On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos brutally attacked Freedom Flotilla 1, killing eight Turkish and one American passenger on board the Mavi Marmara, most having been killed at close range, execution style. They injured more than 50 other passengers, both on the Mavi Marmara and on the other four boats sailing to the embattled territory of Gaza to bring the attention of the world to Israel’s illegal blockade of 1.6 million Palestinians. Not only were our passengers murdered and maimed, but the Israeli government has refused to return over $1 million in money and equipment, including cameras and videos which are of evidential value.

See the Uribe report

In the 15 months since Israel’s unwarranted attack on five boats carrying human rights watchers, Israel has been trying to spin the story that their well-armed soldiers were the victims and we were the aggressors. Several reports have already been written, most squarely blaming Israel for its attack on unarmed civilians.

The UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission took evidence from 112 eyewitnesses, reviewed forensic evidence, including autopsy reports and inspected the Mavi. It found that, because a humanitarian crisis exists in Gaza, Israel’s blockade is ulawful and ‘cannot be sustained in law…regardless of the grounds” used as justification. Israel’s blockade is collective punishment and in violation of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, inflicting civilian damage disproportionate to any military advantage. Therefore, since Freedom Flotilla 1 neither presented an imminent threat to Israel nor was designed to contribute to any war effort against Israel, intercepting the flotilla was ‘clearly unlawful’ and could not be justified as self-defense.
Israel refused to cooperate with this UN panel even though the United Nations and governments all around the world called for just such an independent investigation of the events.

Instead, the Israeli government set up its own investigatory panel, The Turkel Commission, led by Israeli retired Supreme Court Judge Jacob Turkel and three other Israelis issued a report on January 23, 2011 exonerating the commandos, then saying the blockade was legal. The commission did not interview a single passenger or crew member from any of the boats but only received testimony from the Israeli military.

On January 28, 2011, Amnesty International condemned the Turkel findings as no more than a whitewash. “Despite being nearly 300 pages long, the report crucially fails to explain how the activists died and what conclusions the Commission reached regarding the IDF’s specific actions in each case.”

Free Gaza shares Amnesty International’s analysis that the conflict between the Israeli armed forces and unarmed civilians was NOT armed conflict, making international humanitarian law (IHL) the wrong framework; international human rights law and law enforcement norms should have been applied, which would have made the use of force – and especially lethal force –an act of last resort.

Now there is the Palmer/Uribe report due to be released tomorrow, which apparently adopts the same faulty IHL framework.

According to Audrey Bomse, Board member and Legal Adviser to Free Gaza : “If the leaks we’ve heard from Israeli officials are correct, the holes in this report are big enough to sail a flotilla of ships through. There are serious problems with the Panel’s composition, mandate and legal analysis. But most disturbing of all is the fact that the Secretary General’s Panel apparently condones Israel’s gross violations of the human and national rights of the Palestinian people and the rights of those in solidarity with them.”

The Panel has 4 members, one from Israel and one from Turkey, plus Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand and ex-president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. The choice of Uribe as vice-chairman is suspect, given his intimate association with the military and paramilitary practice of murdering civilians in Colombia. The Panel, was only tasked to review the reports of the national investigations by Turkey and Israel (the Turkel Committee), not to conduct an in-depth objective investigation. Its ultimate goal, was to “positively affect the relationship between Turkey and Israel.”

International humanitarian law (IHL, the law of armed conflict) is the wrong legal framework to be used as the basis for judging the lawfulness of the actions taken by Israel both against the civilian population of Gaza (the blockade) and against those resisting the boarding of the MM. The conflict between the Israeli navy and unarmed civilians on the Mavi Marmara was not armed conflict. International human rights law and law enforcement norms should have been applied, which would have made the use of force – and especially lethal force –an act of last resort. Nor should the legality of the blockade of occupied Gaza be analyzed in the framework of the law of armed conflict.

If indeed the Uribe Report has concluded that the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza – a serious measure of war – is legal and in accordance with international law, then this Report will contradict numerous other UN reports and resolutions, most recently that of the Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission, on the issue of the legality of the Gaza siege.

