Gaza Freedom March: Egypt, let them in!

Dec 27 in Cairo city centre (pic from rabble.ca)

This post originally appeared at http://www.talestotell.wordpress.com

You can see the breaking news on the Gaza Freedom March here…
I just spotted that Hedy (American Holocaust Survivor) from our FreeGaza boats is on it too, bless her… hope I have her energy at 85!

I got a few determined texts from my friend A (aiming for 6 months in Gaza doing the kind of thing I did) yesterday, the anniversary of the first day of last year’s Gaza attacks; she, Italian Vik from our original gang who’s been outside on his European Gaza book tour, and about 1300 other Freedom March participants were in the centre of Cairo last night, demanding to be allowed to enter Gaza.

West Bank Firefighters visit Scotland/NW England

The guys on the right create the fire, the guys on the left fight it...

In October/November 2009, 8 firefighters from the West Bank city of Nablus came to the UK on a visit organised by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and at the invitation of the Scottish Government. The Nablus Fire Department, founded in 1958, is unique in Palestine as a Municipal Fire Department (not Civil Defence) and is funded and controlled by the Nablus Municipality.

The visit, funded in the main by donation and sponsorship, was the culmination of months of planning following several visits by FBU officials to the area where it became apparent that the Nablus firefighters were severely handicapped by lack of equipment (particularly Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)) and lack of training.