In the more than 600 days since the beginning of the Gaza war, and indeed over the course of many decades of fighting in the region, the international community has made all manner of efforts to try and end the Israel-Palestine conflict once and for all.
World leaders have repeatedly attempted the diplomatic solution. Sanctions have been imposed and court orders issued. Meanwhile, the media has done what it can to shed light on the bloodshed.
Yet until this month, nobody had thought to try what now seems like an obvious solution to a complex, never-ending situation in the Middle East: sending a convoy of optimistic foreign activists to simply walk across Egypt and straight into war-torn Gaza, where they can offer help, support and peace directly to those who need it most.
Would the Egyptian authorities be broadly OK with their country being used as a cut-through? Would locals be supportive of the cause? Would weather conditions in June in a famously hot, dry country lend themselves to a ramble? And would the activist group absolutely, definitely, be across the geography of the region?
All matters presumably deemed trifling and answered with a blanket “Yeah, I guess?” by the Global March for Gaza before it set off at the end of last week. And march they did, for a bit, some 4,000 of them hailing from more than 80 countries – including Britain, the USA, Canada and Ireland – laden with the best of intentions and, it turned out, the world’s most deluded travel plans.
In the more than 600 days since the beginning of the Gaza war, and indeed over the course of many decades of fighting in the region, the international community has made all manner of efforts to try and end the Israel-Palestine conflict once and for all.
World leaders have repeatedly attempted the diplomatic solution. Sanctions have been imposed and court orders issued. Meanwhile, the media has done what it can to shed light on the bloodshed.
Yet until this month, nobody had thought to try what now seems like an obvious solution to a complex, never-ending situation in the Middle East: sending a convoy of optimistic foreign activists to simply walk across Egypt and straight into war-torn Gaza, where they can offer help, support and peace directly to those who need it most.
Would the Egyptian authorities be broadly OK with their country being used as a cut-through? Would locals be supportive of the cause? Would weather conditions in June in a famously hot, dry country lend themselves to a ramble? And would the activist group absolutely, definitely, be across the geography of the region?
All matters presumably deemed trifling and answered with a blanket “Yeah, I guess?” by the Global March for Gaza before it set off at the end of last week. And march they did, for a bit, some 4,000 of them hailing from more than 80 countries – including Britain, the USA, Canada and Ireland – laden with the best of intentions and, it turned out, the world’s most deluded travel plans.