As the Human Rights Council Fact‐Finding Mission observed, “public confidence in any investigative process … is not enhanced when the subject of the investigation either investigates himself or plays a pivotal role in the process.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian lawyer with American and Israeli citizenship. In 2001 Huwaida co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Huwaida is co-author of “Peace Under Fire: Israel, Palestine, and the International Solidarity Movement.” She taught in a human rights law clinic at Al-Quds University, the first legal clinic in the Arab World. She was one of the initiators and organizers of a delegation of American lawyers to Gaza in February 2009, and co-edited the report on their findings. Huwaida is currently the Chairperson of the Free Gaza Movement. Since August 2008, she has led 5 successful sea voyages to the Gaza Strip. She was one of the primary organizers of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, traveling with it when it was lethally attacked by Israeli forces on 31 May 2010.

تحمل المحامية الفلسطينية هويدا عراف الجنسيتين الأميركية والإسرائيلية. وقد ساهمت في العام 2001 في تأسيس “حركة التضامن الدولي” التي تم ترشيحها مرتين لنيل جائزة نوبل للسلام. كما شاركت في تأليف كتاب ‫”السلام تحت النار : إسرائيل وفلسطين وحركة التضامن الدولي‫.” وفي سنة 2009 قامت بالتدريس في عيادة قانونية لحقوق الإنسان في جامعة القدس في القدس، وهي أول عيادة قانونية في العالم العربي. وكانت قد بادرت مع مجموعة من الأشخاص في تنظيم انتقال وفد من المحامين الأميركيين إلى غزة في فبراير/شباط 2009، فأخذت على عاتقها تحرير تقرير تقصي الحقائق الذي يعرض النتائج التي توصلوا إليها. ترأس هويدا في الوقت الراهن حركة غزة الحرة‫، وقد قادت منذ أغسطس/آب 2008 خمس رحلات بحرية ناجحة إلى القطاع. هذا بالإضافة إلى كونها أحد المنظمين الرئيسين لأسطول الحرية الذي هدف إلى فك الحصار عن غزة وكانت على متنه حين تعرض إلى هجوم مميت من قبل القوات الإسرائيلية في 31 مايو‫/أيار 2010.

Freedom Flotilla 2 is setting sail to Gaza soon. Despite claims that the flotilla is not needed because “Rafah is now open”, the people of Gaza are still trapped and suffocated by Israel’s cruel blockade. Please watch this short video and share it far & wide to spread awareness about our action and why Gaza and all of Palestine needs us!

A video to inspire the international community and continue the support for the Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sign the petition and get updated news about the Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human

We are writing to ask for your support for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla scheduled to set sail in the second half of June to the besieged Gaza strip. You can help prevent an assault on the nonviolent activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza by signing on to our petition.

At least ten ships with dignitaries, doctors, professors, artists, journalists, and activists, as well as construction supplies and humanitarian aid, will sail from ports in Europe to Gaza in an act of non-violent civil disobedience to persuade the international community to fulfill its obligations towards the Palestinian people and end Israel’s four-year illegal blockade of Gaza.

This is the second, large-scale citizen-to-citizen flotilla to be launched by international grassroots groups. Organized by 14 national groups and international coalitions, the flotilla will carry approximately 1,000 passengers. It will include a US boat named The Audacity of Hope, which will have aboard dozens of dedicated social justice activists. Learn more about the US Boat to Gaza.

The last Freedom Flotilla in May 2010 included seven vessels carrying nearly 700 passengers from 36 different countries. Israeli commandos attacked the boats, shooting and killing nine passengers, injuring over 50 and imprisoning all aboard.This tragedy opened the subject of Gaza on the world stage and put considerable pressure on Israel to ease the draconian siege on Gaza – something the international community had failed to do for 3 years. Learn more about the Free Gaza Movement and support their efforts.

We ask you to sign this petition to show the overwhelming public support for an end to siege of Gaza and the rights for Palestinians. We also demand that the American administration apply pressure on Israel to ensure that passengers are not violently attacked and to allow the flotilla to sail to Gaza.

