Salma Yaqoob

I have just heard that my Respect colleague and Viva Palestina organiser Kevin Ovenden is in Istanbul, after being deported by the Israeli's. I look forward to seeing him soon. Kevin has issued this statement:

'The massacre on the Mavi Marmara must be a turning point. Passengers from 32 countries were murderously attacked by the Israeli forces.This is the Sharpeville and the Soweto of the movement for Palestinian solidarity. People of those countries around the world must now tell their governments that we are not prepared to continue to allow Israel to flout international law. The inhuman siege of Gaza must end now! The Israeli government has used terror for political ends, but we are not afraid. We who survived the Mavi Marmara massacre will redouble our efforts to bring humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine and end this siege.'

I have received no information yet about Ismail Patel, chair of the Leicester-based campaign Friends of Al-Aqsa, or Sarah Colbourne, campaigns officer of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.