Palestinian youth join boats set to challenge Israel’s siege of Gaza
Irish and Canadian boats in international waters on their way to challenge illegal siege policy
Palestinian activists call for end to international complicity in Israel’s crimes
Support actions taking place throughout the West Bank and inside Israel
[Ramallah] Two civilian boats, the Canadian Tahrir (Liberation), and the Irish Saoirse (Freedom), carrying 27 people from nine countries, are currently in international waters making their way to the beleaguered Gaza Strip to challenge Israel’s ongoing criminal blockade of the territory. A Palestinian youth activist from Haifa has joined this renewed international mission to challenge Israel’s unrelenting stranglehold on Gaza via the sea. The message they carry is one of unity, defiance, and hope, in spite of Israel’s policies that have physically separated Palestinians from each other. The “Freedom Waves to Gaza” organizers chose not to publicize the effort in advance given Israel’s efforts to block and sabotage Freedom Flotilla II last July. The boats, which set sail from Fethiye, Turkey, are expected to arrive in Gaza on Friday afternoon, sailing from international waters straight into Gaza’s territorial waters without entering Israel’s waters. The boats carry symbolic cargo – $30,000 in medicines, along with a diverse group of passengers, all committed to nonviolent defense of the flotilla and Palestinian human rights.
“Israel has caged Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, prohibiting physical contact between us. We want to break the siege Israel has imposed on our people,” said Majd Kayyal, a Palestinian philosophy student from Haifa on board the Tahrir. Kayyal added, “The fact that we’re in international waters is already a victory for the movement. Israel’s siege of Gaza is untenable and it’s a moral responsibility to put an end to this injustice.”
Meanwhile, a statement signed by Palestinian youth urged the international community and the U.N. in particular “to take urgent action to protect this mission as well as to end its compliance with Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza.” They condemned the U.N. Secretary General’s previous declarations calling for aid to Gaza to go through “legitimate crossings and established channels,” despite the U.N.’s own admission that Israel’s failure to own up to its responsibilities has created an unprecedented crisis of human dignity.
Throughout the week Palestinian activists in the West Bank and inside Israel are organizing solidarity actions with the Freedom Waves mission, including a presence outside the UN compound (Tokyo Street, Ramallah) and rallies across West Bank towns.
This is the 11th attempt to break the siege of Gaza via the sea, with five missions arriving safely in Gaza between August and December 2008 and the remaining violently intercepted by Israel. On May 2010, Israel attacked passengers of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine civilians and injuring over 50. Israel’s actions were widely condemned and led to protests around the world. Efforts to bring a second flotilla to Gaza were foiled by the government of Greece last July following pressure by Israel and Western governments, as well as by acts of Israeli sabotage.
Israel has intensified in the past days its aerial bombardments on Gaza, underlining the need for international initiatives of deterrence similar to this one.
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For up to the minute information on the Freedom Waves flotilla: http://witnessgaza.com/
2 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Wednesday, November 2, two international ships left the Turkish harbor to carry humanitarian aid through the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The event, called ‘Freedom Waves for Gaza’, unites 27 activists from 9 countries, including America, Canada, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Australia, alongside a Palestinian Haifa, in a broad-based international movement to break Israel’s illegal and immoral suffocation of the 1.6 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. The Irish yacht Saoirse (Freedom), which carries 15 activists, and the Canadian boat Tahrir (Liberation), which holds 12, will attempt to carry $30,000 in medical supplies beyond the Israeli blockade later this week. ‘Freedom Waves for Gaza’ is the 11th attempt by international activists to deliver humanitarian aid through the Israeli blockade of Gaza since 2008.
As the boats navigate international waters, Palestinian youth activists will parade a large wooden effigy of the aid boats through the streets of Ramallah, while distributing white armbands and ribbons emblazoned ‘Freedom Waves for Gaza’. In addition, they will hold a demonstration outside of the UN office in Ramallah on Thursday, demanding that the UN end its compliance with the Israeli blockade and protect the humanitarian mission.
Indeed, in a letter given to the UN on Wednesday, Palestinian youth insisted that “it is incumbent upon the UN to take urgent steps to protect the boats en route to Gaza and all of the humanitarian volunteers aboard, as well as to declare its support for nonviolent, humanitarian action, designed to do what the UN and its members states have thus far failed to do.”
