28th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
(Photo by Awni Farhat)
Before we settle down for a glass of Turkish coffee among shelves filled with neatly stacked, woven carpets Mahmoud El Sawaf, 68 years old, shows me around the small factory. The tour goes pretty quickly. There ‘s only a mechanized loom and a manual one. The market in Gaza is too small for more.
Before the siege escalated in 2007, he had a bigger factory, which employed 17 people with nine mechanical and 15 manual looms, and there were hundreds of producers around the Gaza Strip. Now they are only five left, and he is the only one with a power loom in production, but it has its limitations due to the daily power cuts. But the difficulties had already begun in 2005, says Mahmoud, a man viewing things in big pictures, when the Israelis left Gaza.
(Photo by Awni Farhat)
We are still occupied, he continues. They control our airspace, borders on land and at sea, our economy and our lives. The difference is that it happens without their physical presence. But when they were here, there were completely different conditions for economic exchange, even though Palestinians were often regarded and treated as second-class people. Mahmoud was permitted to travel and trade with the West Bank, Jordan and the Gulf countries. That is impossible today.
He points to a small pile of carpets lying on the floor that a Palestinian in Ukraine want to get delivered. But Mahmoud do not know how he will be able to send them there.
He says he is not bitter against Israelis, carefully pointing out that its population does not necessarily support the policies of their government. He does not lay not all the blame on the Israeli government, but also on the governments of the world that allows Israel to continue. But he hopes that the situation will change for the better. We have to, he says, otherwise we have nothing to live for. And he hopes Gaza’s Ark will show the world that Gaza needs commerce, to be a part of the global economy and not aid-dependent as it is now.
(Photo by Awni Farhat)
But one ark will not create a lasting change. It has to be many. The need is for continuity of supplies and an open export economy. This has not been allowed since the blockade began. One of the reasons is obviously to strangle the economy, but there is an even more important reason not many people think about, Mahmoud says, putting his glass down on the tray.
When you go inton the market you can find a plethora of different products, mostly junk, imported without problems. But when I try to get raw material to produce carpets, it is far more difficult. It can take months to get in materials, and usually only in small quantities. I was lucky to have had a stock before the siege began. When there are fewer producers, there is also less fighting over what little there is to get. The reason is to wipe out Palestinian culture and history. It is often called a security threat, and to some extent it is true.
Not for the Israelis, but for their government’s policy of denial. And this one of the reasons it is allowed to import mass-produced rugs, from China, while I will probably never be able to send those carpets to Ukraine. So it’s for more than just my own economy and survival of my company for which I hope from Gaza’s Ark, he concludes. It is for the whole Palestinian existence.
21st March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
On Tuesday, 11th March, Israeli naval forces arrested two Palestinian fishermen and confiscated their fishing boat off the coast of Gaza City.
The two cousins, Shabaan Abu Ryala (33) and Jihad Abu Ryala (24), both from al-Shati (“Beach”) refugee camp, went to fish at 7:00 am.
“At about 2:00 pm, Israeli vessels approached our boat and soldiers started shooting,” Jihad said. “We were about four miles offshore. We tried to escape. Soldiers opened fire at our boat and engine. We were about to sink. Our boat was destroyed.”
The two fishermen had tried to escape, and were returning to the coast, when they were forced to stop and were detained about two and a half miles off the coast of Gaza City.
Members of the International Solidarity Movement watched their detention from a building in Gaza City. A video shows two Israeli gunboats towing the fishing boat after its capture.
“A soldier ordered me to go to the front of the boat, take off my clothes, dive and climb aboard their ship, which was a few meters away from our boat,” Jihad said. “I was not willing to take off my clothes, but they shouted for me to do so. My cousin Shabaan was trying to convince me to listen to the Israeli soldiers.
“So I undressed and dived into the sea. I felt cold and swam back to my boat, but the soldiers started shooting and telling me, ‘come on the ship.’ One of the Israeli gunboats was close to our boat, but the soldiers told us to swim to the other gunboat that was distant from us.
“I decided to swim. When I reached the ship, the soldiers pulled me on board. They made me wear a pair of trousers. I was handcuffed with my hands behind my back, blindfolded and hooded.”
