Gaza we are Coming - 23 August 09 - Part 1:
"Gaza, We Are Coming, is a special documentary that charts the history of the project to break the blockade of Gaza by sea."
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Showing posts with label Free Gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Gaza. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
The Free Gaza Movement JUNE 2009 THE HOPE FLEET
The Free Gaza Movement JUNE 2009 THE HOPE FLEET:
"Video by www.freegaza.org
the song 'News' by Anis Hamadeh www.anis-online.de
The Free Gaza Movement is a human rights group that in August 2008 sent the first international boats to land in the port of Gaza in 41 years.
We want to break the siege of Gaza.
We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip"
For Immediate Release: You cannot sink our boats
Friday, 01 May 2009 13:03
Written by Free Gaza Movement
In most of the world, May 1st is a day of international labor solidarity. It is a day of joy as workers picnic together with their families and celebrate the achievements of one of the most phenomenal movements of the 20th century.
It is fitting, then, that the Free Gaza Movement chooses May 1 to announce the launching of the HOPE FLEET TO GAZA. We are leaving on June 1 as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians, a people who have been massacred, terrorized and suffocated by the Israeli military.
We sail again to break Israel's blockade of 1.5 million civilians, 80% unemployed because of Israel's draconian siege. "I believe the Israeli government policies are against international law, against human rights, against the dignity of the Palestinian people," said Mairead Maguire whose efforts for a peaceful solution to the violence in Northern Ireland earned her the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. "And I feel grateful to be able to go again on one of these boats to visit the people of Gaza."
The Free Gaza Movement will use the Free Gaza as the lead vessel in the flotilla. In August 2008, it was the first boat to dock in the Gaza port in 41 years. The movement intends to donate it to the fishermen who labor every day to make a living under the gunboats of Israel.
The Dignity will carry Mairead as well as two other high-profile passengers, 84-year-old Hedy Epstein, a holocaust survivor and Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia Congresswoman and candidate for U.S. President under the Green Party. McKinney was on the Dignity when it was rammed three times by the Israeli navy on December 30, 2008 when they tried to sink the small sturdy yacht.
"We cannot let Israel's threats and aggression deter us. To do so would give in to violence and concede that might is stronger than right. To do so would turn our backs on our brothers and sisters in Gaza who have been waiting far too long for the international community to stand up to this injustice," said Huwaida Arraf, one of the delegation leaders on the Hope Fleet.
Our boats are a part of a larger flotilla making its way to Gaza loaded with humanitarian aid and building supplies such as generators and electronic equipment for hospital emergency machines. The people of Gaza need cement and lumber and PVC to rebuild their shattered infrastructure, and Israel refuses to allow anything into the small enclave except for food and some medicine.
"The Palestinians don't want hand-outs from the international community. They want their lives back. They want their human and civil rights. They have a great labor force wanting to rebuild their communities. They are perfectly capable of that if their borders, including the sea border, were open," states Lubna Masarwa, another delegation leader of this flotilla and a passenger on board the rammed Dignity.
Contact: Ramzi Kysia, Cyprus: +357 99 08 17 67, rrkysia@yahoo.com
Greta Berlin, France, +33 60 73 74 512, Iristulip@gmail.com
Angela Godfrey Goldstein, Jerusalem: +972 547 366 393, angela@icahd.org
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Video by www.freegaza.org
the song 'News' by Anis Hamadeh www.anis-online.de
The Free Gaza Movement is a human rights group that in August 2008 sent the first international boats to land in the port of Gaza in 41 years.
We want to break the siege of Gaza.
We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip"
For Immediate Release: You cannot sink our boats
Friday, 01 May 2009 13:03
Written by Free Gaza Movement
In most of the world, May 1st is a day of international labor solidarity. It is a day of joy as workers picnic together with their families and celebrate the achievements of one of the most phenomenal movements of the 20th century.
It is fitting, then, that the Free Gaza Movement chooses May 1 to announce the launching of the HOPE FLEET TO GAZA. We are leaving on June 1 as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians, a people who have been massacred, terrorized and suffocated by the Israeli military.
