Appeal for support from the Gaza aid flotilla
Viva Palestina’s Kevin Ovendon reports live from the flotilla:
At 10.41pm, preparations aboard the Mavi Marmara are extensive. We are 90 miles away from land – 22 miles further than the Israeli decided 68 mile exclusion zone – but are being approached by an Israeli vessel.
Triage is set up and various strategies implemented to resist seizure. The Israeli media is reporting that Israel will deploy a very large naval force. Far from minimising violence, this is an illegal aggressive move which will make violence more likely.
We are broadcasting live from the ship. Calm and organisation overcome the fear that Israel is trying to instill.
Viva Palestina and all aboard are prepared.
We are calling on everyone to contact various political leaders to ask them to do everything in their power to ensure the safety of these brave people, and to stand up and add their voice in support of this humanitarian flotilla.
Full details of how they can contact these political figures can be found through following link: Gaza TV News on Facebook
Scroll down the page to find template letters to use and email addresses to send them to. Full instructions are provided, and we ask that you follow these and show your support for everyone involved.
This is a very serious situation, and we are calling on everyone to play their part in helping ensure their safety, and that the aid reaches Gaza without difficulty.
Excellent video report by Hassan Ghani, Press TV on board the main passenger ship.
And another one from Jamal Elshayyal of Al Jazeera.
In Gaza: Waiting for the flotilla
Via In Gaza
Ibrahim, son of a Palestinian fisherman, waits for the Freedom Flotilla in Gaza City harbour, 30 May 2010
A demo on the sea today, a day in advance of the anticipated arrival of the Freedom Flotilla, originally comprising nine boats and 700 people. The Flotilla has been delayed by sudden mechanical failures, international complicity, the pull-out of the Cyprus government’s support – and its banning of boats in Cyprus waters – and more despicable but unsurprising political manoeuvring.
But despite Israel’s promised threat to forcibly stop the boats (in international or Palestinian waters, as with the sixth Free Gaza boat voyage (which was rammed by an Israeli gunboat) and abduct all their passengers (as they have previously done), the flotilla streams forward with the 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies they are bringing to Gaza.
Ibrahim, 10 or so, is the son of one of Gaza’s unrepresented fishermen, numbering now around just 3000 whereas fishing used to employ over 10,000. The number of reported incidents of Israeli gunboat attacks on Palestinian fishing trawlers and hassakas (small motor or paddled boats) is over 300 since Israel’s war on Gaza. OCHA reports at least two fishermen have been killed and 12 injured by Israeli attacks since January 2009.
(More on Israel’s daily attacks, abductions of fishermen and stealing of boats and equipment can be found at Fishing Under Fire.)
Ibrahim’s father, Khaled al Habil, has on many occassions suffered partial, serious and complete damage to his fishing trawlers. In September 2009, one of his trawlers was targeted by an Israeli gunboat missile, along with intense machine gun fire. The boat burned to charred remains.
But today Ibrahim joins the excitement on the water. He straddles the front of a motor boat, Palestinian flag in hand, other hand raised in victory.
But when the demo is over, Ibrahim will return to his impoverished home (rendered devastated by the siege and Israeli limitations on fishing: down from 20 miles under Oslo, to less than 3 miles under Israel’s unliateral imposition).
The demo returns with an Israeli gunboat pirating Gaza’s waters, machine gun fire reverberating as ever.
Power is out at home, as it will be all over Gaza in stages.
For over four years, Israel has subjected the civilian population of Gaza to an increasingly severe blockade, resulting in a man-made humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.
Earlier this month, John Ging, the Director of Operations of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, called upon the international community to break the siege on the Gaza Strip by sending ships loaded with humanitarian aid. This weekend, nine civilian boats carrying 700 human rights workers from 40 countries and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid will attempt to do just that: break through the Israel’s illegal military blockade on the Gaza Strip in non-violent direct action.
In response, the Israeli government has threatened to send out ‘half’ of its Naval forces to violently stop our flotilla, and they have engaged in a deceitful campaign of misinformation regarding our mission.