Jihad’s family showed the trousers, fleece and slippers the army gave the two fishermen.
“They took our boat, worth $12,000 and gave us a tracksuit worth less than 20 shekels,” a member of the family said.
As the Israeli gunboats headed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, the soldiers asked the two fishermen for general information, their name and ID number. “I don’t remember the number of my identity card,” Jihad said. “I told the soldier, who then used force on me. He was trying to get information from me. Then another soldier said, ‘Leave him.’”
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
At the port of Ashdod, soldiers removed the bandages from the eyes of the fishermen and freed them from their handcuffs to allow them to leave the ship. The fishermen were given sweatshirts and slippers.
“We were hooded and handcuffed again,” Jihad said. “We were then taken to a small room where soldiers freed us from handcuffs and bandages. A female army doctor checked our health condition and blood pressure. When she finished, we were handcuffed and blindfolded again.
“We were left alone for about twenty minutes. Then a detective came to interrogate me. During the investigation, they took the bandages off my eyes while my cousin was still blindfolded. The investigator asked me the names of my family members, from the smallest to the eldest. He asked me who my friends are. Then I was blindfolded and handcuffed.
“I was taken to another room, where I stayed for about an hour. Later a detective came and asked me, ‘Can you tell me how the soldiers treated you on board the ship?’ then, he ‘Do you remember the identification number of the ships that fired on your boat?’ I said yes and I gave him the identification numbers. Then they left me alone for about four hours.
“Then a soldier came, freed me from handcuffs, hit me hard in my back and said I could go home.”
The two fishermen were transported to Erez and crossed into the Gaza Strip around midnight.
In addition to the fishing boat, the two fishermen lost two GPS units and a telephone on the fishing boat.
Jihad had already been arrested by the Israeli navy once in 2008. His cousin Shabaan was arrested for the third time.
A fisherman said that since 2010, Israel has not returned any of the small fishing boats it has confiscated.
Jihad has two young children and has been a fisherman since he was ten. His family is a family of fishermen.
Thirty-one people from Jihad and Shabaan’s families depended on the confiscated fishing boat. It was their only source of livelihood. Jihad’s family owns another small boat, without a motor and slightly damaged.
“Neither of them worked,” Shabaan’s father said. “There is no hope for them.”
Al-Shati refugee camp was dark. For a few days, the Gaza Strip had only six hours of electricity daily due to the lack of fuel. The power went off around 6:30 pm, when the ISM’s meeting with the fishermen ended.
In the camp, a strong smell came from sewage flowing along the asphalt. Some children played on roller skates. One of them fell in the darkness, but he stood up immediately. They smiled when a group greeted them.
Looking at the sea on my right, I watched the lights of the fishing boats and the helplessness that I felt during our meeting mingled with anger.
“The situation here is getting worse and worse,” a Palestinian said.
Here people continue living thanks to donations and meager food parcels. “The refugees,” victims of a double injustice, still dream of returning to their lands and hand down their history and their right of return from generation to generation.
The Israeli army perpetuates its daily violations in the light of day. For many years, thousands of reports have denounced these violations with no result. No international power intervenes to stop Israeli forces, no international body sanctions Israel. For this reason, Israeli naval forces continue entering into Gaza seas, in which they impose an illegal blockade, and do what they want.
Sometimes, fishermen who have been attacked ask what can they get through reports like this. How can we answer? Sometimes we tell them that the reports are helpful in order to raise awareness among people. But in practice, if our institutions will not take action against the Israeli government, nothing will change. BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel is a good response to Israeli violations.
Although officially the limit imposed by Israel on Gaza waters is six nautical miles off the Palestinian coast, Israeli naval forces impose a limit of one or two miles in the waters to the north of Gaza Strip. The limit is shrinking even in the waters in the south of the Gaza Strip, especially off the coast of Rafah.
These continuous attacks against Gaza fishermen undermine their ability to subsistence and constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.
