Standoff in Aqaba

This is a report from New Jersey IAC activist Ralph Loeffler, who is with the Third Viva Palestina Lifeline to Gaza convoy, which is being blocked from entering Egypt at the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

2:00pm, December 25, 2009

Aqaba, Jordan

The situation here remains unchanged since the Viva Palestina convoy arrival yesterday. The Egyptian government is giving the convoy two choices: go to a distant port for crossing into Egypt or turnover the aid to an Israeli approved charity for distribution. The former option is considered a delay tactic similar to those the Egyptians employed last July to block VP Convoy II and the latter is not acceptable because the charity in question is not known to distribute aid as intended by donors. Negotiations, however, are on-going and the Turkish government is lending support. NOW is the time to call the Egyptian Embassy and demand that the convoy be permitted safe passage Aqaba to Gaza.

Embassy@egyptembassy.net

The Egyptian Embassy
3522 International Court Northwest
Washington, DC 20008-3022
202.895.5400

Contact your representatives and the White House as well.

Viva Palestina convoy participants continue to collect donations while waiting in Jordan. A local professional organization agreed today to transport to Gaza the $100k of medical equipment, including an X-ray machine, that was purchased in Amman. In Jordan, as in Turkey and Syria, the public has been generously and without hesitation filling the money collection buckets at every stop and at every event.

As I was walking the streets of Aqaba this morning a man with his family approached me and asked if I was going to Gaza. I said I was and he gave me his Qur'an and tearfully asked that I give it to any Gazan as a gesture of Jordan's solidarity with Gaza.

Ralph G. Loeffler
Internatinal Action Center