Setting Sail to Break the Siege of Gaza
from Free Gaza, 6 May 2007
This summer – forty years after the Israeli seizure and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – international, Palestinian and Israeli civilians will sail to Gaza to challenge Israeli control and isolation of the 1.4 million Palestinians who live there. The project is intended to awaken the conscience of the nations of the world, who have turned their backs on a people whose human rights, welfare and very existence are being sacrificed to political expediency.
Israel says Gaza is no longer occupied, yet it denies Palestinians access to jobs, travel, visitors, commerce, education, health and medical care. Its military has turned the Gaza Strip into an open-air prison controlled by land, sea and air. As a result of draconian restrictions on access to the outside world, Palestinians live on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe. After 40 years of brutal Israeli occupation, it is time for Gaza to be free.
We choose to no longer wait for the United Nations to enforce its resolutions, for the world to do its humanitarian duty, or for Israel to respect human rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention. We choose to act upon those rights as free people, and declare our solidarity with the Palestinian people.
• We will not stand by while Israel besieges Gaza and denies Palestinians control over their own borders.
• We will not accept that the 1.4 million people of Gaza are trapped and starved, surrounded by 27-foot walls.
• We will not stand by as these civilians are daily terrorized by bombings, incursions, and abductions by Israeli armed forces.
We will not wait for Israel to allow Gaza to be free. We therefore choose to sail to this beleaguered territory and challenge Israel for imprisoning Palestinians, while pretending to the world that they are free. We choose nonviolent civil resistance against the unjust policies of occupation in order to show that everyone can participate in resisting injustice.
We therefore ask for your support and participation in this expression of caring and solidarity by joining us or by donating to this trip.
For online donations, or to send checks or wire transfers, click HERE And click on the SPONSOR A CHILD page
Write BREAKTHESIEGE on your donation. It will be held for the boat action: The Free Gaza Movement
Website: The Free Gaza Movement
Email: friends@freegaza.org
For more info, contact:
EU: Spain: +34.93.441.70.79
UK +44.77.39.14.70.95:
France: +33.60.73.74.512
US: Texas:01-512-779-6115
California: 01-510-236-5338
Midwest:01-816-805-7133