Petition Letter: Freedom Flotilla to Gaza

Dear President Obama,

We demand that the US government apply political pressure on Israel to ensure that passengers aboard the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza are not violently attacked by the Israeli military.

The Freedom Flotilla II, to sail in late June, will hold around 1,000 passengers demanding for an end to the draconian siege on Gaza. International organizations, including the United Nations, have condemned the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Your administration must pressure Israel to uphold international law and allow the Flotilla to pass to Gaza.

Around 50 American social justice activists will partake in this mission aboard a boat named, The Audacity of Hope. We ask for your support in ensuring their safety on this passage.

A year ago this month, Israel shocked the world when it attacked a humanitarian convoy on its way to Gaza in international waters, killing 9 civilians, injuring dozens more, and kidnapping hundreds. Today — as Hamas and Fatah negotiate internal unity and Egypt moves to permanently open Gaza’s southern border, consequences of the Arab Spring — the international solidarity movement musters an even greater flotilla of ships to challenge Israel’s illegal actions against the Palestinians. As anticipated, Israel promises to do everything it can to once again stop an organized, nonviolent force of civil society standing with Palestinians in their struggle for equal rights and self-determination.

Threatening to hijack boats in international waters and kill or kidnap passengers is, of course, a serious crime. But Israel’s threats and actual uses of force are nothing new. For decades, Israel has been hijacking international vessels throughout the Mediterranean and kidnapping or killing passengers. To understand the current situation involving civil resistance to Israeli policy, a glance at Israel’s aggressive history in international waters is in order.

In 1976, according to Knesset member Mattiyahu Peled, the Israeli Navy began to capture boats belonging to Lebanese Muslims — turning them over to Lebanese Christian allies, who killed the owners — in an effort to abort a movement towards reconciliation that had been arranged between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel.

Then after a prisoner exchange in November 1983, a front-page story in the New York Times mentioned 37 Arab prisoners who had been held at the notorious Ansar prison camp, and who “had been seized recently by the Israeli Navy as they tried to make their way from Cyprus to Tripoli [Lebanon].”

In June, 1984, Israel hijacked a ferryboat operating between Cyprus and Lebanon five miles off the Lebanese coast with a burst of machinegun fire and forced it to Haifa, where nine people were removed and held, including one woman and a schoolboy returning from England for a holiday in Beirut. Two passengers were released two weeks later, while the fate of the others remained unreported.

In its report on the Israeli “interception” (more accurately, hijacking) of the ferryboat, the Times observes that prior to the 1982 war, “the Israeli Navy regularly intercepted ships bound for or leaving ports of Tyre and Sidon in the south and searched them for guerillas,” as usual accepting Israeli claims at face value. Syrian “interception” of civilian Israeli ships on a similar pretext might be regarded a bit differently.

On April 25, 1985, several Palestinians were kidnapped from civilian boats operating between Lebanon and Cyprus and sent to secret destinations in Israel, a fact that became public knowledge (in Israel) when one was interviewed on Israeli television, leading to an appeal to the High Court of Justice for information; presumably there were others, unknown.

In late-July 1985, Israeli gunboats attacked a Honduran-registered cargo ship a mile from the port of Sidon, delivering cement according to its Greek captain, setting it ablaze with 30 shells and wounding civilians in subsequent shore bombardment when militiamen returned the fire. The mainstream press did not even bother to report that the following day Israeli gunboats sank a fishing boat and damaged three others, while a Sidon parliamentarian called on the UN to end U.S.-backed Israeli “piracy.”

It is considered Israel’s prerogative to carry out hijacking of ships and kidnappings, at will — with the approval of opinion in the United States — whatever the facts may be.

When a popular nonviolent uprising by Palestinians in the occupied territories began in December 1987, Israel responded with harsh violence, mass beatings and deportations. After Israel ignored a January 1988 United Nations Security Council resolution calling on the state to “ensure the safe and immediate return” of deportees, the PLO organized a Ship of Return for 130 deportees to sail from Cyprus to Israel. More than five hundred international supporters and journalists also intended to sail — including Israelis who risked arrest for boarding the ship.

