From San Jose to Gaza (via Cairo)   

The San José Peace and Justice Center delivered over $750 worth of humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. But having been blocked by the Egyptian government from entering Gaza, the aid was delivered to the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Cairo for transfer to Gaza.

Supporters of the San José Peace and Justice Center and the Arab American Cultural Center raised the aid - $550 in cash and a renewable ceramic water filter unit with spare parts. Some of the cash was used to purchase LED headlamps for people in the besieged territory that is frequently plunged into darkness by a chronic shortage of fuel needed to generate electricity.

SJPJC president Sharat G. Lin, who participated in the Gaza Freedom March, carried the aid from an SJPJC Coordinating Council meeting in San José to the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Cairo, where he was received by Mai Aref and Tarek Arafat (above).

The Palestine Red Crescent Society sponsors the Palestine Hospital in Cairo, which treats hundreds of patients from Gaza each year, many of whom cannot be adequately cared for by hospitals inside Gaza. It also operates emergency medical facilities in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

 Since its air-tight imposition in January 2006, the Israeli blockade has reduced to a trickle the import into Gaza of food, medicines, electricity, fuel, fertilizer, and all the necessities of life. It has also blocked the few remaining exports of Gaza, such as flowers and fruits, further devastating its already bombed-out industry and agriculture.

The Gaza Freedom March (GFM) was planned to be the largest-ever demonstration of international solidarity for the people of Gaza against the Israeli wall and blockade. Instead GFM faced the Egyptian blockade and protested against it for a week in the streets of Cairo. The protests drew worldwide media coverage that drew unprecedented attention to the Egyptian government's collaboration with the Israeli blockade.

 Hundreds of GFM participants also brought tens of thousands of dollars of school supplies, medical equipment, water filters, and vitamins for the residents of Gaza facing a humanitarian crisis. Only a small fraction of the aid could be delivered personally to civil society institutions in Gaza. The Egyptian blockade forced the rest of the aid to be delivered to intermediaries for transport into Gaza through alternative channels.