Convoy meeting
Nidal's head
During the morning I am contacted by London Evening Standard for an update on what has happened. They have got my number from my brother Charlie who I rang last night when the riot was kicking off. He also gets in touch to say he contacted Press Association, Sky News, Channel 4.
During the afternoon there is gathering in the centre of the compound for George to address the crowd. He offers support to the injured and encouragement to the members for the final leg of the journey. He states his position on those protesters that returned violence to the riot police - his view is that while he has always respected those who are able to turn the other cheek 'it is not in my tradition' and he supports the right of those who threw stones back at the riot police to do this as they have had stones thrown at them. Some members of the convoy are very unhappy about the sequence of events and one even asks if he will resign as a result of the violent clashes. George calls for a show of hands on this and it seems the majority would prefer him to remain leading the convoy.
During the gathering a worried sister of one of the arrested members comes up and says the prisoners have been kept in a truck outside with no bathroom or water for 15 hours. I get a tray of water bottles to try to take this to the vehicle - I am not allowed out of the compound but I see Caiomhe is outside and can pass them to her. Within around an hour or so the prisoners are returned to us battered and bruised. A security officer has a bag of their mobile phones and cameras which he gives to me and I track the individuals down to return them. Unfortunately Nidal's camcorder is not there, he says it was smashed anyway. I can't locate the officer who gave me the items to ask about it.
The vehicles are all lining up now to queue to get out of the compound. On my mobile I am hearing from Lena, an Italian journalist who lives in Beirut. She has managed to get transport to catch up with us and will try to travel with the convoy for the final leg and try to come into Gaza. I can't get out of the gate to meet her but she manages to find Caoimhe in a vehicle that's already got out up ahead.
Eventually we get to leave the compound, they're letting us through really slowly in groups of around ten vehicles at a time. Its almost dark. While waiting in the line outside on the road some Egyptian ambulance workers come over to talk. As I have the laptop, hard drive and blank cds I ask one what music he would like - he says something romantic - so I give him a copy of an album of Frank Sinatra. We listen to our copy of Frank Sinatra on the road to Gaza.
We get to the border in slow time still, there are lots of road blocks on the way. Not with security staff but just places we have to wiggle through a bit. At the Palestinian side of the Rafah border we hand over our passports, nobody minds giving their passports to Palestinian border control. I feel very happy that we are going through. Just inside as we move slowly through a man approaches my cab - he is asking after vehicle A12 - he is the doctor who is waiting for the equipment we picked up in Amman! He must have been waiting patiently all evening and possibly all day. Its brilliant to be able to reassure him that the vehicle and its precious content is just behind us.
I can hardly stay on the road for tiredness. Perhaps it is the relief of getting into Gaza finally but I can hardly keep awake. We are driving slowly following whoever is in front. Occasionally a vehicle with armed men in it passes. There are a few people still at the roadside but it is around 3am now so most of the crowds have sensibly gone home. We end up parking up the vehicles together on what turns out to be the old airstrip near Gaza City. A text message tells us that accommodation is provided in teams. However in practice this just causes more confusion as there is not time to organise into teams with buses waiting for us who just want us to get our personal stuff and jump in it is so late. A group of us end up at the Al-Ahli sporting club. The rooms are basic with two beds with a blanket on each and a loo/ shower. The hosts also want to give us food - rice, chicken, salad, bottles of water; I'm almost too tired to eat but manage to and meanwhile get talking to Yousri who is leading our group. He explains the blockade and siege means limits on what is available, power supplies, water. We want to carry on talking but as we have to be up again in a few hours and are so tired its not possible.
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