Author: ISM Media Group

Maan: Free Gaza expected before dark; welcome boats turn back after Israeli warships fire warning shots

To view original article, published by Maan News Agency on the 23rd August, click here

Palestinians who launched boats to greet the Free Gaza crew turned back for land after warning shots were fired by Israeli warships in Gaza waters.

Problems with navigation equipment which the crew blames on signal-jamming radio waves broadcast by Israel, has delayed the arrival of the ships.

Originally expected to dock in the early afternoon, the estimated time of arrival for the wooden boats is between five and seven this evening.

Twenty journalists had launched 11 boats from the Gaza beach in order to receive the Free Gaza ships coming from Cyprus to break the siege, but almost all have returned to shore.

Palestinian citizens have been waiting for the ships to arrive since morning, though they are not in sight yet.

At 10am local time the crew of the Free Gaza released the following statement to the project’s organizers:

“The electronic systems which guarantee our safety aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty have been jammed and scrambled. Both ships are flying Greek flags, and are in international waters. We are the victims of electronic piracy. We are currently in GMS P area A2 and we are relying on our satellite communications equipment to make a distress call, if needed.

We are civilians from 17 nations and are on this project to break the siege of Gaza. We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board such an emergency develop.

We are currently experiencing rough sea conditions, and we call on the Greek government and the international community to meet their responsibilities and protect the civilians on board our two ships in international waters.”

Jamal Al-Khudari, Chairman of the People’s committee against the blockade and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), warned Israel against harming the ships, which are carrying international peace activists and medical supplies for the people of Gaza.

He said in a press conference Saturday morning that organizers had lost contact with the ships for several hours during their voyage due to Israeli distortion frequencies that were broadcast. The ships resumed contact with Gaza later on in the early hours of the morning.

Al-Khudari commended the activists for persevering despite the disturbances, and added that the crew had come across water mines as they entered Gaza waters.

“We will meet them and honor them as heroes,” said Al-Khudari.

Free Gaza Movement: A statement from the International Human Rights Workers aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, sailing to Gaza

To view the Free Gaza Movement website click here

10am, 23 August, 2008

*At 10am this morning, the Cyprus team of the Free Gaza Movement was able to briefly speak with our people on board the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty. They are all fine, and they asked us to release the following statement:

“The electronic systems which guarantee our safety aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty have been jammed and scrambled. Both ships are flying Greek flags, and are in international waters. We are the victims of electronic piracy. We are currently in GMS P area A2 and we are relying on our satellite communications equipment to make a distress call, if needed.

We are civilians from 17 nations and are on this project to break the siege of Gaza. We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board such an emergency develop.

We are currently experiencing rough sea conditions, and we call on the Greek government and the international community to meet their responsibilities and protect the civilians on board our two ships in international waters.”

Israeli army beat resident of Ni’lin leaving him with a fractured skull

A 20 year old resident of Ni’lin is currently in Ramallah hospital with a a fractured skull after being beaten by Israeli soldiers at a demonstration in the village against the construction of the annexation wall on the 21st August.

Photos courtesy of Activestills

Haitham Mousa, 20, was standing by his Grandfathers house when 5 Israeli soldiers grabbed him and proceeded to beat him, hitting him in the head with the butts of their rifles. Witnesses say that Haitham briefly managed to get free from the soldiers, but as he attempted to run off soldiers fired a rubber-coated steel bullet at him from close range. Haitham immediately collapsed, though whether his fractured skull is due to the beating or from the rubber-coated stell bullet is, as of now, unclear.

Haitham was immediately taken to Ramallah hospital where an X-ray determined that he had indeed had his skull fractured. His condition is currently stable, though he is in a lot of pain with sever wounds to his face and mouth.

A 13 year old boy, Said Nafa, was also shot in the side of the head by a rubber-coated steel bullet at the same demonstration. He was taken to hospital in Ramallah where he received medical care and should be discharged later this afternoon. 3 other demonstrators were injured at the protest.

These serious injuries come at a time where extreme violence from Israeli forces in Ni’lin saw the killings of Ahmed Mousa, 10 years old, and Yousef Amira, 17 years old, three weeksa ago.

To date, fifteen Palestinians, ten of them minors, were killed while
protesting the wall.

Muhammad Fadel Hashem Rian, age 25
Zakaria Mahmoud ‘Eid Salem, age 28
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu on February
26th, 2004.

