AUGUST saw a dramatic
attempt to break
the Israeli blockade that has virtually imprisoned 1.4 million
people
in Gaza. QuakerPI
here
shares highlights, in an ever-expanding compendium of news
stories, commentaries,
and letters about this significant series of
events. Please check
back as we add further information to this
link.
QPI
===================================================================
PRESS
RELEASE:
"FREE GAZA" & "LIBERTY" APPROACH GAZAN
WATERS
Here's reaction from a
Friend at this
exciting news from the Gaza
seacoast:
friends,
jubilation!
angela,
angelic angela, is a
friend and longtime witness who's
lived in south africa, experienced
apatheid, works now with the Bedouin and via
the israeli committee
against home demolitions. jeff halper, on board one of
the gaza-bound
boats, is the coordinator of icahd. please share this
potentially
good news and keep posted for further developments
thru
www.freegaza.org.
in solidarity,
continuing the age old
struggle for justice, peace, security, civility,
benevolence, and
love,
—skip
ps, if you're
interested in what
environment awaits their sea shore gaza city landing,
look
here:
http://www.teeksaphoto.org/Levant2007/Subsites/Gaza_3_Beach_1_8_08/index.html
======================================================================
—————
Forwarded
message
—————
From:
Angela
Godfrey-Goldstein
angela@icahd.org>
Date: Sat, Aug 23, 2008
at 8:11
AM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE:
FREE GAZA &
LIBERTY APPROACH GAZAN
WATERS
Ashdod
Marina,
Saturday August 23. 15.00 p.m.
Despite
all
odds, with scrambled radio, jammed phones, a seasick passenger, a
seasick
journalist on a media boat seeking them out stubbornly, in
rough waves with a
storm brewing, phone calls tripling or quadrupling
up (sorry to all whom I've
cut off), I hear that 20 boats left Gaza
Harbour to welcome FREE GAZA and
LIBERTY, butare now doing a U-turn
to go backä. As indeed the media boat, now
back in harbour.
Estimated
time
of arrival according to Jeff Halper, with whom I finally managed
to speak on a
satellite phone whose number wasn't published and is
now used in emergency, is
5 pm - 7 pm. Palestinians in Gaza said
earlier there was NO ISRAELI NAVAL
PRESENCE on the horizon, but the
U-turn was apparently due to warning shots having
indeed been
fired.
I
received a phone
call from Gaza: it's obvious there's a demonstration
there, with extreme
excitement. It gave one goosebumps, feeling
freedom beginning to flow.
The
media boat was
not far from the FREE GAZA and LIBERTY, but relayed
co-ordinates (they couldn't
make contact with each other) show that
for the FREE GAZA and LIBERTY to have
met the press, the two boats
would have had to turn round: inadvisable, if
they're to make land in
daylight.
If
the radio had
been working. If the satellite phones were unjammed.
These are regrets, but the
fact is that the boats are now about to
turn into Gazan waters, and may God
speed them safe to
land.
Please
alert
your correspondents in Gaza to cover the arrivalä
insha'allah it will take place. How they then get out?
—
Chapter Two of this ongoing saga. Online talkbacks wish them to stay
in
Gaza and join the freedom fight, where they belong! The online
words far more
explicit.. as is the hate mail. (And so the oppressor
is oppressed.) But maybe
today freedom and justice will warm a few
Palestinian hearts. The Free Gaza
Movement will be in great danger of
too many cups of tea. And of being swamped
by the 200,000 people
whom, we're told, will be on the beach to welcome them.
And the
Israeli Government must now be on warning that yes, indeed, the
World
cares. That civil society has a voice. And that voice is saying
NO. Human
beings have sacred rights, and people are ready to defend
them, wherever they
may be. Even in the prison that is
Gaza.
