Palestine activists call on the international community to keep pressuring Israel to end the blockade of Gaza after the Freedom Waves flotilla was assaulted by Israel in international waters.
Gaza — Palestinian activists have condemned the Israeli navy’s assault on the Freedom Waves to Gaza flotilla in international waters.
Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American human rights activist said, “This kind of violent, irrational behavior by Israel is similar to that which we see in other brutal regimes that are being challenged by the people. It’s important that we don’t give into this violence and that we keep taking to the sea, to the air, to the streets, to prove that violence and military might is not more powerful than the rights that we are fighting for.”
The 27 activists and journalists aboard the boats were taken, against their will, to the Israeli port of Ashdod where they were put in the custody of local police. Benny Gantz, the Israeli army Chief of Staff gave the order to board the two boats, which were carrying US$30,000 worth of medical supplies, at around 3:15pm, Gaza time, after Israeli naval vessels had tailed them for nearly two hours.
The flotilla crew was first contacted by the Israeli naval around 1:35pm and radio communication was later established. When asked for details of their destination, crew of the flotilla responded with “the betterment of mankind.” Israeli forces then directed the flotilla to redirect to Turkey, Egypt, or the Israeli port of Ashdod. Flotilla members refused and their boats were boarded and commandeered by the Israeli navy, who led the boats to Ashdod, regardless.
Jehan Al Farra, a Palestinian blogger and student explained, “The flotilla’s arrival would have meant a lot for Gaza. The attempt itself reminds us that there are efforts to break the siege, declaring it illegal and to make the world aware of what is happening here. Remember that just because the siege has been ‘eased’ that doesn’t make it any less illegal.”
On 30 May 2010, just five miles away from today’s assault, nine activists were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara boat as their vessel was intercepted and attacked by the Israeli navy. Today, Israeli naval officers, who typically carry heavy weaponry, boarded the ship and forcibly took control of the two boats.
Before being boarded, the boats lost radio contact for over an hour, leaving supporters praying for their safety. As communication was cut, Twitter users in Gaza filled the silence with messages of support; 22-year-old blogger Lina Al-Sharif tweeted, “Praying for Freedom Waves.”
Rana Baker joined dozens of other Palestinians at Gaza port to stand in solidarity with the flotilla in symbolic gesture of solidarity. She said, “To me, Freedom Waves has already broken an extended blockade. Things need not to be clarified. Israel can no longer isolate Gaza, our cause is being contacted and supported by the 99 percent, the only one being isolated is Israel itself.” Again, in international waters, Israel attacked two small boats carrying supplies and 27 activists.
Earlier this year, Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced that, “Turkish warships will be tasked with protecting the Turkish boats bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.” Many supporters were hopeful that this support would be provided to Freedom Waves to Gaza, despite the fact that the boats are Canadian and Irish.
An Israeli military statement said the vessels were advised they could “turn back at any point, thereby not breaking the maritime security blockade, or sailing to a port in Egypt or the port of Ashdod.” The release said that “the activists refused to cooperate.”
The blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been in effect since 2006, is considered collective punishment by many governments, a crime that is illegal by international law. The UN has repeated called for an end to the blockade.
3 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The streets of Tel Rumeida are locked-down and divided; physically occupied by a forceful Israeli military. For the Palestinian community living in this part of H2, Israeli-controlled Hebron, military occupation is an inescapable intrusion into everyday reality. The existence of an estimated 500 Israeli settlers is facilitated by up to 4000 Israeli soldiers stations in Hebron. Grey, austere watchtowers gaze over streets in which Israeli soldiers and military vehicles are stationed at regular intervals, frequently stopping Palestinians as they walk through their own neighbourhood to demand they prove their identity. Those wishing to travel into H2 from Palestinian-controlled H1 must pass through metal detectors and checkpoints, where they may be arbitrarily harassed or detained by bored Israeli soldiers.
Movement around H2 is severely restricted. In some streets Palestinians are allowed to walk but not drive, forcing them to manually lug heavy supplies such as gas canisters and food. Even ambulances are not allowed to drive through certain areas. Palestinians are forbidden from passing through some streets by car or by foot; the main street linking north and south Hebron has been closed to Palestinians; turning a 5 minute journey into a 45 min trek through alternative roads.
