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International Aid Convoy to Gaza : 5 -27th Dec 2009 - Palestine

After the success of the UK convoy in February and the US convoy in July, the next convoy is going to be a huge international gathering to deliver more aid to the people of Gaza. We'll be working with more organisations, taking more people from both the UK and US and more desperately needed aid to Gaza.

And we want everyone to take part.

Find out more at both the UK and US Viva Palestina websites (www.vivapalestina.org).

The reasons, emerging from discussions between the British and American convoy coordinators and others, are clear:

*December 27 marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Aiming to enter Gaza then will be part of focusing the world’s attention on the massacres. It is also when people in Gaza have said they wish to have maximum support.
*The second US convoy needs to be in December. It will be greatly strengthened by combining with the effort from Ireland the Britain. One mega convoy will have more impact than two smaller ones.

*A joint mission heading from London, with Americans flying in to take part, will form the core of a convoy heading through Europe, into the Balkans, northern Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and into Egypt – picking up support along the way. Discussions are well advanced on organising major events – rallies, cultural and sporting – at strategic points on the way. This will be critical in both building momentum to cross the border and in raising the humanitarian crisis in Gaza along the way.

*We appreciate that for some it is easier to get time off work in October than December. But for many more, it is the other way around. In particular, on both sides of the Atlantic there are large numbers of young people and students who simply cannot go in October, but who can in December. Additionally, there will be mustering points along the route so those who can’t make the whole journey can join there.

*We want to get more high profile individuals to take part. This requires the extra time afforded by going in December. There are exciting initiatives to involve sporting and cultural figures. The will take some patience and time to make work.

*Everybody’s efforts in building both the British and US convoys were remarkable. With extra time in October and November, we believe we can far outdo what we’ve done before. We will have extra time to build up the regional structures and organisation of the convoy to make the mission both smoother and more effective.

*The two months of October and November should be used to reach out far further to potential support than we have already.

All this means that we are reorganising the next Viva Palestina convoy to be an international mission – spearheaded by people from Britain and America, leaving from London on the weekend of 5 and 6 December, aiming to be in Gaza on 27 December.

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