110 Vehicle Convoy to Gaza via North Africa - route seems impossbile

[motoreiter]

Originally Posted by Linzi

On Radio 2 today I heard Piers Morgan talking of how much freer to speak out our press are than in US, so it is simply odd how little exposure they're getting.

OK, I've got to call you on this one--what the hell are you talking about?

[Linzi]

I'm surprised at your confusion. There is a large convoy of aid heading to help Palestinians. There is no press coverage in UK and none in one German paper and none in one Swiss one. I find this very surprising indeed. I think it is a big news story. Out of interest is there any coverage in Russia? Linzi.

[Linzi]

Take it up with Piers Morgan if you want-I only quoted him. It seems he's right though. You have a pitiful ignorance of the systems of your own country then. Don't swear it only makes you seem foolish. Linzi.

[Tim Cullis]

The Morocco/Algeria border was opened for an hour today to let the convoy through.

Another convoy following the same route is on its way from Scotland and is expected to link up in Egypt.

Now that something newsworthy has happened there's some Beeb coverage

Unfortunately thisisgloucestershire has mislaid its Atlas.

Tim

[Chris Scott]

Good on the Algies for opening up.
Who knows, it might even inspire a rapprochement with Mk.

Ch

[roamingyak]

"I am told that the passport checks were done at a leisurely pace in an atmosphere of friendship and brotherhood (with brass bands playing on both sides of the border). As I am writing,they are filling up their vehicles with fuel on the house, courtesy of Algeria just outside Maghnia."

Not even the great Scott gets brass bands and free fuel ;-) Sounds a bit like the India/Pakistan border with each side trying to out do each other.

There has been a general under reporting of the event, as to be expected of an event going against the government line.

[Linzi]

Yes, all were released by police but three had their personal belongings, mobile phones and donations confiscated by the British police. I find that wrong in the extreme. That the border DID open is wonderful but not for adventure travellers' sakes so much as for the locals' good surely. I believe the internal trade in the Mahgreb area is the lowest in the world. Linzi.

[Tim Cullis]

Originally Posted by Linzi

I believe the internal trade in the Mahgreb area is the lowest in the world.

I read that as well.

But the border is somewhat leaky and there's a massive unoffical trade in fuel and other products. The photo below shows a car driving along inside Algeria in a populated area north of Oujda. The road on one side of the gorge is in Morocco, the road on the other side, separated by a mere stream, is in Algeria.



Tim

[ChrisC]

The reason for very little press coverage is that its not big news in western society, or perhaps the news agencies are missing a trick here.
Def not censorship or a conspiracy, I hope the convoy does well and reaches Gazza with loads of the 'right sort' of aid - ie no weapons or drugs on board.

As for the arrests, the police will have had reason to stop and arrest the 3 concerned, or perhaps they were just trying to create further negative feeling towards themselves just for the fun of it - remember the 7/7 bombings, and other attempts by terrorists to blow up British citizens and/or visitors to this country, which are blind to race, religion, creed or colour. Most of the plots, we the general public never even hear about, but don't imagine for one second that these plots are not going on every minute of every day.

On the anti Israeli angle, remember that the Israeli's and the Palestinians have been killing one another for longer that most of us have been around, all started by interfering western govt's, when re-writting international boundaries after WWII.
To go about insulting Jew's does not help and is very inflammatory, the Palestinians own elected govt - Hammas - continually fires rockets into Israel and calls for the extermination of all Jews and the state of Israel.
Perhaps if the people of Palestine insisted that their govt ceased rocketing Israel then a ceasefire would have still been in place and Israel would not have had reason or the arguement to justify even to themselves, the over aggressive and indiscriminate bombing of Gazza.

Just my opinion and take on things - neither side is innocent, and are there different levels of guilt?

But back to the main subject - lets hope the convoy suceeds, the ceasefire holds, and it helps in emabarrassing Israel back to the negotiating table.
The opening of various borders might help instigate future/continuing talks, and the consequent thawing of illwill between the govts concerned, possibly helped along the way by promises of US aid - for the obvious reasons.

ChrisC

[PaulD]

Chris,

I agree with what you say, but let us not forget the reasons why the rockets are being fired into Israel in the first place, they will not hand back the land which is occupied by them for starters, also the latest Gaza incident is just another of ongoing atrocities carried out by the state of Israel. They Govern by the old divide and rule adage, When fatah was in power they were on the side of Hamas, now Hamas is in power they support the opposition. The reason the USA has not got involved is simply Israel runs that Country as well. and THATS A FACT !

[motoreiter]

Originally Posted by PaulD

Chris,
The reason the USA has not got involved is simply Israel runs that Country as well. and THATS A FACT !

How should I say this...I think "You have absolutely no freaking idea what you're talking about!" kind of sums it up. It's shame that this thread about what seems to be a worthwhile charity exercise has devolved into this kind of political drivel.

[Richard Washington]

As we all know, this is the Sahara forum - its a forum about the Sahara and there is no other forum like it. Keep the posts about the Sahara please.
There are plenty of other places on the net to have a debate about politics in the Middle East. This is not one of them.