However, despite the enduring hardship in Tel Rumeida, resistance to the Israeli occupation remains strong. The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’ is located on Palestinian land that is surrounded by four Israeli settlements – the closest of which is only metres from the rear of the building. It faces south Hebron, overlooking steep, dusty terraces, planted with olive trees and cratered by old archaeological digs of excavated Roman artifacts. The centre is a hub of nonviolent resistance and its existence is a testament to the spirit that exists in a beleaguered community under occupation.
The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’
The property that houses the centre used to belong to a Palestinian family who were forced to vacate the premises in 2004 by the Israeli authorities, who claimed that the owner’s Jerusalem identity prevented him from living in the area. The Israeli military took over the property in 2004 and turned the house into a detention centre, fortified with barbed wire.
The campaign to reclaim the house began in 2006. After local Palestinian activists had gained approval to rent the property from the lawful owner in Jerusalem, dozens of people, including local Palestinians and international activists, started to go to the house to re-occupy the land; maintaining a presence, removing the barbed wire and dismantling a military tent. The large numbers of people attempting to reclaim the property forced the Israeli military into negotiating and, with the services of an Israeli lawyer, the activists took their claim to court. After three months, an Israeli court ruled in favour of the protesters and the house was taken back by the Palestinians.
Palestinian control of the house remained perilous as the local Israeli settlers fought back. Badia Dwaik, the 38-year old Deputy Director of Youth Against Settlements (YAS) explains; “The settlers went crazy, they started to attack the house and us physically. Groups of 100-200 settlers came and made speeches full of lies”. The activists arranged a 24-hour presence at the house to protect it from attack or seizure by settlers. As Dwaik says, “It was tough and exhausting but we didn’t give up. The home became safer although the settlers still attacked; they burnt a sofa, stole a laptop and broke the gate a couple of times.”
As the Palestinian activists consolidated their control over the house, they started to consider how best to use the property to serve the community. It was agreed that it would become an educational centre for local people, run by volunteers.
The centre now trains people in Tel Rumeida to use photography and video cameras to record violence by settlers and the military, as well as documenting their daily lives under occupation. As local activist Tamer Atrash says, “The camera is our weapon.”The centre also offers English classes, painting, gardening workshops and shows films.
YAS (Youth Against Settlements)
The property also functions as the base for the Palestinian nonviolent activist group, Youth Against Settlements (YAS). Badia Dwaik is keen to stress the distinction that exists between the work done by the educational centre and activism by YAS, although both make use of the property.
YAS originated as a response to the repeated attacks by settlers on Palestinians in the area. As Dwaik says; “The main problem here is the settlements. They steal land and push us into a corner until we leave. We had to target them in our work as they use settlements as an excuse to continue the occupation and control the population. They divided the streets [in Hebron] and broke the social life with checkpoints and gates to protect settlers.”
In 1994 American-born Baruch Goldstein fired on Palestinians in Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque whilst they prayed, killing 29 and injuring a further 200. Atrash describes the massacre by Goldstein as a “turning point” in shaping the divided and fearful environment for Palestinians in Tel Rumeida today. After the attack, the Israeli military closed many of the Palestinian shops in the area and divided the streets. Hebronis now divided into H1 (under Palestinian control) and H2 (in which an estimated 40,000 Palestinians, and 500 Israeli settlers, live under Israeli control). As Atrash says, “The victims were punished.”
Dwaik continues; “It is an apartheid situation – the electronic gates, the checkpoints, the security – all happened after the massacre.” The Ibrahimi mosque now has separate spaces for Muslims and Jews; the Jewish section is the only synagogue in the world containing a Qu’ran.
YAS organize demonstrations against the checkpoints and the Israeli presence in the area. They run a program hosting internationals, who stay with local families that live close to Israeli settlements, to show them the impacts of occupation in Tel Rumeida. The group also organizes olive harvesting in the area, which is not just about economic necessity but is also a form of political defiance as settlers and the military attempt to disrupt Palestinian attempts to tend their own land. Crucially, YAS stages events protesting against the closure ofShuhuda street, the principal thoroughfare and shopping district in the area. .
Although YAS originated in Hebron, it now has groups and actions in Ramallah and Nablus. Overall the YAS has around 70 members and attracts hundreds to its demonstrations and actions. Dwaik says that older people are involved in the group’s activism, however they “focus on the youth as they have energy and they are the future.” The organization says that they welcome activists from all Palestinian political parties.
