Gaza Freedom March tops 1,000 participants - Medea Benjamin
Published yesterday (updated) 08/12/2009 18:51
www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=245146

Over 1,000 delegates from 42 countries have signed up to participate in the
31 December Gaza Freedom March that will mark the one-year anniversary of
the Israeli invasion and call for an end to the siege that has brought 1.5
million people to the edge of disaster.

Organizers cut off registration on 30 November to give the Egyptian
officials enough time to clear the group for entry into Gaza, but also
because the numbers were becoming unwieldy. "No one has ever taken a group
this size into Gaza," said coordinator Ann Wright, whose skills as a retired
U.S. army colonel are coming in handy organizing the logistics for such a
massive group.

Since the registration closed on 30 November, organizers have been besieged
every day with people begging to be added to the list. "I have to turn down
15-20 people every day," said Emily Siegel. "It has been an insane few
weeks, with emails pouring in from people all over the world who want to
join. I feel terrible turning them away but we started out thinking we would
take 300 people and now we have over 1,000."

The international delegates hope to join some 50,000 Palestinians inside
Gaza, including students, teachers, health workers, women's groups, farmers
and fishermen. The march will start in a neighborhood in northern Gaza in
which nearly every building was devastated during Israel's attack and
continue for three miles to the Erez border with Israel. At the same time,
Israeli and Palestinian activists will be marching toward the Erez crossing
from the Israeli side. Upon reaching the border, participants on both sides
will release balloons, fly kites and wave flags to demonstrate their
solidarity with one another.

Marking the one-year anniversary of the December 2008 Israeli invasion that
left over 1,400 dead, this initiative is designed to draw worldwide
attention to the ongoing siege that continues to imprison the 1.5 million
Palestinians in Gaza. But with the borders still closed, there is no
guarantee that the internationals will be allowed in. Gaza is bordered by
Israel and Egypt. Both governments have sealed their borders, but sometimes
the Egyptians will make exceptions. That's why Tighe Barry, a Hollywood prop
man who has become the "fixer" for the international delegation, has
traveled to the region six times in as many months to prepare for this
march. "We've told the delegates that there are no guarantees we'll get into
Gaza, but we are certainly doing everything humanly possible to convince the
Egyptians to let us in," said Barry from Cairo, where he has been spending
his days negotiating with officials in the Foreign Ministry, in addition to
running around arranging hotels, food and buses for 1,000 people.

The diversity of the international delegation is impressive, with people
coming from Austria to Yemen, from Belgium to Bangladesh to Brazil. Some 100
students have signed up, as have seniors in their seventies and eighties.
The marchers include judges, doctors and physicists; businesspeople and
union reps. Faith-based members include imams, rabbis and priests. Affinity
groups have formed of artists, women, military veterans, diplomats, lawyers
and health workers. A muralist from California, Kathleen Crocetti, will
build a mosaic memorial to all who died during the invasion. Julia Hurley, a
student from New York, has raised thousands of dollars for school supplies
that Israel has banned.

Nora Hassanaien, a British student at the University of Warwick, has family
in Gaza whom she has not been allowed to visit because of the closed
borders. "Watching the atrocities on television last year and not being able
to do anything was devastating," she recalled. "It will mean a lot to me to
be part of a peaceful march, with people all over the world uniting in
solidarity."

Hilary Minch is an Irish development worker. "This will be a remarkably
poignant time to visit Gaza. It will be filled with sadness, given what the
people of Gaza have endured and lost and continue to suffer. I want to stand
beside them and show my solidarity. This is the least I can do."