The New Dark Age

This report was received today [16 January, 2009] from one of the participants in this event. She asked that the report be distributed as far and wide as possible. Apparently, even PHR were stunned by the hijacking.

Zvika
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Physicians for Human Rights (Israel) (www.phr.org.il/phr) were given permission to enter Gaza with a cargo of medicines and medical equipment (“Humanitarian Aid”) contained in two trucks, one from central Israel (Tel Aviv area) and the other one from the Palestinian town of Tai’ba (within the borders of pre-67 Israel).  PHR called their supporters to come in 3 buses and accompany the trucks to the border with Gaza (at the kibbutz of Kerem Shalom) and stand there as a silent demonstration.

We did not think that they would let us get to the border, but we were hoping we could go with the trucks at least to Yad Mordechai. Our buses arrived in Ashkelon, where the buses were stopped by hysterical police forces who stopped us from continuing. We were told that as far as they were concerned, the road, for us, was blocked south  of that point.  Of course, other cars were allowed to continue, after all, it is the middle of the country.

The police confiscated the drivers’ licenses of the bus drivers and hijacked the buses back to Tel Aviv under police escort. The drivers, scared of losing their licenses, took the passengers back, and their licenses were given back to them only in Tel Aviv.

The police officers admitted that what they did was totally illegal but they said there was “no choice”. This was sheer hijacking. Passengers were not allowed to get off the bus. I’d like to remind those who read this, that we live in “the only democracy in the middle east”.

When we got back to Tel Aviv, we found out that the trucks themselves never reached Gaza. One of them was still waiting at the “border” crossing and the other was never allowed to leave Tai’ba because the Gazan truck that was supposed to receive the supplies on the other side of the border crossing, was bombed.