Angela
Godfrey-Goldstein
Media
Team
Free
Gaza
Movement
0547-366
393
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/
=======================================================================
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/23/israelandthepalestinians
Peace protest boats arrive in
Gaza
Israel had said it would stop mission, which it described as a 'provocation'
=============================================================
FREE GAZA
BOATS
ARRIVE IN GAZA
GAZA
(23 August 2008) - Two
small boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty,
successfully landed
in Gaza early this evening, breaking the Israeli blockade
of the Gaza
Strip.
They
left Cyprus on Thursday
morning, sailing over 350 kilometers through choppy
seas. They made
the journey despite threats that the Israeli government would
use
force to stop them. They continued sailing although they lost almost
all
communications and navigation systems due to outside jamming by
some unknown
party. They arrived in Gaza to the cheers and joyful
tears of hundreds of
Palestinians who came out to the beaches to
welcome them.
Two
small boats, 42 determined human rights
workers, one simple message: "The world
has not forgotten the people
of this land. Today, we are all from Gaza ."
Tonight,
the cheering will be heard
as far away as Tel Aviv and Washington D.C.
###
QUOTES
FOR PUBLICATION
"We
recognize
that we're two, humble boats, but what we've accomplished is to
show
that average people from around the world can mobilize to create
change. We do
not have to stay silent in the face of injustice.
Reaching Gaza today, there is
such a sense of hope, and hope is what
mobilizes people everywhere."
--Huwaida
Arraf.
Huwaida
is Palestinian-American, and also a citizen of Israel . She's a human
rights
activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity
Movement. In 2007 she
received her Juris Doctor from American
University in Washington D.C. Currently she teaches Human Rights
and Humanitarian Law at Al Quds
University in Jerusalem . Huwaida
sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Liberty
"We're
the first ones in 41 years to
enter Gaza freely - but we won't be the last. We
welcome the world
to join us and see what we're seeing."--Paul
Larudee, Ph.D.
Paul
is a cofounder of the Free Gaza
Movement and a San Francisco Bay Area activist
on the issue of
justice in Palestine . He sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Liberty.
"What
we've done shows that people can do
what governments should have done. If
people stand up against
injustice, we can truly be the conscience of the
world."
--Jeff
Halper, Ph.D.
Jeff
is an
Israeli professor of anthropology and coordinator of the
Israeli
Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a non-violent
Israeli peace and
human rights organization that resists the Israeli
occupation on the ground. In
2006, the American Friends Service
Committee nominated Jeff to receive the 2006
Nobel Peace Prize with
Palestinian intellectual and activist Ghassan Andoni.
Jeff sailed to
Gaza aboard the SS Free Gaza.
For
More
Information, please contact:
( Gaza )
Huwaida
Arraf, tel. +972 599 130 426
( Gaza )
Jeff
Halper, tel. +972 542 002 642
( Cyprus )
Osama
Qashoo, tel. +357 99 793 595 / osamaqashoo@gmail.com
(Jerusalem)
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, tel. +972
547 366 393 / angela@icahd.org
=================================================================
Boats arrive
in
Gaza early Saturday evening
(23
Aug) Upon their arrival,
after a day and a half at sea, thousands of
Palestinians who had
been gathered on shore waiting ran to welcome the
passengers who for
the first time in history have broken through by sea. As
evening sets
the 40 people aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty are
being
treated as kings and queens in Gaza by the Palestinians who
awaited them. The
mission was symbolic, but was more important than
10 tons of rice, as one Gazan
said, reiterating, "We don't want
food, we want freedom."
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3404&Itemid=30
==================================================================
Tue, 26 Aug
2008
Gone
Fishin
the
latest from free
gaza:
Greta Berlin
3:32
PM (16
hours ago)
I sat at the
front
of the fishing boat, one of six that went out this morning. They are
old
wooden boats, outfitted with bits and pieces of mechanical parts,
rope twisted
together and fishing nets. Israel has refused to let
Palestinians fish in their
own waters for the past 15 months. Even
before that, they restricted
Palestinian fishermen to around 6 miles.
