GAZA CITY (1 September 2008) – Human Rights Observers from the Free Gaza Movement and the International Solidarity Movement launch campaign to monitor Israeli naval aggression against Gazan fishermen.
According to a recent article in The Guardian, “Under the Oslo accords, which in 1993 were supposed to herald the coming of an independent Palestinian state, Gazan fishermen were to be allowed 20 nautical miles out to sea, where they could catch sardine as they migrated from the Nile delta up towards Turkey during the spring. But Israeli naval ships in recent years have imposed their own, much-reduced limits, sometimes fewer than 6 miles out.” Israel enforces these arbitrary limits with lethal violence. Many fishermen have either been killed or injured as a result. Just 3 days ago 4 such fishermen were attacked and “arrested” by Israeli gunboats.
This Monday morning, human rights workers from the Free Gaza Movement will accompany fishermen from Gaza City as they venture out to assert their right to fish their own coastal waters. The aim of these internationals will be to record and document the continued harassment of the Palestinian fishermen, and the arbitrary attacks and threats to which they are subjected. It is hoped that their presence will also act as some form of deterrent to these abuses.
The scope of the campaign extends beyond Gaza City all the way along Gaza’s coast. Human Rights Workers may be present on any Gazan fishing boat, at any time from this point onward. The boats on which they are present will not be specially marked.
For more information, please contact:
Gaza: Vittorio Arrigoni, +972 598 826 516
Gaza: Donna Wallach, +972 598 896 420 / FriendsOfGaza@gmail.com
Cyprus: Osama Qashoo, +357 97 793 595 / OsamaQashoo@gmail.com
‘Free-Gaza’ activists plan return to Strip within a month. ‘This might be the beginning of a simple delivery service, if we can set up the mechanisms here in Cyprus,’ member says
To view original article, published by Ynet on the 30th August, click here
Foreign activists who sailed to Gaza last week to protest against an Israeli blockade of the enclave said on Friday they planned to do it again within a month.
Most of the “Free Gaza” activists returned to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus late on Friday, a week after they set sail. They were the first foreigners to go to Gaza by sea since Israel tightened travel restrictions after the militant Hamas movement took control more than a year ago.
“We have roughly 10 of our volunteers in Gaza, and we have to get them,” said Paul Larudee, a member of the US-based group, which included members from 17 countries. “We need to get the passengers together, hopefully within a month.”
Israel allowed the 44 activists to reach Gaza by boat on Aug 23, saying it wanted to avoid a public confrontation. The group brought in a small quantity of hearing aids for children.
“This might be the beginning of a simple delivery service, if we can set up the mechanisms here in Cyprus. This can be used as a model for what can be made more permanent,” said Larudee, a 62-year-old piano tuner from California.
‘Gaza full of death and chaos’
Activist Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British prime minister and present UN envoy for the Middle East Tony Blair, was one of the activists who remained in Gaza.
Seven Palestinians sailed back to Cyprus with the activists, and included Sa’ad Mesleh, who lost a leg in an Israeli army attack on militants three years ago.
“I hope to get an artificial leg so I can have a chance at walking again,” said Mesleh, speaking to Reuters through an interpreter. He said he was hit by Israeli tank fire as he was in a family orchard watering orange trees.
“I don’t have a real life in Gaza, it’s full of death and chaos.”
Looking considerably younger than his 16 years, the wheelchair-bound Mesleh was put in an ambulance and taken to a local government hospital.
Cyprus, which lies some 240 nautical miles west of Gaza, is generally viewed as very sympathetic towards Palestinians. Members of a Cypriot peace group, with close ties to the present communist administration, met activists who arrived in the port of Larnaca on Friday.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt in June. As part of that deal Israel has eased its blockade of the territory, allowing in more humanitarian goods and medical equipment.
By Linda Gradstein (Special to The Washington Post)
To view original article, published by The Washington Post on the 28th August, click here
JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 — Two boats carrying international peace activists left the Gaza Strip on Thursday, five days after they defied an Israeli naval blockade to reach the territory. The activists took seven Palestinians with them, including a 10-year-old boy who lost a leg in an Israeli army attack on Palestinian fighters three years ago.
One of the activists, Paul Larudee, said several Israeli naval vessels shadowed the wooden boats as they left Gaza and sailed toward international waters. Larudee, 63, a piano tuner from California, said the departure of the Palestinians was a milestone: “They got exit stamps from the Palestinian government, they boarded the ships, and soon they’ll be in international waters and then in Cyprus. This is the first time, ever, that Palestinians have been able to freely enter and leave their own country.”
