19/09/2010 Four months after being injured on board the Mavi Marmara ship, one of the participants of late May's Gaza-bound flotilla on Saturday joined what organizers are calling "the largest flotilla yet."
A large land convoy has begun making its way from around the world to the Gaza Strip.
Kevin Ovenden set sail from Britain Saturday morning along with 30 other activists on a voyage they dubbed "Viva Palestina." Vehicles were loaded onto ships and are en-route to the el-Arish Port in Egypt where they hope to be allowed to unload and drive into Gaza. "Our mission last time was to take aid in and to highlight the siege," Ovenden told CNN. "That's our mission this time."
Ovenden also denied claims that activists aboard the Mavi Marmara carried weapons that were used against the soldiers during the raid.
"I witnessed the man one meter in front of me being shot in the leg, a man 50 centimeters to the right of me being shot through the abdomen," Ovenden said of the experience.
"Neither of them had anything in their hands. There were no Israeli commandos within the immediate proximity. They were shot from above, so it was simply unfeasible -- in that incident I saw – for anyone to claim they were in fearing for their lives when they rang out those shots," he added.
According to press reports, about 450 vehicles are expected to participate in the land convoy which is organized by former British lawmaker George Galloway
Vehicles are coming from England, Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. In January, the Egyptians banned Galloway from using their territory for Gaza-bound convoys and accused the former British lawmaker’s organization Viva Palestina of criminal activity.
Galloway, a former British MP and veteran anti-Israel activist, first announced plans for the "Viva Palestina" flotilla in June, shortly after attending the funerals of the Turkish activists killed aboard the Mavi Marmara.
Galloway announced the September 18 launch of the flotilla in an August opinion article he wrote in the British socialist daily the Morning Star.
Galloway states in the article that now that the siege on Gaza is being condemned by the EU, UN, many governments and every major international aid agency, "we are at a moment when pressure can be brought to bear as never before to frustrate Israel's moves to crush the Palestinians."
Aid convoy "Lifeline 5" leaving London for Gaza today
LONDON, (PIC)-- Viva Palestina organization said its fifth aid convoy, Lifeline for Gaza, is expected to move today (Saturday) from central London towards France.
Spokesman for the organization Zaher Al-Berawi said the participants will flock into an area near Big Ben clock tower in London and meet with media reporters before setting off to France where other vehicles carrying humanitarian aid will join in.
Spokesman Berawi added that the participants in the convoy would spend one night in France before heading to Italy and then to Greece, Turkey and Syria.
The spokesman affirmed that upon its arrival in the Syrian city of Latakia, the convoy will be joined by Arab and African participants coming from North Africa, the Gulf states and Jordan and later it would be taken aboard a large ship heading to the Egyptian port of Arish.
He noted that there is no agreement so far with the Egyptian authority on facilitating the entry of the convoy into the Gaza Strip, but there will be contacts with Egypt as soon as it arrives in Syria.
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George Galloway - Viva Palestina 5 Sendoff - London 18 10 2010
Viva Palestina 5 has set off for Gaza
VivaPalestine5SendoffLondon18102010.avi:
"MrAlexSeymour | September 18, 2010
George Galloway speaking in London this morning at the start of the latest Viva Palestina convoy to attempt the Gaza run.
- Sent using Google Toolbar"
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