Day Twenty Six

Wednesday 13th October

Early up at around 4am.
Hugh and i decide that we need some time away from the camp in Lattakia as we have been here since last Saturday and its getting to be rather monotonous. We ask the medical team who have been working very hard to look after the health of everyone at the camp if they too would like a day off and take some time to go up to the historical city of Alleppo to the north of Syria. They all jump at the chance. Hugh, Carol and i sort out our now famous green minibus nicknamed the green goblin for the long journey around 4 hours to Alleppo. Alleppo was once the centre of Islamic culture, and its historic Alleppo castle, with its equally historic Mosque an important site that has to be seen.
Everyone jumps at the chance. Around 12 of us get into the green goblin and set off at around 10 am. Its a very long drive but well worth the effort. We arrive in Alleppo at around 2pm and enjoy the sights and sounds of the extensive archeological site.
We find that it is not possible to see the whole site with the 4 hours or so that we have in the city, it would require at least two days. We do a quick tour of the main sites and then visit the historical Markets just outside the site. These markets have been going for around 1000 years and are a delight to see with its trades people working in full view working away at their skills creating crafts and arts.
The news gets out that Viva Palestina convoy members are in the city and we get invited to a very nice restaurant, The Taj Kaalaaha, just opposite the main Castle. We are treated like celebrities and soon the press turn up and take interviews and pictures of us at the restaurant. This is a very welcome rest and dinner as we are all very tired and hungry. The food is absolutely delicious and we are treated with enormous portions in typical Arabic fashion. We that the owners and make our way back to our green goblin for the long journey back to Lattakia,
We are half way to Lattakia when we recieve word from someone that Al Jazeera have reported that the Egyptians have agreed to let the convoy move into Egypt in the next 48 hours. There is a massive cheer in the bus from all of us. This is a very much needed boost to our morale.
We arrive in Lattakia late at around 10pm and find the camp in good spirits as the news has got around that we may be moving in a day or two, but there is also some bad news. We hear that one of the conditions of movement into Egypt may be that all those members of the convoy who broke the siege on convoy 3 including the leaders of the convoy may be denied entry into Egypt. This would mean that around 15 of us who were on that convoy may have to say goodbye to our colleagues so close to Gaza. If so it would be a small price to pay for everyone else, around 400 volunteers and over two hundred vehicles filled with aid getting through into Gaza. If true we would ask all our wellwishers and supporters back home in all 30 countries represented on the convoy to put pressure on their MP’s and embassies, especially the Egyptian embassies to let all of us in as one as we all intend to.
We will not give up easily, and will fight our corner to get into Gaza together, not leaving one single person behind, including George Galloway.
We wait and see what negotiations can be made by the leadership.