The problem is that the authorities are insisting that some of the vehicles, led by the big red Manchester fire engine and the truck carrying a generator, should cross through an Israeli checkpoint, rather than this one.Now, there's an attitude that "starving Gazans" can understand: a quote from The Three Musketeers!Egypt is extremely sensitive to Israeli demands, no doubt with US leverage as well. But our attitude is that we've come all this way together and we're not going to be split now. All for one, one for all.
Perhaps sensing that this reason might not fly, Galloway offers another:
To give in to this would be to admit to Israeli command and control, which we can't do.And yet, he just admitted that Egypt controls the border, by allowing some of the vehicles to cross through Rafah. So Galloway needs to offer yet a third reason to keep those Gaza residents waiting for their aid:
But we can't accept a special favour from Israel which, for almost two years, has sealed the borders and starved the Palestinian people, a communal punishment which is illegal under the Geneva Conventions.So the ambulances, generator, food and medicine is less important than Galloway's pride at accepting a "special favour" from Israel, which during the course of his trip from England has delivered 47,000 tons of aid and millions of liters of fuel.
Not only that, but much of the aid that Israel sent through its crossings came from Jordan and Dubai - whose interest in helping Gazans is more important to them than the fact that Israel is the conduit. Is Galloway more pro-Gazan than the Arabs who send aid through Israel?
Or is his own ego more important than Gazans getting aid? After all, he happily reports being greeted by sheep and goats:
It's frustrating, but we wait. A game of football has started between Brits and Libyan drivers who have joined our convoy. Earlier, a massive cheering crowd of thousands of local people, as well as hundreds of goats and sheep, greeted us when we arrived.He pointedly didn't mention the Egyptians who pelted his convoy with stones and sprayed anti-Hamas slogans on the trucks. As is often the case with moonbats, their own sense of self-importance trumps the needs of the people they pretend to want to help.
More proof of Galloway's ego taking precedence over the aid:
This has been an amazing journey. The only slight blemish has been the neglect of it in the press back home, with some notable exceptions.And I bet Bono would have happily sent aid through Israel.The Guardian even unearthed a Trotskyist in Egypt - the only one, surely - to pour ordure on me. I bet it wouldn't have happened to Bono.