A Ship For Gaza benefit concert - Thessaloniki, Greece

A Ship For Gaza benefit concert - Thessaloniki, Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"In less than a month our boats will set sails for Gaza. The Greek campaign Ship to Gaza (www.shiptogaza.gr) has joined forces with four organizations to break the illegal blockade imposed by Israel in the 41 kilometer strip. The coalition, comprised of the Turkey-based IHH, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, the Swedish Ship to Gaza, the Free Gaza Movement and the Greek Ship To Gaza, will launch a flotilla of ships laden with cargo, media, parliamentarians, celebrities and activists to Gaza early next month.

Over 500 passengers from more than 20 countries will take part, and 5,000 tons of cargo, including cement, prefabricated housing, other building materials, medical equipment, and educational supplies will be delivered to Palestinians in Gaza"

A Ship For Gaza

For information in Greek click here and in Arabic click here.

A Ship For Gaza benefit concert - Thessaloniki, Greece

A Ship For Gaza benefit concert - Thessaloniki, Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Help Viva Palestina - send a email to the Egyptian government

At this moment the Viva Palestina aid convoy lies stranded on the Egyptian-Jordanian border (follow their progress on Twitter) unable to proceed with the delivery of much needed humanitarian aid as the Egyptian government has so far refused the hundreds of volunteers who've raised thousands of pounds in order to buy medical and educational supplies entry.

Please feel free to copy the template below and send an email to your local Egyptian embassy or consulate. For those in the UK:

eg.emb_london@mfa.gov.eg


To the people and government of the Arab Republic of Egypt,

I, like many others around the world, have been following the progress of the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy as it has made its way from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Turkey and Malaysia in order to bring medical and educational supplies to those in need in the Gaza Strip. I would like to call upon the Egyptian people to alllow the convoy to enter their territory and so complete their mission to help the Palestinian people.

Yours faithfully

****************

For those in other locations a complete list of Egyptian embassies can be found here.

Viva Palestina - video from Greece

Finally got round to editing and uploading video footage of the Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy arriving in Thessaloniki, Greece last weekend. The convoy is part of an effort to get aid from Britain and other parts of the world to the Gaza Strip. Currently, they are in Turkey and will be travelling through Syria, Jordan and Egypt before arriving in Gaza on 27th December.

You can follow their progress via Twitter and find out more about the convoy at vivapalestina.org.

UK - Gaza aid convoy reaches Greece - Viva Palestina

UK - Gaza aid convoy reaches Greece - Viva Palestina, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

With just over half their journey completed the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid covoy reached the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki en route from the UK to Gaza. The collection of 80 plus ambulances and other vehicles carrying medical supplies stopped in the Greek city to raise awareness of the situation in the Gaza Strip which has been subject to a strictly enforced Isreali blockade since 2007.

After this evening's stopover the convoy's itinerary will take it through Turkey, Syria, Egypt and eventually to Gaza. If permitted to enter, the group which comprises of volunteers from over a dozen countries intends to donate the vehicles and supplies to Palestinian aid organisations.

The Egyptian government in conjunction with the US army engineers of has recently begun erecting a 11km steel wall aimed at cutting supply lines into Gaza. For latest updates check out their Twitter page here.

More photos on Demotix.com

The Viva Palestina convoy reaches Thessaloniki, Greece

The Viva Palestina convoy reaches Thessaloniki, Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The Viva Palestina convoy which is taking supplies from Britain to Gaza overland reached Thessaloniki today. Tomorrow the 80 odd vehicles will be at the White Tower from 10.30 onwards before going on to Turkey.