Typical passengers on the Free Gaza boats. Notice the many white haired activists among them.
According to the BBC, Two boats carrying members of a US-based pro-Palestinian group have arrived in the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli blockade of the territory.
Earlier, Israel authorities attempted to impose an electronic embargo on the boats en route to Gaza and this message was received from the Free Gaza boat crew:
A Statement from the International Human Rights Workers Aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, Sailing to Gaza
(10am, 23 August, 2008) At 10am this morning, the Cyprus team of the Free Gaza Movement was able to briefly speak with our people on board the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty. They are all fine, and they asked us to release the following statement:“The electronic systems which guarantee our safety aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty have been jammed and scrambled. Both ships are flying Greek flags, and are in international waters. We are the victims of electronic piracy. We are currently in GMS P area A2 and we are relying on our satellite communications equipment to make a distress call, if needed.
We are civilians from 17 nations and are on this project to break the siege of Gaza. We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board such an emergency develop.
We are currently experiencing rough sea conditions, and we call on the Greek government and the international community to meet their responsibilities and protect the civilians on board our two ships in international waters.”
The Free Gaza expedition leaving Cypress a day ago.
In spite of the electronic embargo to stop the boats, they arrived in Gaza.
Israel earlier said the boats would be let in, saying they would not be given the chance to have a “provocation at sea”. The boats left the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on Friday morning.
The Free Gaza protest group said about 40 activists from 14 countries were on board the boats to highlight the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in June 2007 when the militant group Hamas took control of the territory by force.
Since then, Israel has allowed in little more than basic humanitarian aid as a means of isolating Hamas and persuading militant groups to stop firing rockets into Israel. The closure of Gaza’s borders by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities has also meant that very few Gazans have been able to leave. Such collective punishment of a population is contrary to international law, the kind of thing that Nazis imposed in Italy, by murdering 10 innocent civilians for every German soldier killed by the resistance.
‘No provocation’
Before Free Gaza’s boats set sail on Friday, the Israeli foreign ministry had said they wanted the activists to steer clear of the Gazan coastline, which it said was “the subject of an [Israeli Navy] advisory notice” that warns off foreign vessels from the “designated maritime zone”. But on Saturday, an Israeli spokesman said they would be allowed in. “They wanted provocation at sea, but they won’t get it,” foreign ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron told the AFP news agency.
“We know who the passengers are and what they are bringing with them and so we have no problem letting them through.”
The two Free Gaza vessels, named Liberty and Free Gaza, are carrying 200 hearing aids for children and 5,000 balloons.
“No matter what happens we have already achieved our goal by proving that ordinary citizens with ordinary means can mobilize a defense of human rights for Palestinians,” organiser Paul Larudee told the AFP news agency.
“We want people to see the Palestinian problem as one of human rights, not feeding them rice,” he added.
The activists on board the boats include not only Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair, but left-wing Greek MP Tasos Kourakis, Jeff Halper, Founder of Israel Committee Against House Demolition, a favorite ethnic cleansing technique, an 84 year-old Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, and an 81 year-old nun, yet to be identified.
Interestingly, whereas the BBC took notice of this peace effort, NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX News still maintain a censorship of any peace activism against the continuing Israeli occupation/colonization effort. Fox did note, however, that another 100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza yesterday by the Barak Killing Machine, most of them innocent civilians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended peace talks in protest of an Israeli military offensive that killed the more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza. He called for the Israeli government “to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008.”
The BBC, but not the American media, also noted that the Truce barely eases Gaza embargo.
By Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Gaza Strip
For over a year, Israel has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid into Gaza, as a means of isolating Hamas and stopping militants firing rockets into Israel. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas two months ago was meant to lead to the easing of restrictions, but progress has been slow, and frustration is rising.
In the dank basement of one of Gaza’s sewage pumping stations, raw sewage sprays out of leaks in the rusting metal work. “It’s affecting our port, it’s affecting the fishermen, it’s affecting the fish we eat and the people swimming in the sea,” says Mr Najjar.
Economy paralysed
“What can I do, I have to make money from the sea,” he says. “You’ve seen Gaza, there are no jobs, I can’t worry about my health.”
(Since the Gaza takeover by Hamas (i.e., the failure of the US-Israeli backed Fatah military coup, truckloads of essential supplies are less than a quarter of what they were previously. See the BBC article)
Since the ceasefire began, the fighting with Israel has died down, but the strict sanctions remain. Most of the one-and-a-half million people living in Gaza are now reliant on food aid, and are unable to enter or leave the strip. Over the last year, tens of thousands of people in Gaza have lost their jobs. Most industrial operations have stopped because raw materials are not being allowed into the territory, or produced goods allowed out for export.
