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Wed, Jan 05, 2011 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Left: Convoy organizer Feroze Mithiborwala meets with senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Zahar (Twitter, January 3, 2011). Right: Feroze Mithiborwala speaks before the members of the convoy who entered the Gaza Strip (Iran's PressTV, January 2, 2011).

The Asian Convoy Reaches the Gaza Strip; the Libyan Convoy Sets Out^[1]

One hundred twenty members of the Asian flotilla who left India on December 5 entered the Gaza Strip on January 2, 2011. Because the receipt of Egyptian authorization was delayed they entered a few days later than originally planned. Eight activists came from the Syrian port of Latakia to El Arish in Egypt on the boat which brought the aid. The other 112 activists arrived from Syria by plane. The members of the convoy were received by Ismail Haniya, head of the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, and other senior Hamas figures. They are expected to remain there until January 6.

The media reported that Egypt refused to issue entrance visas for 60 activists who joined the convoy, including passengers from Iran and Jordan. In our assessment, the Jordanians were refused entrance because they belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood. In Iran demonstrations were held in front of the Egyptian embassy to protest the refusal of entry of the Iranians into the Gaza Strip (Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV, January 1, 2011; Al-Ahram, December 25, 2010; Twitter, January 3, 2011).

The senior Asian convoy organizer, Feroze Mithiborwala, said upon arrival in El Arish that the convoy’s objective was “to break the siege of the Gaza Strip, to bring about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem, and [to cause] the economic and political boycott of Israel” (Al-Dustour, Jordan, January 2, 2011).

Left: The convoy activists present Ismail Haniya with a picture of Mahatma Gandhi (Safa News Agency, January 4, 2011). Right: Signs held by the activists when they entered the Gaza Strip; the picture at the left is of Khomeini (Iran's PressTV, January 2, 2011).

Libyan Flotilla

A Libyan flotilla, nicknamed Al-Quds 5, left Libya for the Gaza Strip on December 30, 2011 (Al-Haqiqa Al-Dawliya, December 30, 2010).

[1] For further information, see the December 16, 2010 article “The Ideology Behind the Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan”.