PCHR: 2 more fishermen abducted by the Israeli Navy

ISM Gaza | Fishing Under Fire

16 June 2009

At approximately 06:00, IOF gunboats opened fire at a fishing boat in al-Waha area in the northern Gaza Strip. They then moved towards the boat and arrested two fishers: Hadi Sobhi Sa’dallah, 19; and his brother Ashraf, 26. They took the two fisherso Ashdod Harbor in the south of Israel and interrogated them. The two fishers were released in the evening.

Gaza fishermen petition High Court

Aviad Glickman | YNet News

16 June 2009

Four Palestinians from Gaza petitioned the High Court of Justice Tuesday in an effort to get back their confiscated fishing boat, seized by the IDF last month.

The fishermen claim that their livelihood had been gravely undermined by Israel’s Defense Ministry and demand compensation in addition to the ship’s return.

The Navy operates near Gaza’s shores regularly in a bid to prevent maritime terror attacks and often encounters innocent fishermen, who are promptly warned to sail back to permitted zones. However, the petitioners claim that they were sailing in an approved area during the incident in question.

According to the petition, two IDF vessels approached the ship, fired at it, and ordered the crew to leave. Later, a Navy boat approached the fishing vessel and ordered the fishermen to disembark, the petitioners said. The soldiers are said to have covered the fishermen’s eyes and handcuffed them.

Two Palestinians were eventually questioned by Shin Bet officials following the seizure, before being returned to the Gaza Strip via the Erez crossing. The four ship owners say Israeli officials promised to return the ship and its contents within a week, but have not done so to date.

The petitioners say they approached the Defense Ministry several times but have not received a relevant response. They said that none of them were ever involved in terror activity against Israel.

Israeli navy shoots at Gazan fishermen, no injuries

Ramattan

12 June 2009

Israeli warships shot at Palestinian fishermen in the northern coast of the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian security sources said.

Sources reported that the Israeli navy opened heavy fire against a number of Gazan fishermen and their boats near Al-Sudaniya neighborhood north of Gaza, no injuries or damages were reported.

The Israeli navy prevents Gazan fishermen to sail more than 3 miles into Gaza regional water, what makes it difficult to find the good fish.

Yesterday, Israeli gunboats also opened heavy fire at Palestinian fishermen in the coast of Gaza without causing injuries or damages.

Israeli piracy continues unabated – six more fishermen abducted

ISM Gaza | Fishing Under Fire

4 June 2009

Gazan territorial waters – At around 9 am, six Palestinian fishermen were abducted by the Israeli Navy whilst fishing in Palestinian territorial waters. The fishermen are reported as being; Adham Al – Habil 21, Mohammed Al – Habil 20, Ahmed Al – Habil, Maher Abu Sultan 25, Mohammed Al – Arayshi, and Sadam Bakar.

The fishermen embarked from Gaza port at 8 am, in a trawling vessel owned by Abu Adham. At around 9 am when they were 3 miles from shore, and 0.5 km south of the “K” area (a designated no-fishing area in the Oslo Accords), they reported that an Israeli gun boat had approached, fired at them, and demanded that they turn of the boats engine. Communication with the fishermen was then lost.

It is believed that all of the fishermen have been abducted, and that their boat has been seized. Several fishermen that were recently abducted in similar circumstances, but have now been released, had reported that at the time of their abduction, the Israeli Navy threatened that “If we see Abu Adham’s boat in the sea again, we’ll seize it and arrest all the fishermen.”

In the last few months, the Israeli Navy have escalated their campaign of persecution against the Palestinian fishermen. Of particular note is the recent spate of abductions. Since the declaration of a cease-fire in January of this year, and prior to today, 40 abductions of fishermen have been reported, and 17 fishing boats have been seized or stolen. About 10 of these boats have been returned but with damages and equipment missing.

Abu Adham’s trawling boat was one of three boats seized by the Israeli Navy in November 2008. 15 of the fishermen aboard along with three members of the International Solidarity Movement were also abducted. Following a court case filed by PCHR, Al Mezan, and the ISM the 3 vessels were returned – although damaged and with equipment missing. On the 7th May 2009, one of these boats (belonging to Abu Rami) was again seized by the Israeli Navy and its crew abducted. Israel is refusing to return this boat. Along with Abu Adham’s vessel, it now appears that two of the trawlers stolen by the Israeli Navy in November 2008, are again in Israeli hands.

