Red tape ties up aid convoy
VOLUNTEERS from Batley were stranded in Jordan after the Egyptian authorities blocked a convoy of aid bound for Gaza.
A dispute over the point of entry into Egypt has delayed the Viva-Palestina humanitarian convoy by more than a week.
The group, which includes Yusuf Paliya and Mohammed Karoliya from the Indian Muslim Welfare Society (IMWS) and the Pakistan and Kashmir Welfare Association (PKWA), wanted to enter Egypt by boarding a ferry from Aqaba in Jordan to the Red Sea port of Nuweiba.
But they were told that aid must enter Egypt though the Mediterranean port of El Arish.
After several days of negotiation, the 250-strong convoy agreed to go via Syria – adding hundreds of extra miles to their journey.
The volunteers will now head to the Syrian port of Latakia to sail from there to the Egyptian port of El Arish, and then on to Gaza to deliver food and medical supplies.
Viva-Palestina and another convoy, the Gaza Freedom March, were planning to arrive in Gaza on Sunday December 27 to commemorate the first anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The war ended 22 days later with mutual ceasefires by Israel and Hamas, with some 1,400 Palestinians, including an estimated 400 children, and 13 Israelis left dead.
Coun Shabir Pandor (Lab, Batley West) said: “I think on humanitarian grounds they should have actually cut the red tape and let them through. Their journey would have taken four hours from Aqaba. Instead, they've added four or five days onto their journey.
“They will probably reach their destination in the new year, which is late in terms of getting aid and goods and the ambulance to the people of Gaza who desperately need it.”
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Weather for Batley
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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