[roamingyak]

From Mark Steele, a regular columnist in The Independent:

Mark Steel: The role of the teddy in a holy jihad

No column in The Independent again this morning, as they weren't overly keen on the issue I was writing about, which is connected to the Viva Palestina convoy of trucks, that left London on February 14th to deliver food and medicine to Gaza.

The convoy was financed by collections throughout the country, which were enough to fund 110 vehicles on a journey to across the channel, through France, Spain, across North Africa and hopefully through Egypt into Gaza. This, you might imagine, is the sort of charitable venture that would be publicised across the media as a chirpy feelgood tale, perhaps involving a regular feature on Blue Peter and at some point resulting in Cat Deeley squealing 'The response has been AMAZING, you've been ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC'.

But in the tradition that anyone's permitted to carry out crazy wacky acts as long as it involves charity, the police decided to contribute to the event with a spectacular lark. Early in the morning, on the day the convoy left, they arrested nine people on the M65 under the Terrorism Act, who were on their way to Hyde Park, where the journey was due to begin. They blocked off an entire section of motorway, and grabbed their suspects with what was described in the local newspaper as "Dozens of police cars, vans, 4x4 vehicles and a helicopter."

The first I knew of this episode was from that afternoon's BBC news, on which it was the main item. Which is as you might expect, with nine suspected terrorists being pounced on by an operation that included a helicopter. To be fair, the BBC journalists didn't have to work too hard to find the story, as the police informed them in advance, and in addition, by a splendid coincidence, a press photographer happened to be on hand to record this successful swoop.

Maybe this is how the police plan to fund themselves from now on. They'll follow the practice of celebrities and stage their events so they can be sold to OK and Hello. Major criminals will find themselves lying on the floor in handcuffs, while a photographer claps his hands and calls out "That's lovely, now can we do the arrest one more time while the Inspector stands just behind kissing his wife, and then have a profile of the murderer's assistant on a sheepskin rug in front of a coal fire."

The news reported that the terrorists were on the way to join the Viva Palestina convoy, which straight away seemed a little peculiar. Why would terrorists be on the way to join such an event? What would they be planning to attack? The convoy of trucks heading for Gaza? And what sort of Jihadist terrorist would say "I know how we'll move around without being noticed - we'll drive down the motorway in three vans with Palestinian flags flapping from the windows and a ####ing great 'Viva Palestina' logo painted on the side."

The story was reported in almost every Sunday paper, with headlines such as “Galloway’s Aid Convoy linked to three terror suspects”, in the Mail on Sunday. And they had the effect of reducing contributions to the charity by eighty per cent, as the astute might have been able to predict. But the nine men, six from Blackburn and three from Burnley, were questioned, and the lorries, which were full of children's toys, were searched. And presumably the head of the anti-terrorist squad stood there throughout saying "Check that Bratz for semtex." By the next morning six were released without any charges, and a few days later the other three were released as well, the police appearing to be duly embarrassed to the extent they've paid the fares so the wrongly arrested men could catch up with the convoy, which by now was moving into Algeria.

The local councillor for the arrested men in Burnley is Wajid Khan, described how they were “Well respected men in the community, seen in a positive light.”

Presumably then, all the broadcasters and newspapers who considered it a major story that the police had successfully pulled off this anti-terrorist operation will now make it an equally prominent story that the arrests had no validity whatsoever. Apart from anything else there must be many people who saw that story, and are wondering why they've heard nothing about it since, assuming a bunch of terrorists have escaped and are running round on the loose. They may even indulge in some investigative work, which will show that three of the arrested men are defence witnesses in a separate trial, which may, or may not be a coincidence.

So you can't help be suspicious that the arrest of people volunteering for charity may be connected to them being Muslims, and being associated with Palestine. If not it's going to mean Comic Relief this year will be chaos, with Richard Hammond and Lenny Henry spending the whole evening making announcements such as "Now we're going to meet the wonderful children of St. Josephs junior school in Kidderminster, who've raised two hundred and sixty-four pounds with a sponsored cartwheel race. So here's Alan Titchmarsh to speak to them from their high security cell in Belmarsh."

Mark Steel's Blog : The role of the teddy in a holy jihad

Perhaps remember also that the bbc and sky refused to air the DEC appeal: "the BBC made a rare decision to breach an agreement dating back to 1963. Other broadcasters then also rejected it."
THE BBC REFUSES TO BROADCAST GAZA CHARITY APPEAL

[Linzi]

Hi Darren, I saw that too and the only other information I've been able to get is from the convoy's own wesite. It was interesting to note that even in winter, heat is a problem for some of the drivers! Seems to be very important to drink water even in a cab and in Feb/Mar. What a great example of well integrated, upstanding citizens, and even they underestimate the heat. Linzi.

[Linzi]

Well the convoy, added to by many, many Lybian loads, has just entered the Gaza strip. All the borders were opened. Check it at Viva Palestina - a lifeline from Britain to Gaza if you will. Still not reported by the world's press. Linzi.