There are reasons not to be pessimistic: Egypt blinks

What a difference a couple of days can make: on Sunday Egypt announced that the border with Gaza was considered too risky for internationals and that the Gaza Freedom March (over 1350 people from 42 countries) would not be allowed to cross into that tiny, densely-populated strip. On Tuesday, they announced that the border is now safe enough for the Viva Palestina convoy to be allowed in, in part because of the humanitarian nature of the aid they are to deliver to Gaza.

Organized by George Galloway and Palestinian supporters in the UK, the Viva Palestina [2] convoy has been making its way through Europe all month, recently crossing from Greece to Turkey, then Syria and now Jordan, with hundreds of people and vehicles full of humanitarian aid due to arrive just a few days before the Gaza Freedom March. Up until now, they had no guarantee they would be allowed into Gaza - and they of course relied on much the same kind of international pressure to sway the Egyptian authorities as the Gaza Freedom March has mobilized in the past few days. And make no mistake: this mobilization is having an effect! We have reports of Egyptian Foreign Affairs offices in many countries being flooding with calls calling for them to allow the Gaza Freedom March through.

PLEASE KEEP THE SUPPORT MESSAGES COMING! You can find contact information and sample message here [3].

They may or may not answer the phones over the next few days, but be assured they will be counting the faxes, e-mails and whatever calls do get through very carefully. Please politely stress the humanitarian nature of the Gaza Freedom March, and the fact that we are going to meet and march with Palestinian civil society organizations, not with the Hamas government.

Of course, the same logic that is cited in allowing Viva Palestina to cross into Gaza also applies to our travel plans

"Since the Gaza Freedom March is also bringing in humanitarian assistance items valued at tens of thousands of dollars and the border is now considered safe, [4]Gaza Freedom March will make a formal request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 24, that that Government of Egypt reconsider the request of the Gaza Freedom March for entry of its 1360 delegates from 42 countries into Gaza through the Rafah crossing on December 27."

Some of the international participants in the Gaza Freedom March are already in Cairo, others are en route or leaving in the next few days. In London, we are packing our donations - books, schools supplies, medical supplies, warm clothes-and heading to catch our flights.

With your help and messages of support, we too will be granted permission to cross into Gaza as planned, to bring a message of peace and solidarity to the beleaguered Palestinian population there. Insh'Allah, as we are learning to say a lot, even before we actually embark on this trip: God willing (but human solidarity helps too!).

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