GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A delegation from the Malaysian government arrived in Gaza on Monday for a three-day tour to examine humanitarian conditions in the besieged enclave. The delegation will visit areas that suffered heavy shelling and high civilian casualties during Israel's assault, such as the Shujaiyya and Khuzaa neighborhoods of Gaza City and Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Rafah. more

As Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang made it to the quarterfinals of the men's cycling event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow yesterday, two words which appeared on his gloves did not sit well with the Games authorities. As he reached the finishing line, his fists with the message "Save Gaza", a reference to the ongoing Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territories which have so far killed over 800, were shown to the cameras. Commonwealth Games Federation said the incident could be in breach of a rule avoiding "politics" in the Games, and said it will “contact the Malaysian chef de mission to discuss the incident and take any action," reported the Associated Press. On his Twitter and Facebook fan page, Azizulhasni, who has close to 40,000 Twitter followers and more than 200,000 likes, posted pictures of his plea for the Palestinians. "Alhamdulillah won my 1st round, 1/4 tomorrow against Kiwi but team sprint qualify first this evening. Plz make...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities on Sunday denied entry to a Malaysian delegation seeking to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, Gaza government officials said. Palestinian officials said eight solidarity activists from Malaysia attempted to cross through to Gaza four times, and that on the fourth time they were deported. The officials denounced the Egyptian actions, saying the Malaysian delegation was set to provide Gaza residents with humanitarian aid through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Gaza City. Egypt opened the Rafah crossing to special cases for a three-day period starting Saturday. more

PETALING JAYA: A photo of an upscale shopping mall in Malaysia was mistakenly used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) on its blog to depict a seemingly normal life in Gaza. In a post entitled "What Happened to the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza?" the photograph, which shows Suria KLCC's centre court was accompanied with the caption "the shopping mall for the latest caption from overseas". According to The Jerusalem Post, the image was part of 17 other allegedly accurate photographs of Gazan life. The report cited the IDF apologising for the error, saying that it was an "innocent mistake" and the photo has since been removed. "It was an innocent mistake. The picture was removed when we learned (of the error)," the IDF was quoted as saying. The blog post, which was published on Aug 12, claimed that Gaza was not an "open-air prison" as was reported by the media. "Sun, beach, shopping: these are the types of things that define ...

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A delegation of Malaysian NGOs arrived in the Gaza Strip Sunday to check the humanitarian situation and open projects. The delegation includes 80 representatives and activists from humanitarian work groups in Malaysia. Azmi Abed al-Hamid, the chairman of the board, held a news conference at the Rafah crossing where he stressed the strategic relationship between Malaysia and Palestine. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Muhammad Najib Abdul Razak will visit the Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian sources told Ma'an. The prime minister will be accompanied by his wife and foreign minister, the sources said. A delegation will arrive in Gaza on Saturday to prepare for the delegation. Abdul Razak is set to spend ten hours in the Gaza Strip, during which he will inaugurate a school and other Malaysian-supported projects in Gaza. He will be received by an official delegation at the Rafah border with Egypt, and meet with Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh during his trip, the sources said. In October last year, the Emir of Qatar made a historic visit to the Gaza Strip, the first head of state to enter Gaza since 1999. more

KUALA LUMPUR, (PIC)-- The Malaysian people and the Arab and foreign communities in Malaysia showed great support for the Palestinian issue during the Palestine Week event in Kuala Lumpur while a solidarity sit-in was staged in front of the UN offices. The Palestinian Cultural Organization-Malaysia organized a sit-in in front of UN headquarters in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday, in solidarity with the striking prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s jails with the participation of members of the Palestinian community in Malaysia and representatives of several Malaysian institutions, associations, and non-governmental organizations. The head of the organization, Muslim Abu Omar, and a delegation of the participants handed the UN’s Office a statement in which they called on the UN to take action to stop the Israeli practices and violations against the Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s jails. During the sit-in, the protestors raised photos and chanted slogans supporting the priso...

GAZA: The Aman Palestin (AP) VIII humanitarian mission has finally entered the Gaza Strip after a 30-hour trip from Kuala Lumpur. AP chief excutive officer Awang Suffian Awang Piut said even though the trip was a long journey, was worth the wait as the team was received by Gaza's influential leader Dr Abdul Rahman Jamal, who is also the chairman of the Darul Quran and Sunnah. “We feel honoured that our visit was received by such an influential man here. We are all humbled by his presence,” he said in a short ceremony held after entering the border here. The 21-strong Malaysian delegation includes businessmen, officials and media members with the youngest volunteer, Muhammad Razique, just two years of age. The AP VIII Humanitarian Mission is in Gaza to deliver medical supplies, generator sets, a water desalination station and meet 500 AP sponsored orphans. more