Menacing reactions to the ship plans by Israeli heads of state were reported and passed without comment by the major media. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir called the planned voyage “a declaration of war” — remarking the ship would be carrying “murderers (and) terrorists” — while Defense Minister Rabin added that Israel was “compelled not to let [the organizers] achieve their purpose, and we will do that in whatever ways we find.”

Following Israel’s vows to prevent the voyage, the ship was bombed in port before sailing. After the explosion, the Times quoted an Israeli Transport Ministry official who remarked that, should another ship attempt to sail against Israel’s will, “its fate will be the same.”

The next attempt came twenty years later, in August 2008. This time it was the newly formed Free Gaza Movement, a group of international Palestinian solidarity activists, who decided to gather ships to violate Israel’s criminal siege of Gaza, imposed after Hamas was democratically elected in January 2006. Shortly before the ships sailed, leading Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported on discussions of defense officials who concluded that “allowing the ships to reach the Gaza Coastline could create a dangerous precedent.”

Despite Israel’s threats to stop the voyage, two small fishing boats, “Free Gaza” and “Liberty,” successfully reached the Gaza coast, becoming the first vessels to reach Gazan shores in over 41 years. The Free Gaza movement would organize four more successful sea voyages to Gaza over the next four months. During and in the months following Israel’s massive 22-day assault on Gaza in December-January 2008-09, which killed more than 1400 people, Israeli naval forces violently thwarted three Free Gaza vessels, culminating with Israel’s massacre of civilians aboard the Gaza Freedom flotilla last May.

Israel has arrested, beaten, gassed, tortured, deported and killed internationals — essentially a taste of the measures it inflicts daily against the Palestinians. But nothing has succeeded in deterring the international solidarity movement from resisting Israel’s violence and aggression, and nonviolently supporting the Palestinian freedom struggle. Despite the impunity with which Israel operates, thanks to firm U.S. support and participation, civil resistance to Israel’s actions continues to grow exponentially.

International law looks good on paper, but its enforcement requires political will. As the Civil Rights and other social change movements in the United States and elsewhere have shown, citizen action is an important part of creating political will, limited only by the choice to act. People acting together in the name of freedom, human rights, and democracy, can constitute a powerful force that even the most oppressive regimes cannot withstand.

The success of the next flotilla — and all those to follow — will largely depend on the will and choice of the international community to resist U.S.-backed Israeli crimes in the occupied territories and on the sea — and to stand with Palestinians until the death and the suffering ends and a lasting and honorable peace is achieved.

Less than two weeks after losing another friend and comrade, Juliano Mer-Khamis, I now have to mourn and remember my fellow Free Gaza shipmate Vittorio (Vik) Arrigoni, who was brutally murdered last night by religious extremists in Gaza (and who actually resembled Juliano, physically, in his buoyant personality and in his insistence on “being there” when the oppressed needed him).

Vik was truly a person greater than life. He was so filled with energy, a mixture of joy, camaraderie and impatience with the confines of boats and prisons like Gaza, that he would suddenly lift you into the air, or wrestle with you – he was a big, strong, handsome guy, ebullient and smiling even in the most oppressive and dangerous situations – as if to tell you: Yalla! These Israel naval ships shooting at us and the Palestinian fisherman cannot prevail over our solidarity, outrage and the justice of our cause! (Vik was wounded in one of those confrontations). He would come up behind you and say: The Occupation will fall just like this! (and he would wrestle you to the ground, laughing and playing with you as he did).