Abdal Rahman Abu ‘Eid, age 62
Died of a heart attack after teargas projectiles were shot into his home
during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu on February 26th, 2004.

Muhammad Da’ud Saleh Badwan, age 21
Shot during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu on February 26th,
2004, and died of his wounds March 3rd.

Hussein Mahmoud ‘Awad ‘Alian, age 17
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Betunya on April
16th, 2004

Diaa’ A-Din ‘Abd al-Karim Ibrahim Abu ‘Eid, age 23
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu on April
18th, 2004.

Islam Hashem Rizik Zhahran, age 14
Shot during a demonstration against the wall in Deir Abu Mash’al on
April 18th, 2004, and died of his wounds April 28th.

‘Alaa’ Muhammad ‘Abd a-Rahman Khalil, age 14
Shot dead while throwing stones at an Israeli vehicle driven by private
security guards near the wall in Betunya on February 15th, 2005.

Jamal Jaber Ibrahim ‘Asi, age 15
U’dai Mufid Mahmoud ‘Asi, age 14
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Beit Liqya on May
4th, 2005

Taha Muhammad Subhi al-Quljawi, age 16
Shot dead when he and two friends tried to cut the razor wire portion of
the wall in the Qalandiya Refugee Camp on February 2nd, 2007. He was
wounded in the thigh and died from loss of blood after remaining a long
time in the field without being treated.

Muhammad Elias Mahmoud ‘Aweideh, age 15
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Um a-Sharayet –
Samiramis on March 28th, 2007.

Mahmoud Muhammad Ahmad Masalmeh, age 15
Shot when trying to cut the razor wire portion of the wall in Beit Awwa
on March 2nd, 2008.

Ahmed Husan Youssef Mousa, age 10
Killed during a demonstration against the wall in Ni’ilin on July 29th,
2008

Youssef Ahmed Younes Amireh, age 17
Shot in the head with rubber coated bullets during a demonstration
against the wall in Ni’ilin on July 30th, 2008 and died of his wounds
August 4th.

Three others, all minors or mentally disabled, were killed just for
being in the proximity of the wall:

Du’aa Naser Saleh ‘Abd al-Qader, age 14
Killed in Far’un when she approached the wall with her friend on
December 19th, 2006.

Fatah a-Deen Muhammad ‘Ali al-Khuli, age 20
Killed near Habla when he approached the wall on January 22nd, 2001. He
was mentally disabled.

Mahyoub Ahmad Nemer ‘Asi, age 15
Killed by a private security guard while he was in his family’s plot,
about 200 meters away from the path of the wall, on July 8th, 2005

From the original 58,000 dunums of Ni’lin land (580 hectares) more than 69% was taken by Israel in 1948, while in 1967 44% of the remaining land was used for construction of the nearby settlements. The annexation wall, illegal under international law, will take a further 25% of the farming land that the village relies on for its income, and will make the once commercial capital of the area isolated from the surrounding villages. This will leave Nil’in, when the wall is finished, with only 10% of its original land (less than 15,000 dunums).

The Guardian: Intimidation will not stop our boats sailing for Gaza

Our perilous, non-violent mission should now be nearing its destination, bearing a message that some want to silence

By Osama Qashoo

To view original article, published by The Guardian on the 23rd August, click here

This morning I am sorry to find myself back on dry land in Cyprus, separated from my fellow sailors who are now completing the final leg of their trip to Gaza. They are carrying humanitarian and medical aid to a people now suffering both an international boycott and the illegal Israeli occupation. On board the refurbished fishing boats, SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, are more than 50 activists from 17 nations – Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, farmers, fishermen, officials, language teachers, piano technicians and one 85-year-old Holocaust survivor – all united in their determination to break the Israeli siege.

After months of preparation, the Free Gaza Movement’s perilous relief mission is under way. But I am not with them, despite the fact that I am the only Palestinian-born organiser involved. Last week, my immediate family, who still live in the West Bank, were attacked and terrorised, and I also received numerous anonymous death threats. My family were warned that I must leave the project, and that I must not contact the media. This psychological terrorism now forces me to make a public protest. Though I am no longer on board, I will not leave this mission, even as potential confrontation with the Israeli military looms closer.

