In spite of reports from Gaza Flotilla survivors who witnessed the carnage on the Mavi Marmara, that Israeli soldiers “were shooting to kill,” the Free Gaza Movement this morning announced that the second wave of ships headed by the MV Rachel Corrie is on its way to Gaza.
Cyprus, June 4, 2010
The Rachel Corrie is 150 miles away from Gaza in international waters and on her way. They will arrive on Saturday morning. The 1200 ton cargo ship is the last ship from the Freedom Flotilla and is loaded with construction materials, 20 tons of paper and many other supplies that Israel refuses to allow into the imprisoned people of Gaza.
Some of the High-Profile people on board:
Mairead Maguire and others holding a Palestinian flagMairead Maguire from Belfast, Ireland, a Nobel Peace Laureate (l976) and Co-founder of Peace People, Northern Ireland. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace and a nonviolent solution to the Ethnic/political conflict in Northern Ireland. Mairead went on the maiden Voyage of Dignity in October 2008, the second successful voyage for the Free Gaza Movement. She was also on Board `Spirit’ when Israel hijacked the Boat in International Waters, taking all 2l humanitarian passengers to Israel, where they were arrested, detained for a week in an Israeli prison and then deported.
Denis Halliday, from Ireland, a UN Assistant Secretary-General from 1994-98. Appointed by SG Boutros Ghali, he served as ASG UN Human Resources Management in New York and in mid 1997 to end 1998 as Head, Humanitarian Programme in Iraq to support the Iraqi people struggling under the genocidal impact of UN Sanctions. Since resigning from the UN in 1998, Halliday has delivered numerous parliamentary briefings, provided extensive media inputs and has given public/university lectures on Iraq, human rights, and the UN, in particular its reform.
Matthias Chang Wen Chieh is a Malaysian of Chinese descent. He is a Barrister of 32 years standing and once served as the Political Secretary to the Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. He is the author of three bestsellers, “Future Fast Forward”, “Brainwashed for War, Programmed to Kill”, and “The Shadow Money-Lenders and the Global Financial Tsunami”, published in the US and in Malaysia.
Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria,Perak, Malaysia, MP Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria is a Member of the Malaysian Parliament.
In addition, there is a three-member camera crew on board from Malaysia TV3 and journalis Shamsul Akmar bin Musa Kamal.
The passengers on board the ship have stated, “Communication is difficult and sometimes impossible and there are many rumors out there started by Israeli authorities, but there is no way we are going to Ashdod. We are, for sure, on our way to Gaza.”
Now we wait and see just how stupid Israel’s leaders can be.
Gaza Blockade: Israel Vows To Block Rachel Corrie, New Aid Ship
Huffinton Post relayed this morning:
Tweets from the WitnessGaza site:
about 3 hours ago Rachel Corrie on Her Way http://shar.es/mZ571
about 3 hours ago http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-mv-rachel-corrie
about 4 hours ago Turkey mourns murdered Gaza peace activists http://bit.ly/9cTU6C via @AddToAny
about 5 hours ago Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet – Middle East – Al Jazeera English: http://bit.ly/b70KZs via @addthis
about 6 hours ago Irish Foreign Minister said there is NO agreement between Ireland and Israel to unload cargo in Ashdod. NO AGREEMENT. Israel lies again
about 8 hours ago I favorited a YouTube video — USS Liberty : This month in history http://youtu.be/2ocIPKifV7I?a
about 9 hours ago Co-founder and webmaster of Electronic Intifada has created an inspired website supporting the flotilla: http://delegitimize.com #Flotilla
about 9 hours ago Under U.S. pressure, Netanyahu may ease Gaza blockade – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News: http://bit.ly/cK7M6u
http://witnessgaza.com/
Joe Biden, US Vice President, is an obsequious asshole (n/t).
The day the world became Gaza by Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 June 2010 tells us why movements about civil and human rights must come from ordinary people, and that applies to the IP conflict, and the Gaza situation, and what it is that drives these flotilla participants. Governments usually don’t give a damn.
Paul Woodward at Mondoweiss sent this along:
MV Rachel Corrie due to reach Gaza within hours. “The world is watching” — Mustafa Barghouthi
Denis Halliday is one of the most awesomely awesome people on the face of the earth. I had the honour of spending time with him one on one after I made a “daring rescue” when he was being besieged by a couple of over-zealous activists (seriously, it was like something out of a movie), and you will never meet a more honourable and down-to-earth person.
Hurria, you should begin writing more, more that is than comments. We would like to hear about such experiences.
Thanks, Shergald. It was really pretty simple. Denis was on a tour for the anti-Iraq Sanctions movement, and he had just completed his last event in our area where he had had wall to wall engagements. It was late at night, he was clearly exhausted, and there was a group of very aggressive activists who were subjecting him to a barrage of one thing after another, and would not let him go. The last thing was a phone interview with some local radio station. He was so committed that he would not say no. While he was on the phone I went to my car, drove it over the curb up onto the plaza of the building where he had been speaking, and left it with the motor running. When he finished the phone call I took his brief case, took him by the arm, and as the abusive activists approached him with the next demand I said very firmly “Denis has to go now”, quickly escorted him to my car, and drove off over the curb and into the street with one of the activists banging on the car and running after us. I don’t recall whether there was screeching of tires, but if not there should have been, just to add to the drama. He was, and still is one of my heroes, so it was beyond awesome to 1) have rescued him in such a silly, dramatic fashion, 2) to have one-on-one time with him to talk about his experiences, his views, and his commitment to fighting on behalf of the Iraqi people.
http://futurefastforward.com/books/47-the-shadow-money-lenders-and-the-global-financial-tsunami
“Now we wait and see just how stupid Israel’s leaders can be.”
Well, we know how stupid, because we had 8 years of experience with Bush/Cheney.
The Rachel Corrie has been stopped as of 11:30 tonight.
All I have to say is good. Israel said they would do this, and they have.
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Just read some comments to your diary.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Wishful thinking?
You have no source.
BBC posted one hour ago:
Since when have cheerleading of the Zionist states illegal attacks been an issue that someone described as an east coast moderate would support?
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Just for the fun of it, looking for the eastcoastmoderate …
Of the three, the Skull & Bones (of Yale University) was the earliest formed. ‘The Order’, as it is referred to by its members, bears the aura of secrecy and freemasonry, and is a bastion of White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) culture, wealth and influence. A partial list of its more prominent members reflects said influence: The Russell Family; Alphonso Taft; William Howard Taft (his son); Henry Lewis Stimson; Averell Harriman; Robert A Lovett (partner of merged Brown Brothers Harriman in1926); Harold Stanley (of Morgan Stanley); Robert A. Taft; Prescott Bush Snr.; George Herbert Walker Bush; G.W. Bush (current President); McGeorge Bundy (National Security Advisor to JFK); the Heinz family – et al. In other words, the ‘corporate establishment’, as it is more popularly known.
October 4, 1946: On the eve of Yom Kippur, President Truman issues a statement indicating United States support for the creation of a “viable Jewish state.”
February 14, 1947: The British government announces that it will refer the problem of the future of Palestine to the United Nations.
December 12, 1947: President Truman writes to Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the World Zionist Organization, that it is essential that restraint and tolerance be exercised by all parties if a peaceful settlement is to be reached in the Middle East.
Harry S. Truman Library: The Recognition of the State of Israel
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."They left out John Kerry.
Harriman was a Democrat as well.