Organizers of the flotilla mission withheld the news from the world until the boats reached international waters, to prevent Israeli or international sabotage that plagued previous aid attempts. Though the humanitarian vessels departed from Fethiye, Turkey, organizers insist that the Turkish government is not involved with Freedom Waves for Gaza. Says Huwaida Arraf, “because Freedom Flotilla 1 was mostly an international effort, and because with the Mavi Marmara Turkish people were killed, it became mainly a Turkish thing…which detracted from the fact that it really was an international effort. So this time we want to show that it’s not just Turkey, its an international effort.” In fact, no Turkish citizens are aboard either of the two ships.
Freedom Waves for Gaza comes at a time when minor improvements to the situation- such as the opening of the Rafah land crossing from Egypt to Gaza in May- or minor concessions by Israel- such as its allowance of minor consumer goods into Gaza in the wake of the Mavi Marmara massacre in 2010, touted internationally as an ‘easing of the blockade’ (though it led led 10-year-old Gaza schoolchild Abed Rahmen Jadee to lament ‘I don’t want any more snacks or coke. I want a new school’)- have done little to meaningfully alleviate the humanitarian crisis that plagues the 1.6 million inhabitants of Gaza, half of whom are under the age of 16.
Organizer Huwaida Arraf, chair of the Free Gaza movement, stresses that “by reaching Palestinians through their own port, the flotilla defies the dehumanization of a whole population and supports the continuing efforts of the people of Gaza to assert their dignity. The Palestinians will accept nothing less than a total end to the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza and all forms of violence and discrimination against them.”
The most recent figures published by the UN and international humanitarian and human rights organizations confirm that roughly 75 – 80% of the population rely on international aid in order to survive; 65% live below the poverty line; 52% are food insecure; approximately 40% are unemployed; there are no building materials for much-needed schools and hospitals; 90 – 95% of the drinking water is contaminated and unfit for consumption; seriously ill patients cannot get access to the specialist treatment that would potentially save their lives; and children are suffering untreated post-traumatic stress as a result of the white phosphorous shells used illegally in Israel’s invasion in January 2009.
In its declaration to the UN, the Palestinian youth stated that “in our schools, universities and through our organizations, we are taught about human rights and international law, and yet it seems like Palestinians fall into a class of people upon whom these rights don’t apply. Like the blacks in America a half a century ago, or in South Africa two decades ago, we are victims of an exclusivist ideology and those who tolerate and enable it.”
The declaration continues- “Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been returned to his family, removing one of Israel’s main pretexts, albeit not a justification, for its Draconian closure policy. And while 1027 Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged for Shalit (although 550 have yet to be released), over 1.5 million Palestinians remain caged in the prison that is Gaza.”
During the campaign, Witness Gaza (witnessgaza.com) will be a central information hub, in contact with representative organizations from activists’ home countries. Palestinian youth representatives will be updating the world via Twitter at #PALWaves, as will international activists aboard the ships- unless Israel jams the communications signal, as has occurred in previous flotilla aid attempts.
In Wednesday’s press release, Majd Kayyal, a Palestinian activist from Haifa aboard the Tahrir, insisted that “Israel has caged Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, prohibiting physical contact between us. We want to break the siege Israel has imposed on our people. The fact that we’re in international waters is already a victory for the movement.”
As new Israeli airstrikes are claiming lives in Gaza, and as Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to intensify the bombardments, it is due time to once again bring to the world’s attention what the UN in 2009 called the ‘protracted human dignity crisis’ caused by Israel’s closure of Gaza. Says Huwaida Arraf, “the people of Gaza have called on the peoples and governments of the world to challenge an illegal, immoral, and irrational Israeli naval blockade that has caused, and continues to cause, incalculable human suffering. We are responding to that call. Our primary aim is to overcome the continuing blockade of Gaza through civil resistance and non-violent direct action, and to establish a permanent sea lane between Gaza and the rest of the world.”
2 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Below is an abridged transcript of talks given by Palestinian former-prisoners, (released as part of the Hamas-Shalit deal) at PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs ) Roundtable on ‘Prisoner Release – Palestinian Narratives’ on 31 October 2011.
Ibrahim Mish’al
I was captured on the 28 March 1990. The Israelis entered my house with explosives and dogs; they didn’t care about the fact that there were children in the house. My son was two years old then and my daughter was one years old. My wife was three months pregnant. It was really horrifying for them and my daughter couldn’t speak for one year afterwards.
I will never forget those moments or the look on my family’s faces when the whole house, the walls, everything was demolished. I was taken to an interrogation facility and on the way I was hit with everything that they had in their hands, including their rifles.
I was interrogated for 50 days, during which I was tortured. I was deprived of sleep, they made me sit in a special way of sitting, handcuffed from behind. I was exposed to extreme temperatures – both extreme cold or heat. I can’t really explain how these methods affected me. Afterwards I knew that my wife was also interrogated. Once the interrogation ended I was transferred to prison. During the transfer I was also hit and when I arrived the way they accepted me was very cruel; each prisoner was handcuffed together by their hands and their legs and we entered a cell which had nothing in it, except for the walls.