Vik, who like me received Palestinian citizenship and a passport when we broke the siege of Gaza and sailed into Gaza port in August, 2008, was a peace-maker exemplar. Though having a family in Italy, he cast his lot with the Palestinians (with his whole heart, as was his wont. On his facebook page is written: “lives in Gaza”). He was especially known for accompanying the fishermen as they tried to ply their trade despite almost daily shootings at them from the Israeli navy, who confined them to the fished-out, sewage-filled waters near the Gaza coast. At least eighteen fishermen have been killed in the past decade, about 200 injured, many boats wrecked and much equipment ruined. But he was intimately involved wherever he was needed in Gaza, among the farmers as well as traumatized children, in times of distress – his book, Gaza: Stay Human, documents his experiences among the people during Israel’s three-week attack in 2008-09 – and simply being with the people in their coffee shops and homes.

When it was learned he was kidnapped, hundreds of appeals rose spontaneously not only from the international peace community but especially from a distraught Palestinian population in Gaza. A memorial service will be held today in Gaza City and other parts of the Occupied Territories.

Vik worked in the West Bank as well as Gaza, and was jailed three times before being expelled by Israel. But his peace work did not take the form of activism alone. Vik was a master of communication – physical, verbal, written (his blog, Guerrilla Radio, was one of the most popular in Italy) – and he mixed personal experiences, reportage and analysis effortlessly.

Vik was what we call a “witness”: someone who put himself physically with the oppressed and shared with them their triumphs, tragedies, sufferings and hopes. Yet he was one who through his actions tried to affect genuine change. His last message on my facebook page was: “No-fly zone over Palestine.” He, like Juliano, Rachel, Tom and so many other internationals who have sacrificed themselves for peace and justice in Palestine and the world over, leave a huge hole in our hearts, our lives and in the struggle.

I’ll miss you, man. But every time I feel tired or discouraged, I’ll feel you lifting me up over your head and, with your huge smile and laughter, threatening to throw me overboard if I even hesitate in throwing myself into the fight. You were and are the earth-force of the struggle against injustice. You will always hold us up and inspire us. Like the Palestinian fishermen you loved so much, we and all others fighting for the fundamentals of life throughout the world commit ourselves to seeing your vision through.

Ciao, friend.

Vittorio Arrigoni

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Palestinians across the Gaza strip and the West Bank will join today in mourning slain activist Vittorio Arrigoni. People will gather both in the Al Manara square in Ramallah and at Al Jundi al Majhull, the unknown soldier park, in Gaza City. Mourners will be received by the ISM, local popular committees, and BDS and civil society activists.

Gaza
16.00, Al Jundi AL Majhoul – demonstration will move towards al Jundi al Majhoul, the unknown soldier park. A mourning tent will open at the fisherman’s port Al Mina al Sayadeen

Ramallah
16.00, Al Manara square – gathering to commemorate Vittorio
The crowd will then march to Al Bireh where mourners can pay their respect at an event held at the Al Bireh Municipality hall.

Further events will take place across the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Protest demonstrations have taken place following the Friday prayer across from the UN headquarters in Gaza. The villages of Bil’in and Al Masara have dedicated their weekly demonstrations to Vittorio today. Tomorrow in Nablus the Popular Committee called for a commemoration with political parties in the center of the city condemning Vittorio’s killing and celebrating his work.

Vittorio was active in the Palestine cause for almost 10 years. For the past two and a half years, he was in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement, monitoring human rights violations by Israel, supporting the Palestinian popular resistance against the Israeli occupation and disseminating information about the situation in Gaza to his home country of Italy and around the world.

He was aboard the siege-breaking voyage in 2008 with the Free Gaza Movement. During Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza know as Operation Cast Lead Vittorio assisted medics and reported to the world what Israel was doing to the Palestinian people. He was arrested numerous times by Israeli forces for his participation in Palestinian non-violent resistance in the West Bank and Gaza. His last arrest and deportation from the area came as a result of the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian fishing vessels in Gazan territorial waters.

Vittorio frequently wrote on the issue of Palestine for the Italian newspaper, IL Manifesto and Peacereporter and was vocal in the issue of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

Khaleel Shaheen, of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and a friend of Vittorio’s in Gaza says:

What has happened today is a black day in Palestinian history. The horrific murder of our friend Vittorio is totally condemned. We ask the local authorities to bring the criminals to justice as soon as possible. He is in our minds always. He is a hero of Palestine.