Background
Israel has progressively imposed restrictions on Palestinian fishermen’s access to the sea. The 20 nautical miles established under the Jericho agreements, between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1994, were reduced to 12 miles in the Bertini Agreement of 2002. In 2006, the area Israel allowed for fishing was reduced to six nautical miles from the coast. After its military offensive “Operation Cast Lead” (December 2008 – January 2009) Israel imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast, preventing Palestinians from accessing 85% of the water to which they are entitled under the Jericho agreements of 1994.
Under the ceasefire agreement reached by Israel and the Palestinian resistance after the Israeli military offensive “Operation Pillar of Defense” (November 2012), Israel agreed that Palestinian fishermen could again sail six nautical miles from the coast. Despite these agreements, the Israeli navy has not stopped its attacks on fishermen, even within this limit. In March 2013, Israel once again imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast. On 22 May, Israeli military authorities announced a decision to extend the limit to six nautical miles again.
11th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Jenny and Derek Graham
On Christmas Day 2013, a small armada of tank trucks drove around Jabaliya, the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and one of the areas severely affected during the recent floods. Clean water is in short supply here, and many households are forced to spend more than a quarter of their disposable income on this coveted resource. In a refugee camp marked by poverty, this cost is even higher than it sounds. So the truck made frequent stops to fill the water tanks on rooftops, in stairwells or in shacks of corrugated iron and tarpaulins, since the water, this time, was free.
The news of free water spread like wildfire in the camp, and people began to gather around the cars with jugs they wanted to fill, some as small as five liters. A little girl with pigtails came with a coffeepot. Others pointed to houses a few blocks away, afraid that the water would run out before the cars reached them. But the water would suffice. 2.3 million liters were distributed over a period of five weeks in a well-coordinated program. The initiators are an Irish couple, Derek and Jenny Graham, and the program was funded by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.
This was not the first time the Grahams had taken the initiative to coordinate a similar program. In 2012, they worked for three months handing out water, all over the Gaza Strip that time in green-colored bottles. 600,000 1.5 liter bottles, purchased from an international soft drink giant’s Gaza plant, were carried into mosques and churches for further distribution to hospitals and schools, but also handed directly from the cars to the outstretched hands in the areas most affected by poverty. On Fridays, during the weekends here, the drivers also worked for free, contributing in this way to distribute water to more people in need.
Water distribution is not the only thing the Grahams do. On Christmas Evem they were in a Bedouin camp in the north with blankets and plastic sheeting they had purchased using funds raised on their Web site, separate from Perdana. Because of the simple homes the Bedouins had built, they were hit very hit by the storms that recently swept across the Gaza Strip and in dire need of help. Not only was there major damage to their homes and cattle-sheds, but most of their crops were beyond rescue. But they fell through the cracks if they were not refugees, and were therefore not supported by the UN refugee agency, UNRWA. The government’s ability and willingness to invest in infrastructure near the buffer zone near the separation barrier between Israel and the Gaza Strip, facing constant shootings and incursions by the occupying power, is limited.
The Grahams’ solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza did not start here. In 2008, Derek was on the Free Gaza and Liberty boats when they broke the siege, even if only temporarily. Later that year, he sailed on the Dignity which was boarded by the Israeli military, resulting in a short detention. More attempts followed, on Humanity in 2009, and with Jenny on the Rachel Corrie and Challenger I and II in 2010. In 2011, they made an effort with the MV Finch, but were forced away, and into Egyptian waters, by the Israeli military about 400 meters from their goal. A three-week detention on board the boat, docked in al- Arish, followed. According to Israeli terminology, they are probably classified as repeat offenders. That they tried to bring medicine to a health care system desperately in need because of the blockade, as well as cement for reconstruction, is not likely to be seen as a mitigating factor. The cargo the MV Finch carried, a total of 7.5 kilometers of PVC sewer pipe, finally entered Gaza, with help from the UN, after an eight-month battle.
Their work for the Palestinian people has resulted in an impressive network of contacts with influential people at multiple levels within the community, necessary contacts for the plans they are making for the future. Recently they received approval from the port authority and support among fishermen for an experiment to significantly reduce fuel consumption relative to the catch, something important when fuel prices have doubled since Egypt demolished the tunnels, and with catches gradually decreasing already due to Israeli military limits on fishermen’s ability to pursue their profession. Among their plans is also a sea rescue unit, an effort that is already underway and a project that finds legitimacy in the fourth Geneva Convention.