I was suffering continually. We asked the prison authorities for a long time to improve our conditions. They improved some of our conditions but they were less than the minimum expected for an acceptable existence.
When it came to transferring me to court, it was living hell. Usually they used to come early in the morning and handcuff two prisoners together and take us by bus into a detention centre in Ramallah. We used to stay there for several days in a room situated underground, it was very overcrowded. Sewage pipes passed across the ceiling and they were leaking all the time. There were rats, cockroaches – the smell was awful.
Because of that and because we wanted to improve our conditions, the only move we had was to go on hunger strike. It was a very cruel method but it was the only method that we had. It can be said that it’s negative or passive resistance. We used to throw all the food that they tried to give us outside the cells. We don’t just have to face the hunger but also what the Israelis did to us – searching the rooms, hitting us. Some of the prisoners were transferred to other prisons, others were put in solitary confinement. Hunger strike is like death itself but unfortunately we used to get our rights only when we used to go through this experience.
Even after we got our rights after these hunger strikes, usually they take all these achievements that we reached away again slowly and because of that we had to go on hunger strikes each year or two because the situation in jail is really bad. Each prisoner has only 1m2 where he has to live and do everything during the day time. During these hunger strikes many prisoners died.
I want to talk about the resistance of the Palestinian people. We don’t like killing. We resisted the occupation because we wanted liberty, we wanted to ensure our children’s future. Israelis say that we are terrorists and our hands are covered in blood but they forgot that their leaders are drowned with Palestinian blood – especially Sharon and Netanyahu. All Israeli leaders committed crimes against Palestinian people. I can’t really talk about the suffering I went through for 23 years in this short period of time.
Ibtisam Issawi
I am the mother of four daughters and two boys. I spent 10 years in prison, I was sentenced to 15 years.
If prison is so difficult for a man, imagine how it is for a woman. Israel always claims that it is the only democracy in theMiddle East, and that there is equality between men and women but this is something we only hear and don’t see on the ground. From the moment I was arrested I was treated very badly, they didn’t give any importance to the fact that I was a woman – I was also hit, humiliated.
I was arrested in 2001 and maybe in this period there is no more physical torture but there is psychological torture. They used to insult me and use very bad words – I think that such words shouldn’t be used by someone who thinks that they’re a democrat.
They always used to threaten me by [invoking] my family and used to imply that Palestinian women when they resist occupation they don’t do it for the sake of resistance but for social problems, this is not the truth.
Regarding transfer between prisons and from court; they didn’t take any consideration to the fact that I’m a woman and I have other needs than a man. Sometimes it took long hours, sometimes over one day. We didn’t have any privacy in jails, they used to enter our cells whenever they wanted to search and sometimes to search us naked.
At the beginning of my imprisonment I was in Ramle prison, there I was treated not as a security detainee but rather as a criminal one and I was treated the same way as people that were murderers and people convicted of robbery or prostitution. They were always searching us because they used to always claim that we might enter some drugs into prison. Because of this we had to go on hunger strike to ask for our rights – because of that they treated us very badly and sometimes they used to try to force the needle of glucose into our arms to stop the strike.
My family lives in Jordan and my father is really old so he couldn’t visit me. I always used to ask them to at least give me one phone call to speak with my father but they always refused saying that phone calls are only allowed when someone from the family dies.
Although we were in prison we used to try to have some kind of celebration to mark our holidays but they didn’t even let us put up some decorations to celebrate Eid. They always used to say that ‘you are in prison not in a hotel’.
Palestinian prisoners are known to be well educated; although there was bad treatment, we managed to study in universities and to turn the prison into a university. And even when it comes to studying, they always waited for the right moment to prevent us from studying, another reason why we had to go on hunger strikes. I’ve been released now for 2 weeks and they’ve put so many restrictions on us. For example, we are not allowed to enter the West Bank but the problem is that most of my family and my brothers live there – they can’t come toJerusalemand I can’t go and meet them.
Nasser Abed Rabbo
I was arrested 23 years ago – on 9 February 1988. I still ask – why was I taken away from my city [Jerusalem] and my beloved ones? I want an answer because I’m still under occupation.
I was arrested from my house – they destroyed everything in the house. I was handcuffed and blindfolded. My arrest was not usual – I was not taken straight from my house to the police car; they took me through several neighbourhoods in my village, a very long distance – almost 2km, in order for the people in the village to see. I was hit, especially on the head, and everyone saw me bleeding. I think the purpose of this was to make me an example for any other person who tries to resist occupation.