Israel claims that there is no ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Every international aid organisation working in Gaza has documented this crisis in stark detail. Just released earlier this week, Amnesty International’s Annual Human Rights Report stated that Israeli’s siege on Gaza has “deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Mass unemployment, extreme poverty, food insecurity and food price rises caused by shortages left four out of five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. The scope of the blockade and statements made by Israeli officials about its purpose showed that it was being imposed as a form of collective punishment of Gazans, a flagrant violation of international law.” [1]
Israel claims that its blockade is directed simply at the Hamas government in Gaza, and is limited to so-called ‘security’ items. Yet when US Senator John Kerry visited Gaza last year, he was shocked to discover that the Israeli blockade included staple food items such as lentils, macaroni and tomato paste. [2] Furthermore, Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, has documented numerous official Israeli government statements that the blockade is intended to put ‘pressure’ on Gaza’s population, and collective punishment of civilians is an illegal act under international law. [3]
Israel claims that if we wish to send aid to Gaza, all we need do is go through ‘official channels’, give the aid to them and they will deliver it. This statement is both ridiculous and offensive. Their blockade, their ‘official channels’, is what is directly causing the humanitarian crisis in the first place.
According to former US President Jimmy Carter: “Palestinians in Gaza are being actually ‘starved to death’, receiving fewer calories per day than people in the poorest parts of Africa. This is an atrocity that is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza. It is a crime … an abomination that this is allowed to go on. Tragically, the international community at large ignores the cries for help, while the citizens of Gaza are treated more like animals than human beings.” [4]
Israel claims that we refused to deliver a letter and package from POW Gilad Shalit’s father. This is a blatant lie. We were first contacted by lawyers representing Shalit’s family Wednesday evening, just hours before we were set to depart from Greece. Irish Senator Mark Daly (Kerry), one of 35 parliamentarians joining our flotilla, agreed to carry any letter and deliver it to UN officials inside Gaza. As of this writing, the lawyers have not responded to Senator Daly, electing instead to attempt to smear us in the Israeli press. [5]
We have always called for the release of all political prisoners in this conflict, including the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails, among them hundreds of child prisoners. [6]
Most despicably of all, Israel claims that we are violating international law by sailing unarmed ships carrying humanitarian aid to a people desperately in need. These claims only demonstrate how degenerate the political discourse in Israel has become.
Despite its high profile pullout of illegal settlements and military presence from Gaza in August-September 2005, Israel maintains “effective control” over the Gaza Strip and therefore remains an occupying force with certain obligations. [7]
Among Israel’s most fundamental obligations as an occupying power is to provide for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian population. An occupying force has a duty to ensure the food and medical supplies of the population, as well as maintain hospitals and other medical services, “to the fullest extent of the means available to it”. (G IV, arts. 55, 56)
This includes protecting civilian hospitals, medical personnel, and the wounded and sick. In addition, a fundamental principle of International Humanitarian Law, as well as of the domestic laws of civilised nations, is that collective punishment against a civilian population is forbidden. (G IV, art. 33)
Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power, not only neglecting to provide for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian population, but instituting policies designed to collectively punish the Palestinians of Gaza. From fuel and electricity cuts that hinder the proper functioning of hospitals, to the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery through Israeli-controlled borders, Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip have turned Gaza into a man-made humanitarian disaster. The dire situation that currently exists in Gaza is therefore a result of deliberate policies by Israel designed to punish the people of Gaza.
In order to address the calamitous conditions imposed upon the people, one must work to change the policies causing the crisis. The United Nations has referred to Israel’s near hermetic closure of Gaza as “collective punishment”, [8] strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. All nations signatory to the Convention have an obligation to ensure respect for its provisions. [9]
Given the continuing and sustained failure of the international community to enforce its own laws and protect the people of Gaza, we strongly believe that we all, as citizens of the world, have a moral obligation to directly intervene in acts of nonviolent civil resistance to uphold international principles. Israeli threats and intimidation will not deter us. We will sail to Gaza again and again and again, until this siege is forever ended and the Palestinian people have free access to the world.