YAS adopts a strictly nonviolent approach to its activities and provides training in nonviolent resistance. “Nonviolence is more difficult to deal with than violence. You have to control yourself, it is not easy. We are already surrounded and occupied, it is not possible to carry guns. Nonviolence is difficult and may take a long time but violence would create a violent community” said Dwaik. Nonviolent tactics help to recruit Israeli and international peace activists to their cause and the strict adherence to nonviolent principles combats the Israeli narrative that Palestinians resisting occupation are ‘terrorists’.
Dwaik also points to several examples of successful nonviolent resistance in other countries such as Egypt, South Africa andSerbia- in which Otpor!, a nonviolent youth movement, played a significant role in the peaceful overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in 2003. YAS has established links with Otpor!, with the latter providing training to YAS activists in nonviolent resistance tactics.
Despite the work done by the educational centre and YAS, intimidation and harassment by the Israeli military and settlers continues. Attempts to pick olives on Palestinian land in the area a few days ago were disrupted by the Israeli security forces, who detained a group of Palestinians, confiscated their identity cards and filmed them for around 20 minutes. Soldiers pushed and shoved Palestinians and international observers and then unlawfully forced people who had been picking olives to leave the area.
On the same day, settlers walked onto the land and attempted to intimidate Palestinians as they picked olives. Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist Israeli settler, provoked outrage by standing on a Palestinian flag in the olive groves. A recently painted-over Star of David and anti-Palestinian graffiti remains visible on the rear walls of the building and the property’s water supply was deliberately cut earlier.
However, Dwaik claims that the work done in reclaiming the house and the subsequent success of the educational centre and YAS has helped reinvigorate the once divided Palestinian community in Tel Rumeida – “Now we have created a life here”. Atrash continues;, “We want our rights, we will never give up and we don’t use violence. We can prevent Israeli expansion in this way. The house is a living example.”
Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
1 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
We gathered on the road in front of the Agricultural College of Beit Hanoun, one side of the road a functioning school, on the other, only the remains of destroyed school buildings. For three years the people of Beit Hanoun have gathered here every Tuesday for their protest against the no go zone and the occupation. Members of the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun, townspeople, students who had taken the afternoon off of school, and the International Solidarity Movement, all marching under the same flag, the flag of Palestine, red, white, black and green, together. For three years we have marched together, every Tuesday for three years we have went into the no go zone.
Today was different though. Today we marched under another flag as well, the flag of UNESCO. Palestine has been admitted as UNESCO’s newest member. In honor of all of the countries who voted for Palestine, and in honor of UNESCO, we marched under their flag. Above all of this, floated a third flag, the black flag of illegality which flies over the Occupation. This flag is always present; it is just that not everyone sees it. It was acknowledged in Israel only in 1956, the Supreme Court of Israel referred to it for the first time after the massacre of Kufr Kassem on October 29, 1956. Forty nine Palestinian citizens of Israel, women, children, men, were murdered by Border Police as they returned home from their fields. The black flag was always there, it was just that most people refused to see it, many still refuse to see it, yet it is always there. You only have to open your eyes to see it.
We marched down the road toward the no go zone, toward the zone of death. We sang and chanted as we marched. As we got closer we saw that the flag we had planted weeks before was no longer there, it was toppled, it was on the ground. We went to the flag, Israeli soldiers had used it for target practice, they had shot the base of the flag in two. We picked up the flag, took it even farther into the no go zone, crossed a ditch, and replanted it. The olive grove which we had planted last month was still there, green from the recent rain. Sabur Zaaneen from the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun spoke, he praised UNESCO and the nations that voted to admit Palestine, he denounced the Balfour Declaration which was made in 1917 in support of the Zionist Movement. Shots rang out, five shots in total. This was the Israeli rebuttal to his speech, to our peaceful march against the occupation, the only language which the occupation speaks in Gaza, the language of violence and death. We walked back to Beit Hanoun, not in defeat, proud, we too had spoken, the steadfastness of our olive trees and marching contrasted with the bullets of the occupation.
Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
Here in Gaza, people — especially the youth — are really excited about the new flotilla on its way from Turkey.