After interrogation I was taken to prison, this period of time is very important for the prison authorities and for the intelligence. They all tried to exert psychological pressure on us and also during our transfer from prison to court. They do this in order to make us finish our trials as soon as possible and not deny the charges. They all imply that if you do so then the whole phase of torture and ill-treatment will come to an end.
The Israelis always over-exaggerate in the media that they arrested a terror cell that was responsible for killing lots and lots of Israelis. Yet lots of the times these people were imprisoned for 1, 2, or 3 years in prison. The purpose for this action in order to show that the Israeli people that they [the security forces] actually work and achieve things and on the other hand to show that Palestinians are terrorists.
Capturing our bodies between four walls, the reason is not just the act of capturing but also to capture our minds and to take us away from the society in which we used to have an active part. They always used to put us in very small society circles and they prevented our family members from visiting us and restricted our family members from visiting unless they were first degree family members.
They also restricted the number of TV channels that we could watch and even radios didn’t work without an antennae. Although we were allowed to have TVs, we weren’t allowed to have control over which channels we watched. They also prevented us from studying in Palestinian universities. All of this was to prevent us from being a part of society to prevent us from understanding what was going on outside.
The laws that govern Israeli prison authorities entered into force in the 1970s and most of the provisions of these laws are not used. They don’t take into consideration that the world is developing all the time and our treatment partly relies on these laws.
Palestinian prisoners represent all sectors of the Palestinian people. There are also some prisoners who are from other Arabic countries and from all political parties. Since the beginning of the occupation, prisoners tired to stay in touch with the political parties outside and tried to transfer these parties into prison as we believe that we are fighting for a just cause. Everyone had the feeling that we had an obligation to continue resisting, even inside prison. This was named the Palestinian Prisoners Movement – the Israelis didn’t like this movement and it was treated very badly. They tried to impose policies and regulations and categorize prisoners as terrorists.
In the 1970s in some prisons there were factories that used to manufacture the shields that were used to cover tanks. Tanks that kill our people. They tried to force prisoners to work in these factories in order to undermine our struggle and keep them away from their national cause. But the determination of prisoners inside prison was a direct reason for forming a national unity with all parties and there were laws that governed the relation between the Palestinian parties in jail. This was in order to ensure prisoners had the continuance of life and ensure that had a certain quality of life. This movement was very strong, although the Israeli prison authorities always tried to weaken this body.
Hunger strikes allowed us to gain some of our rights and those who say that the prisoner authorities are the ones that gave us these rights are lying, we used to get these rights by fighting and preventing our bodies from eating. It was the only strategic weapon that we could use against the prison authorities to get our rights.
Ali Maslamani
I spent 30 years in prison. We live inside jails under one highlight – the struggle of wills. National dignity and humanity. We succeeded using civil and organized life to live in pride. We are optimistic – even inside jail. Because we are right holders. I say optimistic but not perfectionist – because we know what reality is like.
We achieved many physical achievements but the most important achievements are the moral ones. Life in prison became a very unique kind of life – everyone respected the other. I have to say that I’m really happy and words can’t express what I feel now I am free and I am among my family and friends.
When I was released I started feeling time. The problem in prison is that you don’t feel time – we used to call time in prison ‘compressed time’ because there are no incidences, nothing happens, each day is the same. But when I was released I told my mother that only in one day I did so many things and went to so many places and this is the value of freedom.
After we met our families and friends we forgot all the suffering and we knew that it was not for nothing. We wonder whether this will help the awareness of our people and we also say that we will also be soldiers in order to help our people.
We think that this is a continuous ceremony where the Palestinian people are celebrating their own sons that came to liberty. Every single one of us is a big humanitarian case. I’ve seen so many emotional scenes in my life but it was an amazing scene when we went out of prison and we saw how our families and friends shared our happiness and congratulated us. There is a need for a poet to really explain how we felt.
In prison everyone has their own case – some throw stones, some did an operation, others killed Israelis but when we are asked about this we never brag about this, we always say that we resisted occupation in order to get liberty and to live in pride and have our own country.
We used to send letters to national personalities and we always called for peaceful resistance for our people because we think bloodshed should stop and our people have the right to live on this land with holy Jerusalem as its capital. Today UNESCO accepted Palestine as a full member and because of that we will keep being optimistic.
Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
2 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On November first, activists from popular committees and activist youth movements through out the West Bank met with Egyptian ambassador , his Excellency Yasser Othman, in Ramallah to express their congratulations and support for the people’s revolution of Egypt and to formally present a petition to open the Rafah crossing unconditionally and permanently.
