Isaar Trust, supported by Thinkers Forum and in partnership with numerous other organisations/individuals, joined an aid convoy which travelled from Britain to Palestine on 14th February 2009 through countries which included France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, through Rafah border, and arrived into Gaza on Monday 9th March where it was greeted warmly by thousands of Palestinian civilians.
It brought material aid i.e. food, shelter, clothing, medical supplies and other humanitarian goods to the oppressed people of Gaza.
The convoy included a British fire engine, ambulances, vans, lorries and many trucks full of practical aid given and bought by the various communities across Britain.
We, the Isaar Trust, joined the aid convoy by purchasing two vehicles which were then laiden with invaluable humanitarian supplies such as generators, clothes and other goods, delivering them successfully on Monday 9th March to Gaza, to the people and the Essahaba Medical Complex.
It was an enormous achievement and highlighted the dedication of the drivers and aid workers that there is no sacrifice that they are not willing to make to help the poor and needy around the world - may this passion and self-motivation continue for a long time in the future.
Eyewitness report
GAZA GAZA Ahlul Izza – GAZA GAZA Ramzul Izza
The Viva Palestina convoy of 110 vehicles entered Gaza on Monday 9th March 2009 (12th Rabiul Awwal 1430) and was warmly greeted by the residents of Gaza. This narrow strip of land measuring 25-miles by 5-miles is the most densely populated in the world with over 1.5 million Muslim residents imprisoned behind huge concrete barriers on 3-sides and Israeli warships along the coastline. These people live so close to Baitul-Buqaddas, but prevented by the Israeli from entering Jerusalem and praying in this holy Masjid.
As the world stood-by and watched the defenceless people of Gaza being massacred, by the most sophisticated weaponry including banned chemical weapons continuously over 22-days; the people of Gaza I met were resilient, courageous and defiant against the cowardly, brutal and inhumane atrocities of its occupier and neighbour.
The following day after we had rested, the Palestinians showed us the horrors and destruction of the 22-days of onslaught which had targeted the basic civil infrastructure. We were shown the mindless destruction of Water Treatment Plants, Hospitals, Universities, Schools, Roads, Bridges, Masjids, Police Stations and countless government buildings and residential areas. Even the dead were not spared, with graveyards bombed and Israeli tanks desecrating the sanctity of the deceased. I was greatly affected by these images of complete destruction, having spent my entire working life building civil infrastructure as a professional civil engineer.
I was heartened to observe that only weeks after such a massive onslaught of destruction by the Israeli, the Gaza strip is carrying out patch repairs and trying to regain some semblance of normality. I saw widows and families living in tents where their house used to be. Families were living in houses and flats with walls partially blown away, with plastic sheeting draped to keep the weather out. I admired the resolute courage of the little children as they walked to school at 6.30am after Fajar prayers and thought of the hundreds of children bombed and deliberately gunned-down by the Israeli soldiers with no conscience and value for Arab lives. My thoughts turned to the racist and cruel graffiti left behind by the Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian houses they occupied during the massacre and reflected on their messages of hate towards these innocent civilians of Gaza.
Isaar Trust working in collaboration with Al-Imdaad and Essahaba Medical Complex donated four vehicles, a large generator which could power a small hospital, a cash contribution, as well as some small generators, clothing and other items. We were honoured to have been asked to witness some of the cash being distributed and items being donated to charitable institutes who will provide benefit to families who had suffered various medically related and material loss during the recent Israeli aggression. Al-Imdaad carried out a detailed survey of the affected areas of the Israeli destruction and made a comprehensive list of the families affected together with details of the severity of their losses.
The Palestinians do not like hand-outs, they are a proud and dignified people and despite the recent destruction and hardship of the 18-month siege of Gaza, there is no begging on the streets. The medically related items donated by Isaar Trust is effective in that it helps the affected families to recover from health related illnesses and suffering caused by the Israeli aggression. Having met these brave and dignified people and personally seen their misery; I would strongly urge the donations, material or monetary, to continue on a wider scale to help thousands of other affected families to enable them to live in some dignity. Gaza is only a small strip of occupied Palestinian land along the coast which is exposed to the seasonal cold, heat and wind and any help to assist these people to fulfil their basic needs i.e. food, shelter, clothing, education and medical care, will meet their greatest need at this time.
Finally, I was asked by the people of Gaza to convey a simple message – not to forget them and to remember them in our DUAS.
Compiled by Abdur Rahman, who was accompanied by Tariq Mahmood, Samee Ditta, Mustapha Akram & Khalid Mehmood
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