Email |  Print | RSS | Comment |  

 Email |  Print

Wed, Oct 20, 2010 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Viva Palestina Convoy: Egypt Bans Entry of 17 Lifeline 5 Organizers

Viva Palestina’s aid convoy, Lifeline 5, has not yet left the Syrian port of Latakia, possibly following differences of opinion with the owners of the ship which is supposed to take the convoy to the Egyptian port of El Arish (Al-Jazeera TV, October 18, 2010). As of October 17 the port of El Arish had not yet received notice of the date of the ship’s arrival (Misr Al-Jadeeda, October 17, 2010).

In addition, the Egyptian authorities said that they would ban 17 members of the Lifeline 3 convoy, including its head, George Galloway, from entering Egyptian territory. According to Zaher Birawi, a Hamas activist in Britain who serves as the convoy’s spokesman (and whose entrance into Egypt was also banned), the Egyptian authorities did not provide reasons for the ban. A preliminary examination of the list of the banned activists indicates that they were involved in violent confrontation between the Viva Palestina convoy and Egyptian security forces in January 2010 and/or were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood or other radical Islamic organizations.

Those banned from entering Egypt include British, Jordan and Turkish citizens, some of whom confronted the Egyptian security forces in January 2010, including the following:

1. George Galloway, a former British MP, Hamas supporter and convoy organizer. Banned from entering Egyptian, he returned to Britain pleading “political necessity,” and was replaced by Kevin Ovenden, an extreme leftist activist from Britain. Ovenden, one of the heads of Viva Palestina, was also aboard the Mavi Marmara (Al-Dustour, October 12, 2010).

2. Zaher Birawi, a Hamas activist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He lives in England and engages in intensive anti-Israel activity, and serves as Lifeline 5 spokesman. In the past he was involved in organizing land and sea convoys to the Gaza Strip, including the convoy which confronted the Egyptian authorities in January 2010.

3. Ron McKay, British, Viva Palestina activist. He is team head for the current convoy. He participated in the January 2010 convoy as the head of US Viva Palestina.

4. Wa’el Akram Assa’ad al-Saqa, engineer from Jordan. He is a long-standing member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and headed the group of Jordanian activists aboard the Mavi Marmara. He was formerly president of the Jordanian engineers’ union.

5. Alaa’ Abd al-Jawad Omar Burqan, Jordanian, responsible for the labor unions’ public relations. He is apparently linked to Islamic organizations. He was also aboard the Mavi Marmara.

6. Khader Ahmed Ismail al-Mashaih, Jordanian, correspondent for the Muslim Brotherhood organ Al-Sabil (at least until 2007), and was in contact with the Muslim Brotherhood. He was also aboard the Mavi Marmara.

The European flotilla: The sailing date of the upgraded flotilla organized by the Freedom Flotilla 2 coalition has not yet been made public. According to its organizers, it will sail some time during the first six months of 2011. They have emphasized that the flotilla’s objective was not to bring humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip but rather to make it clear that the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip could be broken. Ahmet Faruk Unsal, IHH representative to the flotilla’s organizing committee, said that his organization was weighing the possibility of sending a ship the same size as the Mavi Marmara to the flotilla.

French Activists Who Were Aboard the Mavi Marmara Filed Suit against Israel in the International Criminal Court in the Hague

Nine French citizens who were aboard the Mavi Marmara filed a suit against Israel in the International Criminal Court in the Hague, accusing it of war crimes and crimes against humanity (rfi.fr website, October 13, 2010). Similar suits were filed in two courts in France by the Comité de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP), a fund designated by the American Treasury as a terrorism-supporting organization (ustreas.gov website, October 19, 2010; globaljihad.net website, May 15, 2008). The lawyer representing the plaintiffs in France and in the international court is Liliane Glock, a French human rights activist and lawyer (rfi.fr website, June 4, 2010).