Overland UK to Gaza

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Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:24 am

Quotes of £70k for various trucks and buses to be ferried from Turkey to El - Arish - so prohibitive costs are putting a convoy in jeopardy. So the Turkey option is out of the question for the moment unless we get the funding.
Alternative routes overland through Syria can't be considered for obvious reason - people on the ground there are saying it is pretty problematic and a convoy would not exactly be obscure.
Would going though Iraq be the lesser of two evils in lieu of Syria (though I cannot imagine that IUD's would be so much fun in Iraq either)?

Aside from throwing in the towel - what route would be the best consideration in your opinion.
I thought overland Turkey, Iraq, Jordan then sea freight through the Suez canal to Egypt though who knows how much the latter would cost..
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:28 am

overland through Syria can't be considered for obvious reason



Don't be gay.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:57 am

rickshaw92 wrote:
overland through Syria can't be considered for obvious reason



Don't be gay.


Don't be gay -why? It's a humanitarian convoy. Playing tough for toughs sake is not my thing - sorry I'm a woman, so are half the convoy members
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby coldharvest » Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:03 am

sorry I'm a woman

that's not an excuse around here
I know the law. And I have spent my entire life in its flagrant disregard.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:05 am

sorry I'm a woman, so are half the convoy members


That makes any gayness so much more better!
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby coldharvest » Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:29 am

go spend the money relieving poverty in Britain or ending river blindness in the Congo
or is that not as excitingly charged as meddling in religious geo-politics



I mean fuck me, why not just sea-can the shit to egypt and then drive it in from there?
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:46 am

I mean fuck me, why not just sea-can the shit to egypt and then drive it in from there?


I don't think the border with Sudan is open for hippy kinda shit.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:57 pm

coldharvest wrote:
sorry I'm a woman

that's not an excuse around here


No it would not be an excuse would it - not for a bloke - when all you have to worry about is being murdered when women have to concern themselves with being raped then murdered.
Sorry but I have been to some pretty dangerous countries - travelling alone - the Chiapas region of Mexico, Northern Uganda (home of the Lords Resistance Army) , Caracas, Guatemala, the Olancho Department (Honduaras) - amongst others - I am not going there to backpack! We are going there to deliver aid in tact and in one piece. We have spent a considerable period of time scraping the money together for the trucks, buses, medical equipment, etc - So getting caught up in the Arab uprising, being detained or whatever, is not what we are looking for whether you think that is "gay"or not - BTW- Machismo is so yesterday.
When I return I'm off to Somalia - then I can look to being as reckless as the next person - in the meanwhile all we want to do is get the aid there is one piece - not show off to others that we are taking some dangerous route to get there! Many people associated with us (including women) have already been detained and beaten up and others have been killed - one guy was killed two months ago. So we've been there and done that - gay enough for you?
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:10 pm

rickshaw92 wrote:
I mean fuck me, why not just sea-can the shit to egypt and then drive it in from there?


I don't think the border with Sudan is open for hippy kinda shit.

Delivering medical equipment and medicine is hippy shit - Tell that to Médecins Sans Frontières..BTW the Convoy leader is a former US marine was in Baghdad during the second Iraq war as a civilian and was on board the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked. Pretty hippy ay.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:16 pm

coldharvest wrote:I mean fuck me, why not just sea-can the shit to egypt and then drive it in from there?


We cannot sea can the shit to Egypt as I have already said it is gonna cost £70,000 plus - that was the recent and cheapest quote given. The Egyptian authorities will also only allow us to pass through el-Arish and not the Rafah border crossing.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:18 pm

was on board the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked.


Hippy to the max honey.


3 posts in a row? Do you know what that means? mach award!
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby vagabond » Mon Jun 27, 2011 5:22 pm

So, 70,000 GBP...that's around $120,000 USD.

Instead of sending that to people that already have heaps of political/economic will going in their direction, stuck in a rut because of their and their governments 'religious geo-politics', as cold said, why not throw the money towards something non-political. Mines, malaria, and clean water don't give a shit about your self-indulgent political statements.