For more information please contact:
Huwaida Arraf – 00972 598 336 215
Joe Catrone (Gaza) – 00972 59 530 8666
Inge Neefs (Gaza) – 00972 597 738 436
Khaleel Shaheen (Gaza) – 00972 599 691 134
Nathan Stuckey (Gaza) – 00972 597 650 864
Silvia Todescini – Italian (Gaza) – 00972 595 447 660

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vittorio Arrigoni

(April 14, 2011) – Today, our friend and colleague, Vittorio Arrigoni, a journalist and human rights defender working in the Gaza Strip, was kidnapped in Gaza.

Vittorio has been active in the Palestine cause for almost 10 years. For the past two and a half years, he has been in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement, monitoring human rights violations by Israel, supporting the Palestinian popular resistance against the Israeli occupation and disseminating information about the situation in Gaza to his home country of Italy. He was aboard the siege-breaking voyage in 2008 with the Free Gaza Movement and was incarcerated in Israeli prisons several times. He was in Gaza throughout Israel’s brutal assault (Operation Cast Lead), assisting medics and reporting to the world what Israel was doing to the Palestinian people. He has been arrested numerous times by Israeli forces for his participation in Palestinian non-violent resistance in the West Bank and Gaza. His last arrest and deportation from the area was a result of the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian fishing vessels in Gazan territorial waters.

Vittorio frequently writes on the issue of Palestine for the Italian newspaper, IL Manifesto and Peacereporter. Additionally, he maintains a popular blog and Facebook page.

Khalil Shaheen, a friend of Vittorio and Head of the Economic and Social Rights Department at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said, “This is outside of our traditions. We are calling for the immediate release of my best friend. Vittorio Arrigoni is a hero of Palestine. He was available everywhere to support all the poor people, the victims. I’m calling on the local authorities here in Gaza, and all security departments, to do their best to guarantee his safety and immediate release.”

Vittorio was granted honorary citizenship for his work on promoting the cause of the Palestinian people. Members of Gazan civil society are demanding his release; tomorrow at 4:00pm there will be a mass demonstration in Jundi Square.

Press Stories

• Al Jazeera English: Group kidnaps Italian activist in Gaza
• Ma’an: Italian national kidnapped in Gaza
• CNN: Italian activist and journalist kidnapped in Gaza
• BBC: Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni abducted in Gaza
• NY Times: Italian Peace Activist Kidnapped in Gaza
• Haaretz: Pro-Palestinian group: Activist kidnapped by Gaza Islamists
• Ynet: Italian activist abducted in Gaza

Athens – The Freedom Flotilla 2 Steering Committee met in Athens 9 and 10 April to continue preparations for the upcoming flotilla. Since the last meeting in Amsterdam, Israel has launched an international campaign of incitement against the Flotilla and its coalition members who are participating from around the world.

The Greek Ship to Gaza hosted this international meeting and emphasized that the Greek government has failed until now to pressure Israel to release the two Greek boats hijacked from international waters and held in Israel since 31st May 2010. The Greek Ship to Gaza has complied with all of the roadblocks put into place by Israel in order to bring back its ships, but our efforts have been to no avail. The Greek government should have pressured Israel to release immediately the ships, as Israel did for the Turkish ships in August, 2010.

Now, on the eve of the second Freedom Flotilla 2 voyage, the Israeli government is threatening to attack us again. As occurred last year before the first Freedom Flotilla, Israeli leaders are busy developing an atmosphere of hostility that should leave no doubt as to their intentions if and when they illegally attack this civilian flotilla.

Therefore, we are calling on all our governments, the international community and the United Nations not to succumb to Israel’s intimidation. Governments need to fulfill their ‘responsibility to protect’ their own citizens. The threats against the Flotilla are not just at sea, but also in our home countries, as Israeli agencies are targeting individual groups and personalities. Flotilla partners insist that their governments take preemptive action to assure that Israel will not use force to interfere with this peaceful international effort to secure Palestinian human rights, human dignity and humanitarian assistance.

