Category: Press Releases - Page 163 - International Solidarity Movement

Human Rights Defenders speak from Gaza as Israel kills over 200 people

27th December 2008 – Human Rights Defenders from various countries are present in Gaza and are witnessing and documenting the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Due to Israel’s policy of denying access to international media, human rights defenders and aid agencies to the Occupied Gaza Strip, many of these Human Rights Defenders arrived in Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement’s boats that have repeatedly broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“At the time of the attacks I was on Omar Mukhtar street and witnessed a last rocket hit the street 150 meters away where crowds had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies. Ambulances, trucks, cars – anything that can move is bringing injured to the hospitals. Hospitals have had to evacuate sick patients to make room for the injured. I have been told that there is not enough room in the morgues for the bodies and that there is a great lack of blood in the blood-banks. I have just learned that among the civilians killed today was the mother of my good friends in Jabalya.” – Eva Bartlett (Canada) International Solidarity Movement

“The Shifa Hospital is already overwhelmed with injured people and does not have the medicine or the capacity to treat them.” – Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and British) Free Gaza Movment

“The morgue at the Shifa hospital has no more room for dead bodies, so bodies and body parts are strewn all over the hospital.” – Dr. Haidar Eid, (Palestinian, South African) Professor of Social and Cultural Studies, Al Aqsa University Gaza

“The bombs began to fall just as the children were on the streets walking back from school. I went out onto the stairs and a terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms.”- Sharon Lock (Australian) International Solidarity Movement

“This is incredibly sad. This massacre is not going to bring security for the State of Israel or allow it to be part of the Middle East. Now calls of revenge are everywhere.” Dr Eyad Sarraj – President of the Gaza Community Mental Health Centre

“As I speak they have just hit a building 200 metres away. There is smoke everywhere. This morning I went to the building close to where I live in Rafah that had been hit. Two bulldozers were immediately attempting to clear the rubble. They thought they had found all the bodies. As we arrived one more was found.” Jenny Linnel (British) International Solidarity Movement

“The home I am staying in is across from the preventive security building. All the glass shattered here. The home has been severely damaged. Due to the siege there is no glass or building materials to repair the damage. This is more than just collective punishment.” Natalie Abu Eid (Lebanon) International Solidarity Movement

Human Rights Defenders in Gaza:
Dr. Eyad Sarraj: (Arabic and English)
Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and English)
Dr. Haider Eid (English and Arabic)
Sharon Lock (English)
Vittorio Arrigoni (Italian)
Fida Qishta (English and Arabic)
Jenny Linnel (English)
Natalie Abu Shakra (Arabic and English)
Eva Bartlett (English)

For more information contacting the people in Gaza please contact:

Adam Taylor (ISM) – 972 59 8503948 or email palreports@gmail.com

Neta Golan released from Israeli jail

Neta Golan, arrested leaving Gaza on the 22nd December through Erez crossing, has been released today by Israeli police following her second appearance in court in Kiryat Gat.

She was not charged and was released without bail. Neta Golan was kept in isolation for the duration of her time in prison, but had this to say;

“I left Gaza under Israeli siege to another Israeli prison in Kiryat Gat. Yet in Kiryat Gat, while I did not have freedom, I was given food, including bread and dairy, and the cell I was kept in though dirty and cold had electricity. The Palestinian people of Gaza do not have these things due to the Israeli policies of collective punishment.”

After successfully breaking the blockade with the Free Gaza Movement, Neta Golan spent three days in the Gaza Strip observing the effects of the Israeli siege on Gaza. She visited schools, hospitals and farmers who’s lives have been devastated by Israel’s policies of collective punishment.

Upon being arrested Neta Golan stated;

“How can an act against the collective punishment of over 1.5 million people be a crime? The policies of the Israeli State towards the people of Gaza is the real crime”.

Neta Golan is one of the co-founders of the International Solidarity Movement which was nominated twice for a Nobel Peace prize. She has actively resisted the occupation, participating in hundreds of demonstrations against the wall and the illegal settler roads. She is married and lives in Ramallah with her Palestinian husband and two children.

Neta Golan arrested by Israeli police after attempting to leave Gaza

Neta Golan, an Israeli citizen and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), has been arrested by Israeli police while attempting to leave Gaza through the Erez border crossing.

Neta Golan, 38, arrived Gaza on the 20th December, along with 17 human rights observers on the SS Dignity, the fifth boat to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, organised by the Free Gaza Movement.

She will be taken to court tomorrow (23rd December) in Kiryat Gat.

Neta Golan’s lawyer, Adnan Aladdin, condemned the arrest;

“Ms Golan’s actions in no way constitute a crime. Her actions in entering Gaza were acts of necessity based on international law and a rejection of the policies of collective punishment pursued by the Israeli government”

“Humanitarian needs, such as those faced by the Palestinian people of Gaza due to the Israeli siege, make non-violent acts that are clearly a response to this act of collective punishment necessary. This is common sense and has precedent.”

“The Defense of Necessity protects those who peacefully seek to prevent gross violations of human rights, grave breaches of humanitarian law, and war crimes from occurring. Non-violent civil disobedience in opposition to and aimed at preventing gross violations of human rights, grave breaches of humanitarian law, and war crimes has been recognized as justified by the necessity of self-defense and the necessity of defense of others in several jurisdictions around the world. (Source – The State of Israel vs.Ascherman, Arik; Omer, Ori; Hamburger, Shai Eliezer, January 2004, Criminal Case # 003751/03)

Under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, collective punishment is deemed a war crime. Article 33 of the the Fourth Geneva Convention states; “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed,” and that “collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”

She stated;

“How can an act against the collective punishment of over 1.5 million people be a crime? The policies of the Israeli State towards the people of Gaza is the real crime”.