KUALA LUMPUR: Even after two months, I can still remember the rush I felt from hearing the sounds of gunshots fired by an Israeli navy ship over the Malaysian humanitarian ship MV Finch on May 16. I recall vividly the day before the incident when I could barely sleep. Emotions aside, the spectre of being arrested by the Israelis was real. On that fateful day at 3am, I joined the other non-essential members of the mission sitting on the open deck of MV Finch as it made its way to Palestinian waters from the El Arish Port waiting area in Egyptian waters. There, I joined reporters Mohd Faizal Hassan from Bernama and Canadian Julie Lévesque from Global Research, Mohd Radzillah Abdullah from the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Department and Irish humanitarian activist Jenny Graham. It was a cold night with a visible full moon. We waited for what seemed to be long hours on a wetmattress laid out on the deck before dawn broke. This was when we began to see fishing boats with fishermen waving at u...

Readers will remember The Spirit of Rachel Corrie (MV Finch) first entered Palestinian waters some time ago - on 16 May to be precise, and has only now been allowed to unload its Cargo by the Egyptian authorities who still appear to be doing their best to collude with Israel's blockade and siege. From Global Research The Spirit of Rachel Corrie finally was allowed to berth at the El-Arish Port on Tuesday July 5, 2011 at 7.10 pm (Egypt time) for the unloading of the UPVC pipes to Gaza. The cargo of 32 tonnes took almost 4 hours to be transferred to 7 awaiting trailers. The humanitarian aid cargo will be taken to Ouja at the Israeli border where it will be reassigned to other trailers sponsored by the Palestinians to be delivered to Gaza via Karem Shalom. The impasse finally ended after Perdana Global Peace Foundation President, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad met the Prime Minister of Egypt, Dr. Essam Sharaf on June 29 in Cairo. The Perdana Global Peace Foundation records with sincere grat...

From Bernama KUALA LUMPUR June 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will ask the United Nations to ensure the safety of the humanitarian flotilla leaving for Gaza next week, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said. The Prime Minister said that he would write to UN secretary general Ban Kim Moon to ask him to appoint a representative to inspect the flotilla with more than 600 members of non-governmental organisations from 20 carries to verify that it carried only humanitarian aid and no arms. Malaysia will also ask the UN to make certain of the safety of the flotilla in international waters, he said when sending off the Malaysian Lifeline4Gaza team taking part in International Freedom Flotilla II Saturday. Ten Malaysians, including two media representatives, join this second humanitarian flotilla to Gaza. more

From Ahram Online Activists on a Malaysian aid ship that had been bound for Gaza refused to hand their cargo to Egypt on Thursday, saying they feared it would end up in Israel. They had tried to land in Gaza last week but changed course when the Israeli navy fired warning shots. Matthias Chang, who is heading the mission for the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, told AFP the group was not consulted when the Malaysian and Egyptian governments worked out a deal to end the impasse. Chang said Egypt had insisted the cargo be discharged and transported via Kaern Shalom, at the Israeli border in Gaza. "We are not assured that this cargo would in fact be delivered to Gaza, as in the past... most of the humanitarian aid was laid to waste in Israel," he added. Chang also questioned Cairo's refusal to allow the cargo, consisting of 7.5 kilometres (4.6 miles) of sewage pipes, to be transferred via the Rafah crossing -- Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel -- given that it wo...

From the International movement for a Just World The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) is glad that The Spirit of Rachel Corrie has been allowed to dock at El Arish port in Egypt. It took the Egyptian authorities 8 days to make that decision. This is a matter of great regret. The humanitarian aid that the Malaysian owned cargo ship has been carrying, namely, 7.5 kilometres of pipes that would help restore the devastated sewerage system in Palestinian Gaza, can now be delivered to Gaza by land. The repair and restoration of the sewerage system is essential for the rebuilding of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed by Israel’s brutal assault upon the strip in December 2008 and January 2009. It is hoped that the Egyptian authorities will expedite the delivery of this aid to Gaza. The peace activists on The Spirit of Rachel Corrie, a number of whom are Malaysians, had initially tried to break the Israeli siege of Gaza and deliver the aid material directly to the people of Gaza. It ...