But what is it that compels them to do all this? They are now in their sixth year, starting from when they first entered by sea. They do not seek fame, and the compensation they receive from Perdana is only paid when they perform projects on its behalf. And why Gaza? Jenny looks up from her laptop when I ask the question, shrugs, and explains for me the similarities between the Palestinian situation and the Irish people’s suffering during the British occupation: the arbitrary arrests, the denials of human rights, and the desire for freedom and self-determination that cannot be extinguished even by force of arms. They have no trouble identifying their history with the Palestinians, and it feels completely natural to assist them. Derek nods in agreement, adding that they cannot reach the West Bank after their time in Israeli detention, and the Gaza Strip is the only part of Palestine where they can reach and work. There are moments when we wonder how long we will cope, he tells me, but when we see that our efforts are making a difference, it is easier to continue.
4th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Bahaa Al Farra. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
In the shadow of the bleachers of Yarmouk stadium in Gaza City, still damaged by Israeli bombing, 400-meter Olympic runner Bahaa Al Farra trains. Bahaa took part in the London Olympics, along with three other Palestinian athletes, in 2012. “I started racing at the age of 14,” he said. “We used to compete mostly among students. The coaches attended the competitions and selected the best players.”
That’s how he met his current coach, Ibrahim Abu Hasira, seven years ago. “In 2005 I had the opportunity to compete in a competition in Egypt, but due to the closure of the crossing I could not attend it,” Bahaa said. “Whenever we have opportunities, we face problems related to the siege and military aggression. Several times I stopped the sport due to depression or a bad mood. The first time I left the Gaza Strip was in 2011, when I went to Korea. I was very motivated. Then in March 2012, I competed in Istanbul, and in August 2012 in London for the Olympic Games. But after a week, we were told that we should leave, because we would have risked not being able to return to the Gaza Strip due to the problems in the Sinai.”
Bahaa Al Farra (left), Ibrahim Abu Hasira (center), and runner Mohammed Abu Khousa. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
“London was a great experience,” Bahaa said. “I met gold medalists. I hope someday Palestinians can win gold medals. It was nice to see how people support the athletes. I felt great emotions. I hope one day to get on the podium. I’m running to represent my country and my people, to make sure that other people know Palestine. I run to prove that despite the suffering in which we live, some runners emerge from the darkness and manage to do something important.”
The Gaza Strip has no quality sports facilities where runners can train, Bahaa said. “This land is not suitable for runners, and would require appropriate shoes,” he said, indicating the ground on which he trains. Yarmouk stadium does not have a track for athletics. It is not a track and field stadium and there is a lack of equipment for athletes, such as starting blocks. Athletes myst train to use them, but have the opportunity only when they go abroad or shortly before competitions.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Bahaa has lost at least five opportunities to train or race abroad due to closures of the Rafah border crossing. “Sometimes when there is a chance, I say ‘goodbye’ to my friends and family, I go to the crossing and then I go back home,” he said. Since the overthrow of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013, openings of the Rafah crossing have been limited. The new Egyptian authorities open the crossing only sporadically, reinforcing the Israeli siege and isolating the population of the Gaza Strip more and more.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Now Bahaa hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. “We hope there are international organizations that can sponsor Palestinian athletes,” he said. “We need training camps”. years old, Bahaa trains every day, except Friday, in Yarmouk stadium, on the beach or in the street. Like all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, he faces daily challenged due to the siege. “Sometimes I come home after training and I have no chance to take a shower because due to the lack of electricity, there is no hot water,” he said.
A football match in Yarmouk stadium. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
According to Bahaa’s coach, Ibrahim Abu Hasira, “the psychological state of the runners is one of the worst aspects. The obstacles faced by the athletes cause great damage. Often they suffer from depression. I knocked on the doors of many organizations. They replied that there are no donations. I try to encourage the athletes to kill the depression caused by the siege. I treat them as a father, not as a coach. I try to let them overcome their psychological problems. Here athletes face few possibilities. I have been in many European countries in the past. I have seen how sport is considered. If you want to compare the situation there to that of Gaza, you could say that there is no life in Gaza. When athletes are able to leave the Strip, and they know about life in other countries, they feel very motivated. Then they return here to depression.”