Now, they shoot holes in the boats and
in the fishermen if they are
caught farther out than about a kilometer.
So today, 19 of
us
were going along to break a different kind of siege... the denial
of
Palestinian
rights to fish, something every other country
bordering the Mediterranean has.
Only Palestinians are told they
can't fish for their livelihood, provide for
their families and
contribute to their own economy. We decided that, since we
sailed
into Gaza (one fisherman told us we were the first boats to come
into
the port in 35 years; they have been forced to buy everything
from Israel, who
charges them exhorbitant fees to buy their own fish
back).
Twenty of us
arrived
at the port about 4:30, sleepy and stumbling about amid the dozens
of
security men standing there guarding us. We were told we'd have to
wait,
because the fishermen were afraid to go out to sea with us,
uncertain whether
they would be shot at or worse. Finally, four hours
later, six boats showed up,
and we boarded, two or three to a boat.
The port is small but perfectly
adequate for these boats plus our own
two that were on the dock front to back.
The media climbed into one
of them, escorting us out.
All the
Palestinians
said they wanted to go our past the six mile limit. They were
as
eager as we were to test the noose hanging around their necks. At
8 miles,
three Israeli patrol boats showed up, buzzing up and down in
front of us, a man
on a machine gun at the back of each one. The boat
I was accompanying was owned
by six cousins, the youngest 15, and
they were, at first, nervous when the
patrol boats showed up. I'm
sure the Israelis were having a coronary wondering
what to do with
us, but they left us alone. I'm sure their media will now say
they
'escorted us' out to sea, but thatwould be a
lie.
Six hours later,
the
men had caught more fish in their nets than they had in four years.
They
were ecstatic, and I got to watch them haul the tons of fish up
and over the
back of the boat, sort them, water them down, they pick
out the best 8 inch
shrimp to cook for my friend, Moussa, and me. By
the time we pulled back into
port twelve hours later, my skin was
bright pink from the sun, they were
overjoyed with their catch, and
the boats that went out would provide an income
for over 16 families
for a month.
"Will you
come
tomorrow? Will you come and fish again?" And, of course, we
can't.
They had challenged Israel's horrible siege on them, and,
today, they won. But
without us, will the Israeli come back tomorrow
and get even?
We can hope
that
these men will be able to go out once more and do what
generations of men have
done... go fishing.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/12/israelandthepalestinians.fishing>
======================================================================
—
On Wed, 8/27/08,
travelinganna wrote:
From:
travelinganna
We
the People have Broken the
Siege of Gaza!
By
Anna Baltzer
annas_peacework_palestine@yahoogroups.com
August
27,
2008
Dear
friends
and allies,
Something
wonderful has happened: everyday people
have penetrated the blockade of Gaza.
Five
days
ago, 46 civilians from 14 different countries around the world
arrived by
boat on the shores of Gaza. They were the first people in
41 years of Israeli
occupation to enter the Strip freely, but as
co-founder of the campaign Paul
Larudee declared, "we won't be the
last."
Larudee,
a
nonviolent activist and piano-tuner denied entry to the Palestinian
West Bank
by Israel in the past, got together with some friends and
over the past two
years raised enough money to buy two fishing boats
and call Israel's bluff:
Since
the
withdrawal of its illegal settlements and military outposts from Gaza
in
the summer 2005, Israel has claimed it no longer occupies the
area. But
occupation is not defined by settler and soldier
population; it is defined by
control. Israel continues to control the
borders, airspace, waters, and land
(with free-fire zones and
outright invasions) of the Gaza Strip, preventing
people and goods
from moving in and out of the area, denying the 1.4
million
inhabitants their right to education, health care, movement,
and human dignity
for more than a year since Hamas—in spite of
US and Israeli pressures to
self-destruct— insisted on
implementing the democratic will of the Gazan
people and assumed
power.