“I thought things would improve with the ceasefire, and that more things would be allowed into Gaza, but nothing changed, nothing changed at all.”
Industry is undoubtedly still suffering badly, and local economists say it will take years to recover, even if freedom of movement of goods and people were to be granted immediately.
The siege of Gaza continues. May the Free Gaza Movement succeed in reducing the starvation, malnutrition, and economic desperation that Israel has imposed on the Gaza Palestinians, while the military occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem goes merrily on.
UPDATE from the Israel Committee Against House Demolition
At approximately 6:10pm local time, the Free Gaza Movement’s two boats made port in Gaza. ICAHD’s Jeff Halper was among the 40+ activists from around the world who made this historic journey.
Today Jeff Halper was part of an international effort to break the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip. Despite death threats, intimidation from the Israeli government, and electronic jamming during the voyage, the two boats of the Free Gaza Movement made port in Gaza.The boats, the S.S. Liberty and the S.S. Free Gaza, carried 46 peace activists from all over the world including Jeff, and 81 year old Catholic nun, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth, and many others including Hedy Epstein, am 84 year-old Holocaust survivor. They carried with them hearing aids for children who have suffered hearing loss from the Israeli air force’s sonic overflights of the Gaza Strip and biodegradable balloons for Gazan children.
The organizers hope their effort will open up a route of contact for Gaza through Cyprus. Over the next several hours and days, please monitor their website, freegaza.org, for updates. We will also be posting updates at icahdusa.org.
Below are links to news reports of the trip and arrival in Gaza as well as the just-issued press release from the Free Gaza Movement.
This inspiring effort once again reminds us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things in the service of human rights and international law.
In solidarity,
Elyse Crystal
Coordinating Director, ICAHD-USA
Here are some articles of interest. Notably absent is the American press.
Peace protest boats arrive in Gaza – The Guardian
Israel allows blockade busting boats enter Gaza – Ha’aretz
On a mission to free Gaza – The Scotsman
Boats reach Gaza despite blockade – Al Jazeera
Activist boats reach Gaza Strip – BBC
Free Gaza Boats Arrive In Gaza
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Two small boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, successfully landed in Gaza early this evening, breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The boats were crewed by a determined group of international human rights workers from the Free Gaza Movement. They had spent two years organizing the effort, raising money by giving small presentations at churches, mosques, synagogues, and in the homes of family, friends, and supporters. They left Cyprus on Thursday morning, sailing over 350 kilometers through choppy seas. They made the journey despite threats that the Israeli government would use force to stop them. They continued sailing although they lost almost all communications and navigation systems due to outside jamming by some unknown party. They arrived in Gaza to the cheers and joyful tears of hundreds of Palestinians who came out to the beaches to welcome them. Two small boats, 42 determined human rights workers, one simple message: “The world has not forgotten the people of this land. Today, we are all from Gaza .” Tonight, the cheering will be heard as far away as Tel Aviv and Washington D.C.
QUOTES FOR PUBLICATION
“We recognize that we’re two, humble boats, but what we’ve accomplished is to show that average people from around the world can mobilize to create change. We do not have to stay silent in the face of injustice. Reaching Gaza today, there is such a sense of hope, and hope is what mobilizes people everywhere.”–Huwaida Arraf.
Huwaida is Palestinian-American, and also a citizen of Israel. She’s a human rights activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. In 2007 she received her Juris Doctor from American University in Washington D.C. Currently she teaches Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Al Quds University in Jerusalem. Huwaida sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Liberty.
“We’re the first ones in 41 years to enter Gaza freely – but we won’t be the last. We welcome the world to join us and see what we’re seeing.”–Paul Larudee, Ph.D. Paul is a cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement and a San Francisco Bay Area activist on the issue of justice in Palestine. He sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Liberty.
“What we’ve done shows that people can do what governments should have done. If people stand up against injustice, we can truly be the conscience of the world.”–Jeff Halper, Ph.D. Jeff is an Israeli professor of anthropology and coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a non-violent Israeli peace and human rights organization that resists the Israeli occupation on the ground. In 2006, the American Friends Service Committee nominated Jeff to receive the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Palestinian intellectual and activist Ghassan Andoni. Jeff sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Free Gaza.