Thousands of Palestinians went to greet the 44 activists from 17 countries when they landed in Gaza on Saturday. The visitors brought 200 hearing aids for Palestinian children and thousands of balloons.
Among the seven Palestinians who left in the boats were Saad Mesleh and his father, Khaled, who said he hoped to have his son fitted with an artificial leg in Cyprus.
Nine of the activists decided to stay in the strip at least temporarily.
Israeli government spokesman Aryeh Mekel said the activists were hoping to attract widespread media coverage, which would have resulted had Israel stopped the boats.
“They entered and they left,” he said. “If these were terrorists, we would care. But the fact is, we allowed it.”
Mekel said Israel did not think the voyage would set a precedent. “If anyone expects a regular flow of ships going back and forth, this is not going to happen,” he said.
Journalist Ahmed Abu Hamda said the visit was “a small victory for Hamas,” the armed Islamist movement that won Palestinian elections in January 2006. Hamas took exclusive control of the territory in June 2007 after clashes with members of the rival Fatah movement. Israel has since severely limited the flow of goods into Gaza, allowing only food and medicine.
A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which went into effect in June, has not ended the blockade. Palestinians say there are shortages of many goods and frequent blackouts because of Israeli limits on the supply of fuel.
“Hamas sent a message to Arab countries who they feel aren’t doing anything, saying, ‘These Western activists managed to do what you haven’t been able to do for two years,’ ” Abu Hamda said.
The only Jewish Israeli on the boat, Jeff Halper, was arrested Tuesday as he returned to Israel and was charged with violating an Israeli military order that prohibits Israelis from entering Gaza.
He spent a night and a day in jail and was released on bail. Halper, head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, said the two boats forced Israel to relinquish at least some control over access to Gaza by sea.
Halper, who last visited the strip in 2000, said Gazans were eager to speak Hebrew with him.
“I would do a telephone interview for the media in Hebrew and, by the end, there would be a dozen Palestinians around me who all wanted to speak to me in Hebrew and tell me about their friends in Tel Aviv,” he said. “It really was very moving. They would say, ‘We’re the same, why is there all this conflict between us?’ ”
“It’s the opposite of what the Israeli public thinks,” Halper said. “They think that Gaza is all Hamas and they hate Israelis. But if they knew the truth, they’d have to say that there is a basis for peacemaking here.”
(GAZA CITY, 28 August 2008) – After having shattered the Israeli blockade of Gaza earlier this week, the Free Gaza and Liberty will depart Gaza for Cyprus at 2pm today. Several Palestinians who have previously been denied exit visas by Israel will join international human rights workers on the journey. Among the Palestinians leaving are Saed Mosleh, age 10, of Beit Hanoun, Gaza. Saed lost his leg due to an Israeli tank shell and is leaving Gaza with his father to seek medical treatment. Also on board are the Darwish family, who will finally be reunited with their relatives in Cyprus.
“I can’t believe we’re finally able to leave for medical treatment,” said Khaled Mosleh, Saed’s father. “This is a miracle of God.”
Nine international human rights workers will remain in Gaza to do longer-term monitoring and accompaniment, and one, Dr. Bill Dienst of Omak, Washington, will attempt to cross over into Israel later today via the Erez crossing.
By freely traveling to Gaza, on Saturday, August 23rd, in two, small, wooden boats, the Free Gaza Movement forced the Israeli government to issue a fundamental policy change regarding their military and economic blockade of Gaza. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs publicly announced that humanitarian and human rights missions to Gaza will no longer be stopped or threatened by Israel. With the end of the Israeli siege of Gaza, Palestinians should be free to exercise their rights without fear of being stopped or killed by the Israeli military.
Yvonne Ridley, a journalist and member for the Free Gaza Movement, summed up her experience in Gaza by saying, “I missed the start of the Berlin Wall coming down by just a few days, but now I know how people felt when they tore down those first few bricks. This has been a huge victory of people over power.”
Since the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement will not be entering Israeli territorial waters, and since they will request an inspection from both the Gaza Port Authority when they depart, and the Cypriot authorities upon their return, they expect no interference on the part of the Israeli authorities when they leave Gaza. By Israel’s own admission, it has no authority to inspect the boats or the passengers when they leave Gaza.
With the collapse of the Israeli blockade, the Free Gaza Movement will quickly return to Gaza with another delegation, and they would like to encourage the United Nations, Arab League and international community to organize similar human rights and humanitarian efforts. The Free Gaza Movement will continue to work to ensure that safe passage between Gaza and the outside world will remain free and open.