Israeli violations: the report of the Palestinian Football Association
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Just a few days ago, a paper on Israeli violations against Palestinian athletes drafted by the Palestinian Football Association was published on the Internet. It had been presented at the annual conference of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in 2013. Jibril Al Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and the Palestinian Football Association, denounced these offenses during a press conference June 2013, especially those concerning restrictions on the movement of Palestinian athletes, coaches and sports clubs directors, as well as international experts, consultants, trainers and representatives of bodies such as FIFA, and on the entry of sports equipment into Palestine. Al Rajoub also pointed out that Israel had prevented the construction of sports facilities on Palestinian land near illegal Israeli settlements.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
The paper stresses that the sport, and football in particular, face a series of obstacles and deterrents whose main cause is Israel’s military occupation. Football, the document states, should bring people together, promoting ethics, building bridges of friendship between peoples, and be based on the values of peace and fair competition. The restrictions imposed by Israel instead damage the morale of young Palestinian players, undermine their future as athletes and hinder the growth of football, and sport in general, in Palestine.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Israel has committed human rights violations against Palestinian athletes, many of whom were detained; restricted the freedom of movement of athletes and other sports figures; impeded and obstructed to construction of sporting facilities or destroyed existing structures (like the destruction of stadiums and sports clubs during bombings of Gaza); restricted the receipt of sports equipment sent by FIFA or donated by other sports organizations and federations, or releases donations only after the payments of exorbitant taxes; interfered in the organizations of friendly matches between Palestine and other associations through political intervention and pressure to discourage games; and intervened militarily during football matches.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
These actions are violations of the basic rights in FIFA statutes and the Olympic Charter. The document gives examples of athletes killed or detained by Israeli military forces, like the football player Mahmoud Sarsak, captured when he was leaving the Gaza Strip for the West Bank to play with a new club. He was detained for more than three years without process, and released in 2012 only after 90 days of hunger strike, under pressure from FIFA’s president, other sporting bodies and international public opinion.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Israeli checkpoints prevent athletes, like all other Palestinians, from moving freely between Palestinian cities, while players who live abroad do not easily obtain permission to enter the Palestinian territories. For the players of Gaza Strip it’s difficult to enter the West Bank. Like other residents of the Gaza Strip, an athlete must obtain a special permit from Israeli authorities and indicate the reason for the visit, in addition to the destination city. If an athlete has to go to Ramallah, and for some reasons finds himself in another Palestinian city, he is likely to be deported to Gaza. Even permits to go to Jordan are obtained after exhausting procedures that negatively impact athletes’ performances. These restrictive measures prevent players in the Gaza Strip from joining the national team, and Gaza athletes from competing in the West Bank, like on 21 February, 2013, when Israel authorities barred 23 runners from participating in the International Palestine Marathon in Bethlehem without giving any reason.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
When Palestinian athletes from Gaza do not get permission from Israeli to go to the West Bank, they must travel separately and reach their team abroad. Delays at border crossings and other obstacles can cause the loss of their flights.
The latest violation against Palestinian athletes took place on 31 January, when two Palestinian football players, Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, age 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, age 17, were returning from a workout at Faisal Al Husseini stadium in the West Bank town of Al Ram, and were wounded by Israeli forces near a checkpoint. While the two men were walking, the Israeli soldiers opened fire and released their dogs to attack them. The soldiers dragged the two athletes down the street and beat them. They were transported to a hospital in Jerusalem, and have undergone different surgeries for the extraction of bullets from their bodies. Jawhar was wounded by 11 bullets: seven in his left foot, three in the right, and one in his left hand. Halabiya was wounded by a bullet in each foot. Doctors at the Ramallah hospital where they were taken before transfer to the King Hussein medical center in Amman said it would take six months of treatment to assess if the two young athletes would be able to walk again. But they will not be able to play any more.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Al Rajoub has called for the expulsion of Israel from FIFA for its racist policies which violate international law. “The Israeli brutality against the two young men emphasizes the insistence of the Occupation on destroying the Palestinian sport, he said.”
