Gaza aid to go under the hammer

Written by Declan Rooney

Wednesday, 08 July 2009

Thousands of euro worth of aid intended for Gaza will go under the auctioneer's hammer this week to meet the €46,000 cost of storing the aid since its arrival at the border.

The three containers of Galway aid have remained at the Egyptian/Gaza border crossing of Rafah since their arrival in early March in anticipation of permission from the Egyptian government to transfer the aid to the needy Gazans.

However, due to miles of political red tape, the containers have remained in storage and will now never reach their intended destination. The reason given was that the Egyptian authorities have strict rules that only new goods will be allowed across the border crossing point at Rafah into Gaza.

Galway based Gaza campaigner, Treasa Ni Cheannabhain explained her distress at the decision by the Egyptian government and told a torrid story of frustration.

"After all the hard work by the Irish people none of this aid will reach its intended target. The containers are worth in excess of €100,000 and will now be sold of to cover the debt to the storage facility.

"The Irish Embassy did their best in association with the Red Crescent but, after spending seven weeks there at my own expense, we failed to get the required documentation from the Egyptians. "It was only on the day that I left that the paperwork came through but at that stage it was too late."

Ms Ni Cheannabhain said the Irish aid is not the only help that will fail to reach 1.5 million Gazans.

"Over 250 tonnes of aid was dumped in the Egyptian Sinai Desert in the last few weeks. This was dried food like pasta and rice and blankets. They refused to let the aid in because the blankets were not clean. The locals had no problem using them when they were dumped.

"This aid has to get to the people who need it. People's homes have been bombed to pieces. They are standing in tents in the searing heat; they have no food and desperately need the medical aid that was headed their way. It is appalling, absolutely appalling," she said.

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