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Palestinians leaving Gaza on the Free Gaza & Liberty:
Maha M.S. Darwish, mother
Omar Darwish, age 5
Sami M.J. Darwish, age 14
Ayman M.J. Darwish, age 17
Tawfiq M.J. Darwish, age 18
Khaled Mosleh, father
Saed Mosleh, age 10
International Human Rights Workers leaving Gaza:
Greta Berlin, Los Angeles, USA
Nikolaos Bolos, Athens, Greece
Lauren Booth, London, UK
Maria del Mar, Vilanova i La Geltru, Spain
Musheir El Farra, Sheffield, UK
Eliza Ernshire, London, UK
Petros Giotis, Athens, Greece
Christos Giouanopoulos, Athens, Greece
Derek Graham, Ballina, Ireland
Mary Thompson-Hughes, Los Angeles & London
Fathi Jaoudi, Jendouba, Tunisia & London
Yiannis Karipidis, Komothnh, Greece
Giorgios Klontzas, St. Nicolaos, Greece
John Klusmire, Monterey, CA, USA
The Hon. Anastasios Kourakis, MP (representing Thessaloniki, Greece)
Dr. Paul Larudee, El Cerrito, CA, USA
Dr. Edith Lutz, Cologne, Germany
Theresa McDermott, Edinburgh, Scotland
Sr. Anne Montgomery, New York, USA
Aki Nawaz, Bradford, UK
Thomas Nelson, Welches, OR, USA
Peter Philips, New York, USA
Dr. Vaggelis Pissias, Athens, Greece
Panagiotis Politis, Volos, Greece
Yvonne Ridley, London, UK
David Schermerhorn, Deer Harbor, WA, USA
Huwaida Arraf Shapiro, Ramallah, Palestine
Courtney Sheetz, New York, USA
Kathy Sheetz, Woods Hole, MA, USA
Ren Tawil, Minneapolis, MN
Kathleen Wang, Diamond Bar, CA, USA
International Human Rights Workers remaining in Gaza:
Prof Jeff Halper, the only Israeli on board two ships that attempted to break an Israeli naval blockade on Gaza last week, was released after being detained Tuesday by police
By Shmulik Hadad
To view original article, published by Ynet on the 27th August, click here
Professor Jeff Halper, the only Israeli citizen to participate in a sea-borne attempt to sail into Gaza on Saturday, was released on Wednesday after being detained by police on Tuesday.
Minnesota-born Halper, an Anthropology lecturer from Ben Gurion University who also chairs the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, was among dozens of international activists who sailed from Cyprus over the weekend in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade of the coastal enclave.
Halper was arrested after he passed through the Erez crossing back into Israel, since he had violated a military order prohibiting Jewish civilians from entering Gaza that was legislated pursuant to the Disengagement in 2005. Police originally thought to release Halper conditionally following preliminary questioning, but apparently decided to keep him in lock-up overnight.
There were two potential charges considered against Halper: As stated, his presence in Gaza violates a military order that delineates the region as a military-only zone. Additionally, he was considered a public hazard, since his presence in Gaza would have made him a prime target for kidnapping, which could have had massive negative repercussions on the state and its citizens.
Police met Wednesday morning with Halper’s lawyers, as well as with representatives from the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry, to discuss his status. Despite wanting to file an indictment against Halper, the discussions, and in particular a consultation with the Attorney-General’s Office, motivated police to release him conditionally.
Halper is forbidden from nearing Gaza for the next 30 days and the court ordered him to pay collateral to ensure his compliance.
During this meeting, one of the professor’s lawyer, Yaron Gat, said that Halper had not met with any individuals hostile to Israel, nor had he cooperated with terrorists, but rather merely wanted to promote human rights in by bringing humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
“We are pleased that the attorney general and other government entities understood that this was a purely civil action that, while illegal, was only meant to promote human rights, and that they decided accordingly,” Gat said.
Halper said that he pleased about his release. He referred to his illegal action as part of a “historic moment, because we succeeded in breaching psychological barriers and this shows that it’s possible to make a connection between the two peoples without the interference of governments and shows that there is a partner on the other side.”
“Israel implements a policy of holding the rope at both ends. Allegedly, the state isn’t occupying Gaza but it is in charge of the entrances into Gaza, such that it is actually operating in Gaza,” he added.
According to information relayed during the meeting, the ‘Free Gaza’ organization that coordinated last weekend’s sail intends to send two more ships from Cyprus to Gaza soon, carrying food.
The head of the Sderot Police Station said that, despite the Attorney-General’s advisory opinion, it intends to file an indictment against Halper for his actions.