Three days later, on 3 February, Avi Luzon, president of the Israel Football Association and Jibril Al Rajoub, met with FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Zurich to discuss implementation the agreements from the meeting on 23 September for facilitating the movement of players, coaches, referees, officials and equipment into, out of and within Palestine. The process, which is part of the “FIFA Israel-Palestine task force” announced by Blatter in July 2013, will be monitored by FIFA.
19th February 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Palestinian fishermen paddle a small fishing boat, or hasaka, off the Gaza coast. (Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
Three Palestinian fishermen were arrested and had their boats and gear confiscated by occupation forces on Tuesday, 11th February, in two separate incidents, despite the fact that they were well within the Israel-permitted zone and could not be classified as security threat to the State of Israel, its civilians or its military.
Mohamed Sleeby, 42, paddled out early in the morning in his hasaka with his son, Ahmed, 16, from the beach at Shati, north of Gaza City. Mohamed’s boat is a smaller hasaka without an engine, four meters long, and can only fish close to shore. While they pulled on their nets about half a nautical mile from the shore, Israeli patrol boats approached. When they started shooting, other Palestinian fishing boats nearby fled.
“It was like a horror movie,” Mohamed said. “I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, they were right in front of the hasaka with aimed guns and masked faces. They shot into the water right next to us and ordered us to strip completely naked and swim, one at a time, towards them. It was humiliating to stand there completely naked in front of them, stripped of all humanity, with my son at my side. But I dared not disobey.”
Despite his fear, Mohamed asked that his son be spared. The soldiers shouted at him to shut up. They shot near his son, even though he held his hands outstretched while waiting for his turn to step into the cold water. Once they were pulled onto one of the patrol boats, they were given clothes, but hoods were also pulled over their heads. They were taken to a waiting, larger military boat outside zone allowed by Israel to Palestinian fishermen. Even with shackles on the hands and feet, they were forced to kneel on their knees. Fadel Al-Sultan, 25, was also on board. Earlier that morning, he had also been detained, and had his small hasaka without an engine seized, less than half a nautical half from the shore.
In Ashdod, they all underwent health checks, were photographed holding their results and their personal details on sheets of paper, and were accused of having been outside the permitted zone. Fadel, who had previously been captured twice while fishing, was threatened with being sent directly to jail without trial if he was caught again. As with previous detentions of Palestinian fishermen, the interrogators focused on collecting information about government buildings and their staff in Gaza, on possible contacts with insurgents and on personal networks. Unlike previous detentions, they also asked where any fish farms were located on land. Later they were transported to Erez, where a new hearing began with Mohamed Sleeby, his skin was checked for traces of explosives and attempts were made to recruit him to the Israeli intelligence service.
“He [the lone interrogator] knew everything about me,” Muhamed said. “He knew I did not pay taxes on electricity. He offered to pay them, promised I would get my hasaka and nets back, and even said I would get a little money. He said I should not be afraid, that I am in good hands and that no one but me, him and God would know anything about this, that I ought to think about my family and not miss the chance. But I cannot do that to my brothers and neighbors. He said I should think about it and that he would contact me by phone. But how can he do that? It was left with my clothes in the hasaka they seized. No, I would rather starve than help the ones keeping us in poverty.”
Fadel Al-Sultan. (Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
Muhamed Sleeby and Fadel Al-Sultan’s answers on why the Israeli military attacks the fisherman so close to the shore, even though they can pose no threat to the State of Israeli or its residents, were consistent. “They want to make life even more difficult for us,” they say, “to prevent us from supporting ourselves.” Fadel also says that to get better catches, they need to go 7-8 nautical miles from the coast, but that is impossible because Israel has limited them to six nautical miles. But even that limit is irrelevant, as they are attacked so far inside it that they all have to fight for the small catches along the beach. Those who have to paddle out to fish are now competing with larger boats forced toward the shore.
In January, thirteen attacks have been carried out by the Israeli military against Palestinian fishermen. At one time the occupying power decreed a six-nautical mile limit, at another three miles, but it has consistently attacked far within three nautical miles from the coast. Both these attacks and the limits are violations of international law.
