Zaher Beerawi of Viva Palestina 5 stated that Egypt promised to facilitate the entry of the convoy into Egypt, and that Cairo is interested in insuring that humanitarian supplies make it into the besieged coastal region. Beerawi said that Egypt and Viva Palestina have a shared goal; sending humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip as fast as possible.
Egypt demanded a list containing personal information of activists accompanying the supplies, in addition to information about the supplies and the vehicles that are meant to be sent to Gaza through Egypt.
Beerawi held a meeting with Shawqi Ismail, the Egyptian ambassador to Syria, who promised that his country will cooperate with Viva Palestina, and allow all members of the convoy to procede to Gaza along with the supplies. Ismail stated that his country prefers that all activists enter Gaza at the same time instead of doing so in different stages.
However, It remains unclear whether Egypt will allow convoy organizer, British MP, George Galloway, into its territory. If his presence would jeopardize the delivery of the supplies to Gaza, Galloway said he will be willing to remain behind, should Egypt insist on keeping him out.
Convoy organizers handed Egypt all needed information, and the country will likely respond in 24 hours to inform them when the convoy can sail from Syria to Egypt. For his part, Galloway stated during a press conference at the Sahara Hotel in Damascus, that Egypt is not the enemy, and that the enemy is the Israeli occupation.
He added that Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla, and the killing of nine Turkish activists by the Israeli Navy, had pushed more supporters to be willing to participate in challenging the Israeli siege and the ongoing aggression.
“Helping the people of Gaza is the duty of every Arab, Muslim and freedom supporter in the world”, Galloway stated, “The people of Gaza do not just need aid, they need the siege lifted.’
One of the 110 -member Jordanian delegation, Abdul-Fattah Al Keelani, stated that the convoy’s main aim is not sending supplies to Gaza, but to break the illegal siege. He added that Egypt has authorized the entry of the entire Jordanian group.
Should no urgent issues or obstacles surface, the convoy will be leaving Syria this coming Friday carrying 380 activists from 35 countries and 144 vehicles filled with humanitarian supplies estimated at US $30.000.