The
Free Gaza
movement asserted that if Israel has truly left Gaza, then
the
decision by everyday people invited by Gazans to sail unarmed
carrying
humanitarian supplies from Cyprus—from where the ships
set sail last
Friday—to the strip should be, frankly, none of
Israel's business.
The
convoy,
including reporter and Middle East envoy and former British
Prime
Minister Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth, human rights
law professor
and ISM co-founder Huwaida Arraf, Jewish Israeli
professor Jeff Halper, and an
84-year-old nun, received death threats
and were warned by Israel not to
embark, but they would not be
deterred.
Fearing
the
negative publicity that attacking or denying the peaceful mission
could
produce, Israel did not stop the two boats. The humble vessels,
named SS
Liberty (after the US Navy ship attacked by air and sea by
Israeli military
forces in 1967, killing 34 Americans) and SS Free
Gaza, carried with them
hundreds of hearing aids. The aids had been
requested for the growing number of
Gazan children going deaf as a
result of frequent sonic booms by Israeli jets
flying low over the
Palestinian territory.
The
hearing
aids are symbolic of the most basic services denied to
everyday
Palestinians with Israel's frequent border closings, sealing
the population
into a kind of open-air prison. Hospitals are out of
supplies; pharmacies are
out of medicineŠ Students accepted to
universities abroad are not permitted to
leave; those who do get out
don't know when they will ever get back inŠ
Fishermen are fishing in
dirty offshore waters because if they go any further
they are shot
at.
Many
don't
even have the option anymore since the fuel supply, also controlled
by
Israel, is so tight.
But
Monday,
Gaza fishermen ventured further than usual, accompanied by Israelis
and
internationals who knew that the privilege of their skin-color
and citizenship just
might be enough to deter attacks on those
fishermen simply trying to earn a
living to support their families.
And tomorrow, the SS Liberty and SS Free Gaza
will leave the way they
came, carrying with them a woman desperate to reunite
with her
husband abroad and three Gaza students awarded prestigious
Fulbright
grants by the US government this spring who were prevented
by Israel from
leaving to pursue the
fellowships.
And
then the
boats will turn around. They will return to Gaza over and
over,
carrying more and more supplies and civilians who are
determined to do what our
own governments, the UN, and the entire
world should have been doing all along:
challenging Israel's illegal
domination of the Palestinian people.
——————
————-
————-
————-
————-
————-
-
Links:
Free
Gaza movement homepage: www.freegaza.org
Interview
on
Inside Story with Prof. Huwaida Arraf and a
very
frustrated
Israeli government spokesperson
(according to whom,
apparently,
there will be no problem sailing back
and forth!):
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/08/26/al-jazeera-inside-story-gaza-blockade/
===================================================================
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
FREE
GAZA & LIBERTY TO LEAVE
FOR CYPRUS WITH PALESTINIANS ON-BOARD
Forwarded
from Free
Gaza Movement on Cyprus by:
Angela
Godfrey-Goldstein,
angela@icahd.org
(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.
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
Vittorio
Arrigoni,
Bulciago, Italy
Georgios
Karatzas,
Pireas, Greece
Jenny
Linnell,
Totnes, UK
Andrew
Muncie,
Spean Bridge, Scotland
Ken
O'Keefe,
London, UK
Adam
Qvist,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Darlene
Wallach,
San Jose, CA, USA
Donna
Wallach,
San Jose, CA, USA
*Forwarded
from
Free Gaza Movement on Cyprus by:
Angela
Godfrey-Goldstein, angela@icahd.org
Media
Team
Free
Gaza
Movement
0547-366
393
<http://www.freegaza.org/>
For More
Information, Please
Contact:
( Gaza) Paul Larudee: +972 598 765
370
(
Gaza) Huwaida Arraf: +972 599 130
426
(
Cyprus) Osama Qashoo: +357 97 793 595 /
osamaqashoo@gmail.com
( Jerusalem) Angela Godfrey-Goldstein:
+972 547 366
393 /
====================================================================
30 August
2008
FREE
GAZA
& LIBERTY ARRIVE IN CYPRUS WITH PALESTINIANS
ON-BOARD
For
more
information, please contact:
Cyprus:
Greta Berlin: +357-9908 1767
- iristulip@gmail.com
Cyprus:
Osama Qashoo: +357-9779 3595
-
osamaqashoo@gmail.com
Jerusalem: Angela Godfrey-Goldstein: +972-547366393 angela@icahd.org
Website:
http://www.freegaza.org
FREE
GAZA
MOVEMENT announces the arrival at 20:30 (10:00 PDT), Friday 29
August,
2008 of the FREE GAZA and LIBERTY vessels, in Larnaca
Harbour, returning from
Gaza, and a successful end to this first of
such missions.