On May 10, Freedom Flotilla 2 partners will go to the European Parliament for meetings with MEPs as well as the United Nations and other international bodies, and to present Freedom Flotilla 2 and its goals. In addition to the partner organizations, there will also be participants from more than 50 countries on board the ships. This past week the European Jews for a Just Peace announced that they will join the Flotilla as a delegation and in sending humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

We are putting Israel on notice…
We are Coming
We are Unarmed
We are Civilian
You have no right to threaten us
We expect to reach Gaza without any Interference.

A press conference organised in anticipation of the Almathea aid ship

In a press conference at the port of Gaza city yesterday government officials, fishing associations, non-governmental organisations and civil society groups reiterated their support for the attempts by international activists to break the Israeli siege of Gaza by sea.

Yesterday (July 14^th 2010) many people amassed at the Gazan port to urge on the latest attempt by activists to enter the strip, this time by a Libyan chartered aid ship. It was the first serious attempt to enter Gaza by sea since the horrifying attack by the Israeli navy on the Free Gaza Flotilla and the Mavi Marmara which saw 9 Turkish activists killed.

Mahfouz Kabariti, President of Palestine Sailing Federation and Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime Sports, was communicating with the Amalthea as it neared Gazan waters: “The last contact we had with them was at midnight and since then communication was cut by the Israeli navy. They told us the boat was surrounded by Israeli gunships, but that they were determined to attempt to dock in Gaza and not take the option offered by the Egyptian government to dock in El Arish.”

According to Mahfouz the roll of the Freedom Flotilla missions are two-fold: “First is the arrival with aid, and materials such as construction supplies still banned by the blockade. The second is to put a spotlight on the suffering of the people here. Even if they are attacked, the second message highlights even more the extent to which Israel will go to keep us in Gaza isolated from the rest of the world with this illegal blockade of our people.”

Amjad Shawa, Gaza Coordinator for Palestinian NGOs: "It is not enough to demand some kind of minor reduction of this illegal siege."

As well as government representatives and the Popular Committee to Break the Siege, Amjad Shawa, Gaza Coordinator for  Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations (PNGO) was present. He emphasised the importance of international civil society persisting in trying to break the siege.

The need is especially acute because so far Israel’s response has only been to reduce the blockade on Gaza by a tiny fraction. The European Union, the United Nations, countless human rights groups and the International Committee for the Red Cross have all expressed the need for a return to the free flow of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip. This must include construction materials which are sorely needed to help rebuild the 17,000 houses severely damaged in the 3 week attack over the New Year period of 2009 that left over 1500 dead including over 400 children.

“Nothing has changed here,” says Amjad. “Just some more consumer products…but 80% of the people here still depend on humanitarian aid. It is not enough to demand some kind of minor reduction of this illegal siege. But we are thankful that the siege on Gaza has not been forgotten, and that our people are still in the minds of the world. These kinds of solidarity actions are very important for Gazans, we see that others share with us the values of justice and the principals of human rights.”

A Gaza resident holding pictures of Saif al-Islam Gadhafi - whose charity sponsored the aid ship - and his father, Libyan leader Muammar Gadhaf

When asked about the role of the international community to pressure Israel, Amjad is more critical: “We are so sorry that the international community until now has made no real intervention, put no real pressure on Israel to lift the siege totally or exerted pressure on Israel to have a transparent and accountable international inquiry into the Israeli crimes on the freedom flotillas.

“Still today we’re waiting for real international pressure from the international community.  We hope that Israel will not use this silence as a chance to commit more crimes against the Palestinian people and international solidarity workers.”

The Libyan chartered boat was eventually forced to dock in El Arish, Egypt, after a wall of Israeli gunboats blocked its passage through to Gaza.  But the Palestinians remain heartened by these attempts and the further missions planned this September. Says Mahfouz: “People here feel grateful to those internationals who try to arrive at the Gaza beach, it’s so important to us that other people worry and support us.”