The Viva Palestina “Aid to Gaza” Convoy left the UK on the 14th February with the goal of breaking the siege of Gaza and taking not only Aid to the Palestinians but also hope and solidarity. I was able to fly out on the 7th March along with around 30 others from around the UK to join the convoy in Egypt. Mubarrak has been co-operating with the Israeli government and the Rafah border has been closed 86% of the time since June 25th 2006. After days of complicated negotiations with Mubarrak’s government we finally crossed triumphantly through the gates and entered Gaza to an emotional reception.

The first morning we went to the official welcoming at Al Katiba Square for the Drivers and after the warm welcome from the Palestinians we moved off in small groups. We had been given the news that we had to leave in 24 hours so we had a lot to do.

Our first stop was Pride (Eze) Camp in Jabalya. A waste ground amongst the bombed out apartment blocks with large green tents in neat rows, a Unicef tent as reception and two portacabin toilet blocks is now home to 110 displaced families, over a 1,000 people. We were introduced to Osama Ziad Sultan and his beautiful wife Ruida and their seven children. Their 4 storey apartment block was dynamited on the 15th January. Fortunately they had already left due to the Israeli bombings and moved into the temporary shelter of a UN School and did not return until the 30th January to find all their worldly goods buried in the rubble. The Israeli’s dynamited their homes because they want to extend the security zone between Gaza and the illegally occupied territory and in the process grab more land. The Sultan family invited us to look in their tent, there were a few blankets and literally nothing else – it is hard to imagine in our very comfortable lives to loose everything but tens of thousands of Palestinians are in that situation.

We visited two other camps that day, Camp Dignity in Ezbit Abid Rubbu and the Camp of the Steadfast in Hay Salam. The same tragic stories of trauma and loss everywhere we went.

As the day progressed we were shown mile after mile of bombed and dynamited homes, now piles of rubble with huge concrete posts sticking out of the ground producing a strange landscape, we saw the remains of Mosques, schools, hospitals and shops. Ewa told us 45 mosques were destroyed in 22 days – the heart of Islamic life targeted specifically. We briefly stopped at the Palestinian Red Crescent facility in Jabalya, the Headquarters had been heavily shelled through the bombardment and we were shown round the devastated centre. Despite International Law the Red Crescent had been targeted throughout the bombardment and In 22 days 13 ambulance workers and medics died.

The next stop was a visit to the Elementary Coeducational School at Beit Lahia which had been subjected to treacherous and illegal White Phospherous bombing during the onslaught. The English teacher explained to us that the school had been used as a shelter during the bombing and early in the morning of the 17th January the school was hit by 2 missiles, the impact destroyed a room where 35 women and children were sleeping and a Mother and two children were killed. The children had been so distressed at the noise of the bombing that several had wet the bed, when the Mum carried the mattress out on to the balcony to dry it out the Israeli’s targeted them directly.

Our final visit was to the Family Development Association to meet the Palestinian Woman’s NGO in Jabalya – they operate in Beit Hanoun and North Gaza to provide capacity building with families in the area, teaching craft skills that lead to the production of income generating goods for sale to the outside world. With the income they provide Rabbits to families to farm and they have planted a medical herb garden as pharmaceutical drugs are so hard to get. The struggle is to get the goods out of Gaza to be sold and then get the money back in. The Palestinians are denied the right to Trade even at this level by their prison wardens and the EU should end the Israeli EU Trade agreement until this situation is reversed. When we Boycott Israeli goods we must remember the Palestinians who are denied the right to make a living.

We had been given a unique privilege getting into Gaza and meeting so many inspirational people and now we HAVE to campaign to end the siege we can not turn our backs on the human suffering and injustice and watch the genocide of the Palestinian people.