The
historic
return voyage represents the first time ever that Palestinians
have
been able freely to enter and leave their country. The Free Gaza
Movement will
mark this historic moment with a reception at Larnaca
Harbour, as will
Palestinians in Gaza, as both boats return safely
from Gazan and international
waters after a calm and uneventful
crossing.
Organiser
Paul Larudee: "This
endeavour has been a huge success, far more significant
and
wide-reaching than anyone ever dreamt it could be. It has had
obvious
beneficial effects on the Palestinian people, but also on
Israel. In fairness,
credit must go where credit is due —
despite threats or obstacles, a
responsible decision was made by
Israeli authorities not to interfere with our
mission and this is a
model for the future."
As
reported
by the world press, news has travelled worldwide of the Free
Gaza
Movement. Supportive messages have come in, including from UN
Special Rapporteur
on human rights in the OPT, Richard Falk, who
wrote:
"The
landing of two wooden boats carrying
46 human rights activists in Gaza is an
important symbolic victory.
This non-violent initiative of the Free Gaza
Movement focused
attention around the world on the stark reality that the 1.5
million
residents of Gaza have endured a punitive siege for more than a
year.
This siege is a form of collective punishment that constitutes
a massive
violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The siege, the coastal
blockade, and overflights by Israeli aircraft
all bear witness to the fact that
despite Israel's claimed
'disengagement' in 2005, these realities on the ground
establish that
Gaza remains under Israeli occupation, and as a result Israel
remains
legally responsible for protecting the human rights of its
civilian
population. By severely restricting the entry of food, fuel,
and medicine the
economic and social rights of the people of Gaza
have been systematically
violated. There is widespread deafness among
the people of Gaza that is blamed
on the frequent sonic booms
produced by over-flying Israeli military aircraft.
For this reason
the peace boats brought 200 hearing aids to
Gaza."
Mr.
Falk
strongly urged the international community to take action to uphold
human
rights in the Gaza Strip.
"Above
all, what is being tested is whether
the imaginative engagement of dedicated
private citizens can
influence the struggle of a beleaguered people for basic
human
rights, and whether their courage and commitment can awaken
the
conscience of humanity to an unfolding
tragedy."
Or,
in the
words of Palestinian voyager, Musheir El-Farra, originally born
and
raised in Khan Younis in Gaza but currently living in Sheffield,
UK:
"For
the first time in my life, I went to
Gaza without being humiliated, without
having to ask Israel for
permission. We did it. We finally did it. And now
others must join us
and do it as well."
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/
=================================================================
AND LAST BUT
NOT LEAST: ONE MORE
REASON WHY THE BLOCKADE MUST END:
Patient
death toll in Gaza reaches
240
(22 Aug)
The
number of patients who have died in the Gaza Strip due to the
year-long Israeli
siege has reached 240, as one more patient dies
today. Medical sources reported
the death of a 2-year-old infant as
his parents were banned to leave the Gaza
strip to seek the needed
medical treatment for their child.
http://www.imemc.org/article/56679
===================================================