST FROM NEW ZEALAND, SAYING: "We've been in Lattakia for over two weeks now waiting
- Embargoed: 4th November 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADL12UVVDJXJTNNP46CAEY4CKI
- Story Text: Pro-Palestinian activists will head from Lattakia port in Syria on Tuesday (October 19, 2010) on their way to deliver aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The convoy, organised by British politician George Galloway, is carrying medical supplies and other goods to the Palestinian territory.
The convoy includes more then three hundred activists in more than a hundred trucks who joined up in Syria. They arrived from Turkey, different parts of Europe, America, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco and other countries.
The convoy has been waiting for two weeks in Lattakia for permission from the Egyptian authorities to enter Al-Arish port. The ship will only then l carry thirty members of the convoy while the rest will follow to Egypt by plane.
All activists are excited to be leaving Lattikia on their way to delivering the aid to Gazans.
Mussa Taher, an activist from New Zealand, said although he is excited to leave, he is still not sure it will happen.
will not feel leaving until the ship sails.
"We've been in Lattakia for over two weeks now waiting patiently, false alert, false start and everything. So this time we're excited because it seems that this is the time that we're gonna go. This is the moment. However, until we get on the ship, until we get on the plane, we're not really, really, really going to feel like we're leaving," he told Reuters.
Julie Wippoman called the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key to uphold the rights to the New Zealanders who are participating in the convoy.
"We call upon the people of New Zealand to demand of our Prime Minister that he accord us our rights as New Zealand citizens, and as world citizens, and as humanitarian workers delivering humanitarian aid," she said.
In an earlier attempt to deliver aid to Gaza, Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists when they boarded a vessel that was part of a flotilla. Israeli leaders said their troops opened fire in self-defence after being set upon by activists wielding cudgels and knives when boarding the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ship.
Israel has kept Gaza under a blockade since 2007, saying it is a necessary step to stop arms reaching the Islamist Hamas group running the Strip. But after an international outcry over the Mavi Marmara raid, Israel relaxed the embargo. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None