Category: Gaza - Page 90 - International Solidarity Movement

Activists react to Gaza flotilla assault

by Ruqaya Izzidien

4 November 2011 | Al Akhbar English

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.

Under the flag of UNESCO marched Gaza

by Nathan Stuckey

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.

Initial reactions from Gaza on the new Freedom Flotilla

by Radhika S.

3 November 2011 | Notes from Behind the Blockade

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

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

Act now to defend today’s boats to Gaza

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.

Palestinian youth join boats set to challenge Israel’s siege of Gaza

2 November 2011 | Freedom Waves

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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.

For more information contact:

+970-592-346-895

FreedomWaves4PAL@gmail.com

Note to editors:

For up to the minute information on the Freedom Waves flotilla: http://witnessgaza.com/

Twitter: @PalWaves #FreedomWaves