EL-ARISH, May 24 ( Bernama ) -- The mission to send PVC pipes to Gaza is expected to continue by land following the Egyptian authorities' decision to allow the MV Finch carrying humanitarian aid to berth and unload the cargo at El-Arish Port. Bernama reporter Mohd Faizal Hassan via SMS text to the national news agency's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur texted: "It is understood that the Egyptian foreign minister has given permission (for the ship) to berth and unload the goods today...InsyaAllah (God willing), we will be on land." The MV Finch has been stranded outside El-Arish Port for a week, waiting for the Egyptian authorities to allow it to berth at the port and now the ship's engine has broke down. more

From Perdana Global Peace Foundation 9:42 am KL (24/5/11) Egypt time 3:42 am (24/5/11): We are back at the port’s waiting area with a broken steering. The team’s spirit is high and resolute. We have surmounted many difficulties and sabotage and came through. The team, led by the team leader, have upheld their dignity and the justice of their cause by standing up to the futile attempt to humiliate them by unreasonable detention of their ship, crew, and passengers for 7 days. They even forced us to sail towards international waters – away from the shortest route to Gaza – and towards the Israeli naval ships waiting to capture and or shoot us down as we discovered later. By the Grace of God, we were saved from this insidious scheme and remain victorious. more

UPDATE, Monday 23 May, at 13.30pm EDT, 20.30pm local time The Spirit of Rachel Corrie is back in Egyptian territorial waters. The crew and passengers are safe. The Malaysian Embassy in Cairo has advised that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has granted permission to the ship to berth in the port of Al Arish tomorrow May 24th and unload its cargo. This decision by Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Al Arabi, which remains to be confirmed, is of fundamental importance. Mr. Al Arabi had indicated almost month ago his resolve to open the border at Rafah and end the Gaza blockade. more

UPDATE Monday 23 May At 8.33am EDT (14.33pm local time) The Spirit of Rachel Corrie lifted anchor and started sailing towards Gaza. UPDATE: 9:53pm EDT, Egypt time 3:53pm "The Egyptian Navy is forcing us out of their territorial waters and has asked us to go to international waters. One Egyptian patrol boat is coming very fast from behind with a gun pointing at us." Everyone is calm and steady. We are okay." From our latest communication with the ship, it appears that the Egyptian Navy is collaborating with the Israelis with a view to endangering the security of the ship. We call upon human rights organizations, Palestinian solidarity organizations Worldwide to take an active position regarding the Spirit of Rachel Corrie. SPREAD THE WORD, REPORT THIS MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK Support the Spirit of Rachel Corrie's resolve to break the blockade. What happens in the next few hours will be decisive. Egypt is complicit in supporting the blockade. The objective is to break the E...

(pic: Matthias Chang, mission leader, is still on hunger strike) The MV Finch (Spirit of Rachel Corrie got within one mile of the Gaza coast, the closest any ship has got since the blockade was imposed in 2007. See report at Global Research . Bernama reporter Faizal Hassan who is onboard the ship, informed the Malaysian national news agency's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur via SMS that the situation was getting critical as the port authorities had not sent medical aid and clean water to the ship. "Our water supply will run out any time soon," he lamented. Faizal said the decision whether to allow MV Finch to enter and berth at El-Arish Port would depend on the meeting in Jakarta between Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and his Egyptian counterpart. He said all the 12 passengers and crew members of the ship hoped the meeting would bring good news to enable the PVC pipes meant for the people of Gaza to be unloaded and sent there.

From Bernama JITRA, May 21 ( Bernama ) -- The Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) will continue with its mission to send humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza Strip despite its aid ship, the MV Finch, encountering a number of problems and obstacles. PGPF advisor Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir said the foundation had from the outset realised the risks involved in undertaking the endeavour. Mukhriz hoped that the cargo vessel, which had been blocked by Israeli forces from approaching Gaza, would be allowed to berth at the El-Arish port by the Egyptian authorities... ... "Food supplies have been brought to the ship but it's facing dwindling water supply," said Mukhriz. He expressed hope that the Egyptian authorities would be more considerate, given that the sole objective of the mission was to deliver much-needed humanitarian supplies to Gazans. "We also hope that Wisma Putra (Malaysian Foreign Ministry) would be able to help us out. We consider Egypt as a friend of ours,...

Egypt, despite promises to the contrary, has still not allowed MV Finch (Spirit of Rachel Corrie) to berth at El Arish. EL-ARISH (Egypt), May 20 ( Bernama ) -- Matthias Chang, 61, leader of the Malaysian humanitarian aid mission to Gaza has gone on a hunger strike since Thursday evening onboard the cargo ship, MV Finch, in protest against the refusal of the authorities here to allow the ship to enter El-Arish Port. The action was taken immediately after the Egyptian army turned away the vessel from the port area, according to Bernama reporter Mohd Faizal Hassan, who is among 12 passengers, including humanitarian activists, and crew members onboard the MV Finch via SMS Friday. more There is also a report in the Star which says that provisions were allowed on to the ship Friday morning: Perdana Global Peace Foundation spokesperson Shamsul Azhar thanked the Egyptian authorities for their assistance adding that the supplies, provided Friday morning, were currently sufficient... ... When a...