NOTES:
[1] Amnesty International, Annual Human Rights Report (26 May 2010)
[2] ‘The pasta, paper and hearing aids that could threaten Israeli security’, The Independent (2 March 2009)
[3] ‘Restrictions on the transfer of goods to Gaza: Obstruction and obfuscation’, Gisha (January 2010)
[4] ‘Carter calls Gaza blockade “a crime and atrocity”‘, Haaretz (17 April 2008), http://www.haaretz.com/news/carter-calls-gaza-blockade-a-crime-and-atrocity-1.244176
[5] ‘Gaza aid convoy refuses to deliver package to Gilad Shalit’, Haaretz (27 May 2010)
[6] ‘Comprehensive report on status of Palestinian political prisoners’, Sumoud (June 2004); Palestinian Children Political Prisoners, Addameer
[7] Article 42 of the Hague Regulations stipulates, a “territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army,” and that the occupation extends “to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised”. Similarly, in the Hostage Case, the Nuremburg Tribunal held that, “the test for application of the legal regime of occupation is not whether the occupying power fails to exercise effective control over the territory, but whether it has the ability to exercise such power”. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, like those in the West Bank, continue to be subject to Israeli control. For example, Israel controls Gaza’s air space, territorial waters, and all border crossings. Palestinians in Gaza require Israel’s consent to travel to and from Gaza, to take their goods to Palestinian and foreign markets, to acquire food and medicine, and to access water and electricity. Without Israel’s permission, the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot perform such basic functions of government as providing social, health, security and utility services, developing the Palestinian economy and allocating resources.
[8] John Holmes, ‘Briefing to the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question’, 27 January 2009.
[9] Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949, Article I stating, “The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.” See also Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I C J Reports 2004, p136 at 138
Signs on the side of the large passenger ship read 'This is a humanitarian ship', in English, Arabic and Hebrew
The international Gaza Freedom Flotilla is finally ready to sail the last stretch of its siege-busting mission across the Mediterranean. The boats hope to arrive in Gaza City harbour this afternoon, but Israel has vowed to stop them.
The nine boats are carrying 800 activists, MPs and journalists from 40 countries. Their cargo of essential supplies denied to Palestinians under the illegal blockade includes 2,100 tonnes of cement, 600 tonnes of iron bars, 150 tonnes of iron, 18 large and 80 small electricity generators, 50 large and 40 small prefab houses, 16 playground kits, sports equipment including footballs and basketballs, $1m worth of medical equipment including a complete dental kit, construction and hardware supplies, stationery including crayons, pens and 20 tonnes of paper for schools, textiles, food including chocolate for Gaza’s children.
Yesterday, I posted a collection of links with more information about the flotilla. Please read them and please also do everything you can to raise the profile of the mission.
Circulate links to your friends and post on social network sites. Write to your MPs, contact the press, and especially write to Nick Clegg. Last December, he called on Gordon Brown to act to end the siege of Gaza, but he’s gone strangely quiet now that he’s in Downing St himself! The Foreign Office seems entirely uninterested in the fate of 28 British passengers illegally threatened by Israel’s Navy.
And do keep watching Press TV, Al Jazeera etc over the next 24 hours. If Israel carries out its threats to attack the boat and capture the passengers, we need to be ready to MAKE SOME NOISE about it!
Updates will also be posted here:
Reading PSC
Free Gaza movement
Viva Palestina
Freedom flotilla gets coverage in Britain
It’s only the websites so far as I’m aware. Look out for anything on TV, radio or in the print editions!
