GAZA - PGPO/VIVA PALESTINA AID CONVOY
By
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
on January 11, 2010 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (49) | TrackBacks (0)
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1. The Perdana Global Peace Organiation's team of five which drove an ambulance and three trucks across Europe to Gaza returned yesterday. It was a truly Malaysian team with a Chinese Malaysian, an Indian Malaysian and three Malays. They went through some tough times, having to sleep in the open in cold winter weather, no facilities for washing or bathing, no toilets.

2. With them went a Bernama team of four made up of three girl reporters and a cameraman. They too went through harrowing experiences. The journey from United Kingdom to Gaza took a month. The convoy carrying food medicine and construction materials was made up of more than 200 vehicles with nationals from seventeen countries driving.

3. I cannot describe their journey adequately. Perhaps they should give talks where they would be more free to give a full account.

4. The people of Gaza welcomed them. Seems that they all know Malaysia well. According to the team the Gazans were in good spirit and were determined not to give in.

5. And here is something that we all do not know. We think that the Israelis had stopped attacking Gaza one year ago. But no. The team tells of the daily bombings which are still going on.

6. The targets are the civilian installations - the university, the hospitals, the administrative buildings. The precision with which the attacks are made leaves no doubt as to the intention of the Israelis. Yet the Gazans cleaned up the rubble very quickly. They try to ensure good sanitation also. They are determined to live a normal life.

7. There is an illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza. Very little is allowed to go through as most things are regarded as having double usage i.e. can be made into bombs etc.

8. The promised support by the various Governments is not forthcoming. Whatever have been sent have to be stored for checking in Egypt to ensure they are harmless. Of course most countries have sent nothing.

9. The Israelis do not approve helping the Gazans. You run the risk of being labeled anti-Semitic if you do or if you reveal the things that the Israelis have done and are doing. One example is the locking up of a whole family in their house. When a child went out to fetch water, he was shot. Another child escaped but when she returned she found the family brutally murdered, including a baby in her mother's arms.

10. This is what is happening in Gaza today. They world doesn't want to know about it. The fate of a Chinese dissident who is arrested is of far greater concern, worthy of worldwide coverage. But the sufferings of the million people in Gaza, their homes destroyed, living in tents in the cold winter, being bombed daily - these are normal, deserving of no sympathy or attention.