For that money:

-send it to COPE Laos and you could buy 1,491 prosthetic legs or 559 'complete treatments' for land mine victims.

-through Mines Advisory Group, you could clear 46,666 sq. meters of land of mines or pay for 155 flak jackets for deminers or 311 GPS units to plot mines on

-buy 11,182 malaria nets through Nothing But Nets

-sponsor 56 water projects in a rural village, providing at least 14,000 people with clean water or build 5-6 water projects in a school or health clinics, giving 5-6000 people a chance at clean water (http://www.charitywater.org)

-get kids educated; with Room to Read, that money would buy: 112,000 children's books to be published and distributed or 44 girls to go to school for 10 years

-Or you can give that money directly to MSF

Not to mention our own BFC favs of La Cima and 4th Wall

Will £70,000 really be as effective in Gaza as it could be used elsewhere in the world or is it so a bunch of Westerners can get their rocks off being part of a political statement?

V
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 5:30 pm

vagabond wrote:So, 70,000 GBP...that's around $120,000 USD.

Instead of sending that to people that already have heaps of political/economic will going in their direction, stuck in a rut because of their and their governments 'religious geo-politics', as cold said, why not throw the money towards something non-political. Mines, malaria, and clean water don't give a shit about your self-indulgent political statements.

For that money:

-send it to COPE Laos and you could buy 1,491 prosthetic legs or 559 'complete treatments' for land mine victims.

-through Mines Advisory Group, you could clear 46,666 sq. meters of land of mines or pay for 155 flak jackets for deminers or 311 GPS units to plot mines on

-buy 11,182 malaria nets through Nothing But Nets

-sponsor 56 water projects in a rural village, providing at least 14,000 people with clean water or build 5-6 water projects in a school or health clinics, giving 5-6000 people a chance at clean water (http://www.charitywater.org)

-get kids educated; with Room to Read, that money would buy: 112,000 children's books to be published and distributed or 44 girls to go to school for 10 years

-Or you can give that money directly to MSF

Not to mention our own BFC favs of La Cima and 4th Wall

Will £70,000 really be as effective in Gaza as it could be used elsewhere in the world or is it so a bunch of Westerners can get their rocks off being part of a political statement?

V

Your post is irrelevant as we are not paying the £70k to ship it to Egypt! We are seeking an alternative route now.

I could say to anyone on this site- rather than booking a thrill trip, why not take your money and use it for this that and the other. We have chosen Gaza and if i had said we were giving aid to Sudan, some other person would have said, "Why don't you use it for.. the Congo, Burundi, etc etc"
Last edited by mountainwiccan on Mon Jun 27, 2011 5:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby mountainwiccan » Mon Jun 27, 2011 5:32 pm

rickshaw92 wrote:
was on board the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked.


Hippy to the max honey.


3 posts in a row? Do you know what that means? mach award!


Whatever - better be a hippy than a macho thrill seeker. He is the one who went on the Mavi Marmara not me - and disabling two Israeli commandos I do not call hippy even if you do.
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Re: Overland UK to Gaza

Postby buffybot_in_beirut » Mon Jun 27, 2011 6:06 pm

A look at the map shows that in all likelihood you are out of luck. Gaza borders the ocean, Egypt and Israel. The ocean may be out due to the Israeli blockade. You cannot reach Egypt cheaply (meaning with a short and affordable ferry ride, e.g. Spain to Morocco) unless you cross Libya. You would have to wait for the war to end first.

If you want to make a political statement, you should be prepared to pay for it and take the sea freight option. If you want to use your contribution in the most effective way, you could convert it all into cash and donate it to UNRWA.

When that Turkish convoy mess happened Israel said that boats with humanitarian cargo for Gaza should land in Israel and the Israeli government would forward the goods to Gaza. Worth a try? (I'm not being cynical.)

Given the near-universal belief in the Arab world that all Palestinians are angels and all Israelis are devils, I actually think that crossing Syria would be doable unless the unrest escalates to civil war proportions. Then through Jordan and a ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba. Forget crossing Iraq - you would have to transit a part of "Arab Iraq", not only Kurdistan.
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