“I feel it is my duty to come to Gaza and attempt to raise awareness as to what the Israeli state is doing to the people here. We broke the siege on Gaza, now it is time for more from the international community to do the same in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

The collective punishment of the people of Gaza has, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency, had a devastating effect on the local population. The siege has seen Israel allow only the bare minimum of essential materials allowed into the Strip. Last week even the UN food and cash distribution that was to be transferred was suspended by Israel.

Figures collected by the UN also show that 51.8% of the people of Gaza are now living below the poverty line, a figure the UN described as “unprecedentedly high“. The UN also announced last week that it had been forced to stop distributing food to the 750,000 people inneed and forced to suspend financial distributions to a further 94,000.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles. Founded by a small group of activists in August, 2001, ISM aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian popular resistance by providing the Palestinian people with two resources, international protection and a voice with which to nonviolently resist an overwhelming military occupation force.

The International Solidarity Movement re-established its presence in the Gaza Strip following the first voyage of the Free Gaza Movement on the 23rd August 2008. ISM volunteers have been accompanying Gazan fishermen as they fish with Palestinian waters, working with farmers who have land situated along the Green Line and documenting aspects of the siege and occupation of Gaza. On the 18th November, three ISM volunteers were abducted from Palestinian waters by the Israeli navy together with fifteen Palestinian fishermen. The internationals were later deported from Israel, despite never having entered Israeli territory until taken into Israeli waters by the Israeli navy.

Free Gaza Movement: Dignity pulls into Gaza Port despite Israeli threats

Vittorio Arrigoni, one of the ISM volunteers kidnapped from Palestinian waters by the Israeli navy has returned to Gaza on-board the ‘Dignity’.

Vittorio was deported by Israel, after engaging in a hunger-strike for the return of the Palestinian fishing trawlers stolen by the Israeli navy, despite never having been inside Israeli territory. He now returns to Gaza to rejoin the ISM volunteers working in the Gaza Strip.

(Gaza Port, Gaza, 20 December 2008) The DIGNITY pulled into Gaza Port at 8:00 am today after the Israeli Navy threatened to board them and take the two Israelis off the boat. “We know you have Israelis on board, so either turn back, or we will board and take them off,” said the voice on the radio.

“We are going to Gaza,” Huwaida Arraf, the delegation leader, replied.

Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board and a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement stated, “Countries that commit crimes against humanity often hide those crimes from their own people. Israel is doing exactly that, by not allowing Israelis to come in to witness what they are doing in our name.”

The Dignity also carries two envoys from the Eid Charity in Qatar who are going to Gaza to assess the tragedy there. They will go back with concrete proposals on what they can do to help alleviate Israel’s collective punishment of the 1.5 Palestinians.

“This is just the beginning. We are delighted that we are finally able to see the shores of Gaza and be the first Arab envoys to arrive. We will see how we can work together to help relieve this terrible situation in Gaza,” said Alaze Al-Qahtani.

This is the fifth voyage for the Free Gaza movement. “Everyone said it couldn’t be done, that we would never be able to get to Gaza. But we have now arrived for the fifth time. Now, other ships, especially cargo ships, need to follow in our wake,” said Darlene Wallach, one of the internationals kidnapped from a Palestinian fishing boat by the Israeli navy on l8 November.

Free Gaza Movement: We do not ask permission from Israel

To view the Free Gaza Movement website click here

December 18, 2008

The Free Gaza Movement is sending the Dignity on its fifth mission to Gaza with envoys on board from civil society organizations in Qatar. The boat also carries journalists, human rights observers, and Palestinians who want to return home and have been prevented from doing so by the Israeli occupation.

On the eve of this voyage, the Free Gaza Movement would like to correct a few the statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a December 11 interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. In that interview, Abbas suggesting that our efforts are coordinated with the Israelis – that the Israelis check the passports of the passengers aboard our ship and officials from the Israeli Embassy in Larnaca, Cyprus, check our boat before we leave the port.

And as a result of this interference, President Abbas stated that ours is a “silly game” and that we are not really breaking the siege.

We do not coordinate any of our actions with the Israelis. Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power by collectively punishing the people of Gaza and denying them basic human rights. As such, we neither seek Israel’s permission, nor submit to their searches, to assert the right of the Palestinian people to have access to the outside world, which includes the right to invite and welcome us to Gaza.

So, why do we get in, while other efforts are stopped by the Israeli authorities? Because we remove the “security” pretext with which Israel tries to justify its brutal actions and inhumane policies towards the Palestinian people. Amongst other things, we publicize our passenger list; we depart from Cyprus, a neutral European country; and we submit to a search by the Cypriot Port Authorities to verify that we are not carrying anything that can be considered a threat to Israel’s security. We sail from Cyprus waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza’s territorial waters, without entering Israeli waters. Israel realizes that it cannot stop us without using force against us, because we will not be turned around easily.

President Abbas’ statement that we coordinate with the Israelis was misinformed. However, Abbas was correct when he said that we are not really breaking the siege on Gaza. Our boats cannot break the siege alone. Our hope is that we have started something that others can build on. We have shown that the concerted efforts of ordinary civilians working together in the name of justice can confront and successfully challenge Israel’s brutal policies and hope we have inspired other people to break their silence over Israel’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip and throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. From the continued and accelerated Judaization of Jerusalem and the rabid violence of the settler movement, to the vicious racism of Israeli politicians, Israel is committing massive violations against the people Gaza and Palestine as a whole. The world must stand up to this.

The Free Gaza Movement will continue to send boats to Gaza to challenge Israel’s imprisonment of 1.5 million Palestinians, and we will continue to work for freedom and justice for all of the Palestinian people. We do not need Israel’s permission and we will never ask for it. We do need President Abbas, the Arab world, and the entire international community to join us.