The UN has called the situation in Gaza a humanitarian disaster, but the inhumanity goes on. More than 200 civilians have died due to the refusal to let people leave Gaza to seek medical care. The United States, the country that assumes stewardship of the world and whose influence could change the situation, stands by. Worse still, it endorses absurd Israeli claims, such as the recent labelling of innocent Fulbright scholars as “potential security threats” to bar them from taking up their scholarships abroad.

Internationally, the thin veneer of diplomacy has shattered again. On June 19 Israel agreed to halt military invasion and the indiscriminate shelling of Gaza, in return for an end to the launching of homemade rockets towards Israel. Israel has not met its obligations. Gaza’s borders, gates that imprison 1.5 million civilians, remain locked, and scant supplies get through. Even medical supplies are being blocked.

I grew up in Palestine and have lived in fear since childhood. The horror of witnessing elders of my family being bullied and humiliated, the daily terror of losing my parents. Watching my family elders being humiliated, the child’s voice inside me would cry out silently: “How can I stop this?”

While I was on board the Liberty, I listened to the threatening messages hijacking the ship’s emergency channel, illegal for use unless in distress. These voices reawakened a deep, familiar feeling in me: that no matter how civil, kind, non-violent I am, I will always be watched, or far worse, hunted.

Now I realise that the biggest friend of psychological terror is silence. The Free Gaza Movement aims to challenge the physical stranglehold on Gaza, but more importantly, this mission seeks to break the silence for millions of voiceless civilians whose daily stories of persecution go so cruelly ignored by the international community.

When our boats arrived in Cyprus on August 20 to collect the rest of our 40-plus group, news reached us that Israel’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Tzipi Livni, had finally responded to our invitation. The Free Gaza Movement had invited her to join the Cypriot authorities, who were coming aboard to search our boats in order to address their security concerns. Citing the Oslo accords, a document from the legal department of the foreign ministry asserted Israel’s right to use force against our boats. It claimed that security forces were permitted to detain the vessels upon entry to Gaza’s territorial waters, and that the peaceful, unarmed activists on board could be forcibly arrested, detained and “interrogated” in Israel. Why does a peaceful relief mission bring fury, fear and threat from the Israeli government?

Is this the way Israel observes its responsibilities under the Oslo accords? Under the accords and the Gaza-Jericho agreement, the only authority Israel reserved for itself was for “security” purposes. Our boats are no threat. Our David and Goliath mission is a focused, direct action to challenge the inertia of the international community which allows the “humanitarian disaster” suffered by the people of Gaza to continue. The activists carry no arms or threat of violence. If the Israeli government orders the destruction of this mission, it will surely be an act unequalled since the blowing up of the USS Liberty more than 30 years ago, a secret mission of sabotage to draw the Americans into the war against Egypt.

The prospect casts a shadow on our mission. But Liberty and Free Gaza will bring their peaceful cargo to the people of Gaza. Many families will now be gathered on the Gaza beaches, waiting and praying for the boats’ safe arrival. For those families, simply to be afloat in these crystal blue seas, enjoying the freedom of international waters, would be a truly wonderful thing indeed.

Osama Qashoo is a documentary film-maker and broadcaster

freegaza.org

Israeli army invades Kafr Qallil

The Israeli Army invaded Kafr Qallil on Thursday 21st August and arrested two men. Cousins Montasar Ahmed and Naseer Aamir were both taken from Montasar’s family home which he shares with nine other people.

Montasar’s father says that more than fifty soldiers surrounded the house at around 3.30pm. Local people began throwing stones and the soldiers responded with tear gas and sound bombs. According to several eyewitnesses, soldiers also fired live ammunition close to where people stood.

Montasar’s father was ordered to send his son outside. He says he tried to go with Montasar but the soldiers stopped him and threatened to shoot him if he attempted to reach his son. He says he then saw the soldiers take Montasar some distance from the house and punch, kick and beat him with their guns. When Montasar’s mother tried to reach her son she was pushed by soldiers and collapsed.

An ambulance was called, but neighbours say that the army prevented it from reaching the house. A media team was also stopped. Montasar was then taken into his family’s house with the soldiers who brought a dog team. Furniture and other belongings were destroyed and a collection of photos were taken as soldiers searched the home. Both Montasar and his cousin Naseer were taken to Huwarra military detention centre.

His father says that this is the second time that Montasar has been arrested. In November 2007 he was held in administrative detention for nine months and released without charge.