This petition was originally issued by Gaza-based civil society sectors including academics, students, workers, and youth. It was immediately supported publically by Egyptian revolutionaries and grass-roots organizations as well as renowned International human rights defenders such as Desmond Tutu and Richard Falk.
Meeting with Egyptian Ambassador - Click here for more images
The delegation expressed it’s commitment to the struggle against the deadly and criminal Israeli imposed siege on Gaza as an essential part of the struggle to end Israel’s Occupation and Apartheid.
The delegates welcomed the opening of the door of hope for a new Arab world grounded in solidarity and freedom by the peoples revolution. “Our hope from the new Egypt is to ensure that Gaza’s only exit to the outside world that is not under the control of Israeli soldiers will be open completely, permanently and unconditionally.
As we are sure your Excellency would agree, freedom of movement is a basic human right and should not be made subservient to political considerations, especially given that Rafah is the only lifeline the people of Gaza have to the outside world.”
The delegates pointed out that the current crossing process often results in significant, and in some cases inhumane, suffering on the part of the ordinary residents of Gaza. For example, Gazans often have to register and wait for weeks for “their turn” to leave the territory. The nature of the process often requires people to spend over 10 hours waiting to cross, including the time it takes to gather in a collection area in Gaza and be transported by buses to the crossing.
They also ask that Palestinians with foreign passports (who do not carry Palestinian ID cards) should be allowed to visit their families in Gaza.
The delegates gladly acknowledge recent improvements to the situation in the crossing: the fact that the quota of people allowed to cross daily has been raised to 500-800 and the fact that some people who were banned from entering Egypt by the previous regime are now being allowed to cross.
These improvements are welcomed but are not enough to eliminate the suffering caused by the closure of the crossing.
They asked that the last remnants of the old era’s policy, the daily quota and the list of banned individuals, be eliminated as we the people of Palestine and Egypt work together for a future of Justice and dignity.
The ambassador responded that great changes and improvements have taken place since the revolution and that improvements would continue to happen in the coming days. He promised to deliver the petition to the responsible officials in Egypt. He responded positively to invitations of the activists to visit locations throughout the West Bank engaged in popular resistance against the Apartheid wall and settlements.
In 2004, the village of At-Tuwani and its Israeli partner, Ta’ayush, approached CPT’s Hebron team and the Italian peace group, Operation Dove, asking if they could provide accompaniment for the children of the village whom settlers regularly attacked as they walked to school.
Although CPT had made regular visits to the South Hebron Hills villages over the years, the team on the ground and the organization as a whole deemed it important to respond to the villagers’ request for a permanent presence in the village of At-Tuwani.
Seven years later, CPT-Palestine is closing its At-Tuwani project. The growth of the South Hebron Hills nonviolent organizing work has made the presence of CPT less critical. The shepherds of At-Tuwani and surrounding villages now are part of a large nonviolent resistance network encompassing various regions of Palestine. They are part of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, and South Hebron Hills leaders regularly plan nonviolent actions to which they invite Israeli and international groups and offer nonviolence trainings to men and women in the region.
The village has grown significantly since 2004, when all the homes were living under threat of demolition. Defying these threats, At-Tuwani has constructed ten new homes, a health and community centre, electrical infrastructure, a paved road through the village, a new cistern, and a mosque. It has a woman’s co-op that sells traditional crafts to groups that come to the village, which helps to support families and the new infrastructure. The village has also received grants from various agencies, one of which it used to buy several computers to provide IT training for village youth.
The end of CPT’s permanent presence in At-Tuwani does not mean the end of its relationship with the South Hebron Hills villagers. CPT-Palestine will continue to support them by maintaining media and public awareness of the area, participating in actions organized by the nonviolent Popular Struggle Committee and bringing CPT delegations to the South Hebron Hills.
Because of the villagers’ stalwart nonviolent resistance, they now have relationships with hundreds of Israelis, Palestinians and internationals who support their efforts. Two international groups will continue to have a physical presence in the area. The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) now has an office in Yatta, the urban hub of the South Hebron Hills, and Operation Dove will continue to live in At-Tuwani.
AT-Tuwani team member Laura Ciaghi writes, “I think we have done a good job of empowering the community in doing nonviolent resistance, mostly by creating a safer space for people in Tuwani and lifting some of the heavy pressure of living under occupation, so that they had the time, the energy and the space to organize themselves. The olive tree we planted in our courtyard on Christmas 2005 this fall has yielded for the first time, a full bucket of big olives, and maybe this tells the story better than anything else.”