An open letter to President Obama from the Free Gaza Movement

Free Gaza Movement

3 June 2009

Dear President Obama,

Tomorrow you travel to Egypt to give one of the most important speeches of your presidency. With the words you deliver you have said that you want to “reset” U.S. relations with the Muslim world and create a fundamental change for the better. We sincerely wish you well. But you have also said that “part of being a good friend is being honest.” Let’s be honest.

Israel’s ongoing occupation and colonization of Palestinian land and the United States’ unquestioned financial, military and political support for Israel is at the heart of the negative perceptions and bitter anger that many Arabs and Muslims have of the United States. Tomorrow, we hope to hear from you a commitment to aligning U.S. policy in the Middle East with U.N. Resolutions and international law.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives everyone the right to freely enter and exit one’s own country. You will exercise this right when you arrive in Egypt tomorrow and then return to the United States. This is a right that Palestinians–particularly those trapped in Gaza–are routinely denied.

Over 200 Palestinian medical patients in Gaza, many critically ill, are unable to seek adequate treatment because Israeli authorities regularly deny Palestinian patients the right to travel abroad to receive the medical treatment that is not available in Gaza; at the same time import of many medicines and medical equipment into Gaza is prevented by Israel.

Over 700 Palestinian students in Gaza, many with scholarships, are unable to attend their universities abroad because Israel regularly denies them this right.

Thousands of Palestinians abroad are unable to visit their families because Israel will not allow them to re-enter their own country.

When you arrive in Egypt you will travel to your accommodations in a car maintained with spare parts banned to Palestinians, powered by gasoline denied to the people of Gaza. You will use electric lights that do not often work in Gaza, because Israel blocks the fuel needed to run Gaza’s electrical grid. You may enjoy a cup of coffee or tea during your visit – commodities Israel will not allow into Gaza.

The truth is that Israel lets in less than 20% of the ordinary supplies needed in Gaza, and allows no reconstruction materials whatsoever to enter. As a consequence over 95% of all industries have collapsed, creating massive unemployment and poverty. The purpose of the Israeli blockade is to punish and break an entire people. Collective punishment is strictly prohibited under international law, yet it remains Israel’s primary policy in regards to the Palestinian people.

On June 25th, the Free Gaza Movement sets sail on our eighth voyage to challenge the brutal Israeli blockade of Gaza. Though we have been threatened and our ships rammed by the Israeli navy, we will not be deterred. We sail in the spirit of the Freedom Riders who, in the year you were born, risked their lives so that African-Americans could travel freely in the United States. We sail in the spirit of international cooperation that helped create the United Nations, in the spirit of the international civil resistance that overcame Apartheid.

President Obama, you have based your political career on what you call the “audacity of hope” – the faith that each of us, individually and collectively, can change things for the better. But faith without action is dead. We too believe in hope, but from our experience we know that hope alone will not change the world. Like you, we know that the price and promise of our mutual humanity demands that each of us treat one another with dignity and respect, and that all of us strive to insure that our sisters and brothers around the world are free to make of their lives what they will, and pursue their full measure of happiness.

Mister President, you led the fight in the U.S. Senate to insure that aid was actually delivered to people after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. A man-made disaster continues to devastate the people of Gaza; due to Israel’s ongoing hermetic closure of the Gaza Strip over 80% of the population there require food assistance just in order to survive. We hope your speech tomorrow in Egypt is successful but, at a minimum, you must use your privilege to demand and secure open access to Gaza for all international humanitarian, reconstruction, and developmental supplies. Words matter, but words are not enough.

We in the Free Gaza Movement will sail to Gaza again and again and again, in vigorous unarmed resistance, until the Israeli blockade is forever shattered and the Palestinian people have free access to the rest of the world.

Please recognize that the fact that we even have to ask (let alone risk our lives) to be allowed to provide food to the hungry, medicine to the sick, and shelter to the homeless is in itself an obscenity. We look forward to hearing from you an uncompromising commitment for the immediate end of the criminal siege of Gaza, as well as an assurance that respect for the human rights, dignity and equality of the Palestinian people will be at the core of your administration’s policy toward the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Sincerely Yours,
The Free Gaza Movement Board of Directors

Huwaida Arraf, JD
Greta Berlin
Eliza Ernshire
Derek Graham
Fathi Jaouadi
Ramzi Kysia