Day 31


Monday 18th October

Bad news i am afraid.

We all get up early at around 5.30 am hoping that we will be leaving at 7.30 sharp for the ferry port to board our ship, but we are still waiting for instructions from the leaders at 8am when we are told that there will be a delay and that we may be leaving after breakfast at 9am.

breakfast is once again humous and gerkin pickle with a ver large naan bread. i dont wat to see humous and pickeled gerkins again for as long as i live. i would rather eat my own toe. so i skip braekfast and just have some liquid youghurt, or salty lassi as it is known in Pakistan.

10.30 and we are gathered again on the stage area which we use for meetings every day only to be told that there could be a long delay due to some unexpected problems with the ferry company. we are told that further negotiations are taking place. and further updates will given as soon as possible.

time drags on and on and we soon feel rather dissapointed that we all had very little sleep and got up early only to be kept waiting and waiting. so some of us go back to our cells and get an hour or two lie down as it is very hot and humid.

around 7pm and we are still none the wiser. a meeting is called by Kevin Ovenden. We are told that there has been some developments. but not good ones. in fact rather bad ones. we are told that the ship owners are now asking for twice the amount of money agreed initially and are playing games with our convoy. it is suspected that some pressure has been applied by either the Egyptians or the Israelis to create further difficulties for us.

There is a sense of dissapointment around the camp and even some anger. but we stay united on our reslove to find a solution and apply whatever pressure we can to persuade the shipping company to come to some aggreement.

Further more we are told that the 17 names ( 10 Jordanian, 2 turkish and 5 British) given to us who are denied entry into Egypt cannot board the ship at any cost.

Some of the Jordanians ans turkish volunteers who are on that list decide to leave the convoy and head back to their countries.

Of the 5 British people ( George Galloway, Ron, Amer, Amina and Myself) we decide that it would not be right to push our luck with the Egyptians or the Ferry company as it could create problems for the rest of the convoy. so we decide to bow out and accept our fate even though we dont agree with it or the reasons given for refusal which are laughable.

We are told by everyone that it is a badge of honour to be on such a short list headed by the great man George Galloway himself. The Egyptians and the Israelis must consider us quite some individuals if they are afraid of us turning up in their country.

We are told that we would not be leaving today and that further negotiations will be taking place overnight to find some solution to the terms of the contract.

We may have to send out vehicles by ferryas we did on the last convoy, and find alternative transport for the passengers. possibly by another ferry or even by air, again as we did on the last convoy.

well there is nothing we can do tonight so we take our sleeping bags etc out of our vehicles and settle down for another night at the camp feeling rather dissapointed.