Independent.co.uk: Israel vows to halt flotilla aiming to break blockade
BBC.co.uk: Gaza hopes to welcome blockade-busting flotilla
Guardian.co.uk: Gaza aid flotilla to set sail for confrontation with Israel
Cyprus stops MPs from joining Gaza flotilla
The Free Gaza team write:
After tremendous pressure from the Greek Cypriots, reneging on their agreement with us, we were forced to take our MPs and activists to Famagusta yesterday, on the Turkish/Cypriot side of Cyprus. We spent all day going from one port to the next, surrounded by helicopters and police. Clearly our deal with Cyprus officials had fallen through, and we ended up being pawns in a political soap opera.
The Cypriot members of parliament, the ones who had worked so hard to get us permission to leave, were outraged. The Greek parliament members finally told us to go to the north. If they could, they would. The Cypriot government said they made their decision because, “The Republic of Cyprus is fighting for its survival” but it didn’t bow to pressure from Israel. As they said this, they bowed their heads …
It has taken us all day to find someone on the Turkish side to ferry some of our passengers out to the flotilla who have been patiently waiting five hours away from Cyprus. At 6.00pm, 20 of our passengers left for the flotilla, and the Swedish MP and the three German MPs are on board. Hedy is not, and we are heartsick that, once again, she will not be able to go to Gaza.
The flotilla leaves for Gaza early in the morning and should arrive tomorrow afternoon. We have persevered … Al Samoud.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/cyprus-stops-mps-joining-gaza-flotilla/20100529
Israel’s PR offensive over Gaza
Excellent video report from Al Jazeera
A reminder that zionism is not the same as Judaism and that Israel doesn’t speak for all jews.
Paralysis in the peace process cannot be an excuse for the inhumane treatment of one and a half million people, the majority of them under 18 years old. No peaceful coexistence of any kind is possible as long as this act of collective confinement continues …
There is a clear moral imperative for Israel and Egypt to end the blockade, as well as it being in their enlightened self-interest to change course. But if they do not do so of their own volition, it is up to the international community to persuade them otherwise …
What will be the state of Gaza’s drinking water by next December? Of the health of its children? Of the economy? The attitude of its people towards Egypt and Israel? The risk of waiting another year is too great. Gordon Brown and the international community must urgently declare that enough is enough. The blockade must end.
That’s what Nick Clegg wrote in an article for the Guardian last December. Now it’s time for him to put his money where his mouth is. Please copy and paste the letter below into an email and send to one or more of the addresses below, asking Nick Clegg to act to protect the Freedom Flotilla and end the siege of Gaza.
Dear Mr Clegg
I am writing this letter to you and asking for you to show your support for the International flotilla of ships that is currently sailing towards Gaza. 750 people in 9 ships, loaded with 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid are due to dock in Gaza on Sunday afternoon.
However, Nick, Israel has issued serious threats, and the safety of all the passengers is in serious danger. They pose NO THREAT, and should be allowed to sail safely into Gaza without incident. Twenty-eight of the passengers are British, so you have a moral obligation in regards to their safety.
Nick, may I take this chance to remind you of your statements concerning Gaza and the siege, from your article in the Guardian last year:
“The legacy of Operation Cast Lead is a living nightmare for one and a half million Palestinians squeezed into one of the most overcrowded and wretched stretches of land on the planet. And as Israel and Egypt maintain a near total blockade against Gaza, the misery deepens by the day.”
You then you went on to say
“And what has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis.”
Well Nick, you know what, you are now the British government. So, what are you going to do? Are you going to call for an immediate end to the siege, or are you going to do what the previous government did, which was nothing? This time, the buck stops with you Nick.
So Nick, as you can see, it is now your turn to step up to the plate and be counted. Today, the EU called for an immediate end to the siege, and for the flotilla to be allowed a safe passage into Gaza.
Will you join this voice?
Will you say “Enough Is Enough”?
Awaiting your response.
cleggn@parliament.uk
libdemleader@parliament.uk,
nickclegg@sheffieldhallam.org.uk,
leader@libdems.org.uk
Or you can telephone Nick Clegg at the following numbers:
Contsituancey office, 0114 230 9002
House of Commons, 020 7219 2371
Joti's journey to Gaza 