“I can’t wait to receive my brothers and sisters who share our suffering and who also experience Israel’s apartheid policies and aggression,” said 19-year-old Al-Azher University student Hussien Amody, upon hearing news that a Palestinian from Haifa was on board yesterday evening. Hussein subsequently stayed up all night making signs and posters for today’s march in Gaza demanding that the United the Nations and the international community protect the two small boats.
I rose early this morning and head to Gaza’s port to go out on the Oliva, a project run by CPS Gaza to monitor the Israel navy’s treatment of Palestinian fisherman. I promptly told Salah, our Captain, the news:
“Two boats are coming from Turkey to Gaza right now,” I said, as our small white boat left port.
“Now?” he asked. “Yes right now. They will arrive in Gaza maybe tomorrow morning,” I said in Arabic. The “maybe” was for the morning– I didn’t know how to say “scheduled to arrive.”
“Inshallah,” Godwilling, he said, and then asked where the boats were from and other details. A tiny boat rowed by two young men balancing delicately on the edges passed by as the Mediterranean undulated below them. Salah shouted to them the news and they exchanged a brief conversation.
“I think the Israeli navy will stop them,” he said as continued out to sea. Indeed, that’s what the IDF spokesperson had declared on Twitter the night before.
Nonetheless, Salah yelled out to a passing yellow and blue trawler the news. The trawler had eyes with long lashes and a smiley face painted on its wooden bow. Palestinians on a similar trawler reported being shot at by the Israeli navy when I was out at sea yesterday. We had heard the automatic gunfire as we were leaving port. The Israelis have an elite navy and all the Palestinians have are their pink, blue and yellow smiley faced boats, I thought.
I shared with Salah that the boat was bringing Palestinians from outside Gaza, since that was something the youth here were particularly excited about. A few them had mentioned that because of Israel’s complete closure of Gaza, they hadn’t been able to see their family members in the West Bank or leave Gaza for university in the West Bank or abroad.
Salah only shrugged and said “inshallah,” again, a word I had never heard him use in the past. He was refusing to get his hopes up about
Palestinian trawler with smiley face
something that, in his mind, Israel would clearly prevent from happening. I tried to convince him that maybe this flotilla would be different.
“[Prime Minister] Erdogan has promised that the Turkish navy will accompany freedom boats to Gaza,” I said. “And the boats left from Turkey,” I added, attempting to convince Salah, and even myself. Indeed the Canadian boat tweeted last night that they believed the Turkish Coast Guard was behind them.
“Inshallah,” Salah replied.
Despite Israel’s declarations that it will stop the flotilla, Palestinian civil society groups and even the fisherman have a big welcome in store for Freedom Waves. Why is Israel trying so hard to keep 27 civilians from seeing what life is really like behind the blockade? What is Israel trying to hide?
Check out this solidarity song with Gaza and keep the #FreedomWaves rolling on Twitter.
Rhadhika S is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement
2 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Two boats, called “Freedom Waves to Gaza,” are now traveling on the high seas to the besieged Gaza Strip. Their civilian passengers include people from five countries, including Palestinians from 1948. This is another non-violent attempt to break Israel’s siege, an illegal policy that has forced Gaza’s Palestinian residents into subsistence on international aid and subjected them to severe travel restrictions to and from the territory.
“Freedom Waves to Gaza” has been kept secret until now for fear of Israeli sabotage and obstruction, as happened with Freedom Flotilla 2: Stay Human. Now we have to make sure that Israel does not attack “Freedom Waves to Gaza,” preventing its arrival in the Strip, as happened with the first Freedom Flotilla, in open violation of international law and with the silent complicity of the Western world. To avoid this we need your help.
You are asked to act in favor of this initiative in any way you consider effective in your context. In particular, we propose:
Spreading the news of this initiative as much as possible, and demand that the media report about it. Israel may act less violently if it feels the world’s eyes fixed upon it.
Pressuring the United Nations and the international community, following the example of young Palestinians in the West Bank, who will hold a sit-in at the UN complex in Ramallah, asking the international body “to take urgent action to protect this mission as well as to end its compliance with Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza.”
Organizing protests if Israel’s reaction threatens to prevent the activists from reaching the port of Gaza.
We appeal to your humanity to act, and act with urgency. The boats have already left port and the success of this enterprise, depends on the support they receive from the outside.
