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Tue, Dec 14, 2010 | ISNA

Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan

Iranian Lawmakers to Join Asia to Gaza Convoy in Syria

Seven Iranian lawmakers are to join the Gaza-bound Asian aid convoy in Syria, Iranian Students News Agency [ISNA] reported last Tuesday.

The Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan arrived in Iran on Wednesday is to pass Turkey and Syria to reach respectively Rafah border crossing and Gaza Strip, an Iranian Parliament Member Mahmoud Ahmadi-Biqash told ISNA.

Seven Iranian lawmakers are to join the convoy in Syria next 11 days since it is to travel overland to reach Egypt and receive visa. The convoy also arrived in Iranian parliament on Monday night, welcomed by parliamentarians. Representatives of Amal and Islamic Movements were also present. The convoy received $150,000 fundraising from Iranians which is to be turned into goods to be sent to Gaza Strip. [ISNA, Dec 14, 2010]

Mahmoud Ahmadi Biqash, Avaz Heidarpour, Parvi Sarvari, Ali Motahhari, Ali Asqar Zare’i, Hassan Qafourifard and Shabib Jooyjari are the seven Iranian MPs that intend to join the Asian Gaza Convoy. A number of 200 members of the Iranian parliament had earlier in a statement voiced support and solidarity with the Asian continent’s first humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza. [Fars News Agency; Dec 15, 2010]

The Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan left India for the Gaza Strip with about 500 activists from 17 Asian countries, some of them Muslim. The convoy set out from India to Pakistan and from there to Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. It is expected to set sail for El-Arish from the Syrian port of Latakia and to enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing towards the end of December 2010 (close to the date of Operation Cast Lead, which began on December 28, 2008).

The convoy’s objectives, stated at a press conference held in Karachi (Pakistan) on November 29, 2010, are to “liberate Palestine,” “break the siege on the Gaza Strip,” “destroy the Israeli system of apartheid,” and unite Asian countries in the effort to realize those objectives (Fars News Agency, Iran, December 1, 2010).

Representatives from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan have also joined the group.

Read the analysis by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center for more information about the ideology behind the Asia to Gaza convoy republished here for your convenience.