We sail again to break Israel's blockade of 1.5 million civilians, 80% unemployed because of Israel's draconian siege. "I believe the Israeli government policies are against international law, against human rights, against the dignity of the Palestinian people," said Mairead Maguire whose efforts for a peaceful solution to the violence in Northern Ireland earned her the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. "And I feel grateful to be able to go again on one of these boats to visit the people of Gaza."
The Free Gaza Movement will use the Free Gaza as the lead vessel in the flotilla. In August 2008, it was the first boat to dock in the Gaza port in 41 years. The movement intends to donate it to the fishermen who labor every day to make a living under the gunboats of Israel.
The Dignity will carry Mairead as well as two other high-profile passengers, 84-year-old Hedy Epstein, a holocaust survivor and Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia Congresswoman and candidate for U.S. President under the Green Party. McKinney was on the Dignity when it was rammed three times by the Israeli navy on December 30, 2008 when they tried to sink the small sturdy yacht.
"We cannot let Israel's threats and aggression deter us. To do so would give in to violence and concede that might is stronger than right. To do so would turn our backs on our brothers and sisters in Gaza who have been waiting far too long for the international community to stand up to this injustice," said Huwaida Arraf, one of the delegation leaders on the Hope Fleet.
Our boats are a part of a larger flotilla making its way to Gaza loaded with humanitarian aid and building supplies such as generators and electronic equipment for hospital emergency machines. The people of Gaza need cement and lumber and PVC to rebuild their shattered infrastructure, and Israel refuses to allow anything into the small enclave except for food and some medicine.
"The Palestinians don't want hand-outs from the international community. They want their lives back. They want their human and civil rights. They have a great labor force wanting to rebuild their communities. They are perfectly capable of that if their borders, including the sea border, were open," states Lubna Masarwa, another delegation leader of this flotilla and a passenger on board the rammed Dignity.
Contact: Ramzi Kysia, Cyprus: +357 99 08 17 67, rrkysia@yahoo.com
Greta Berlin, France, +33 60 73 74 512, Iristulip@gmail.com
Angela Godfrey Goldstein, Jerusalem: +972 547 366 393, angela@icahd.org
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Remember the Children of Palestine - w Lauren Booth and members of the Free Gaza Movement - 14 Apr. 2009
Remember the Children of Palestine:
"Remember the Children of Palestine"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Remember the Children of Palestine"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, January 12, 2009
Free Gaza Movement To Take Much Needed Aid to Gaza By Sea
Activists To Sneak Aid To Gaza By Sea in defiance of Israeli naval:
ISRAEL ON NOTICE, WE ARE COMING
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 20:49
Last Updated on Saturday, 10 January 2009 13:31
Written by Free Gaza Movement
There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is unacceptable. The ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have lead to the death of over 550 Palestinians, including children and women, and the injury of thousands, with the death and injury toll rapidly rising. Massive violations of international humanitarian law are being committed by Israel, both with regard to its obligations as an Occupying Power and in its conduct of hostilities.
The community of states has thusfar failed to comply with their duty to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention and protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's serious and persistent violations in accordance with the Convention. Consequently, we, concerned citizens from Belgium, Columbia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Scotland, Spain, and the United States feel that it is our moral duty to do what we can to provide some measure of protection. We are willing to put our bodies on the line to get in the way of Israel's unlawful violence against innocent Palestinian civilians.
There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is unacceptable. The ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have lead to the death of over 550 Palestinians, including children and women, and the injury of thousands, with the death and injury toll rapidly rising. Massive violations of international humanitarian law are being committed by Israel, both with regard to its obligations as an Occupying Power and in its conduct of hostilities.
The community of states has thusfar failed to comply with their duty to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention and protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's serious and persistent violations in accordance with the Convention. Consequently, we, concerned citizens from Belgium, Columbia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Scotland, Spain, and the United States feel that it is our moral duty to do what we can to provide some measure of protection. We are willing to put our bodies on the line to get in the way of Israel's unlawful violence against innocent Palestinian civilians.
In the early hours of Tuesday, December 30, the Israeli Navy violently attacked our motor vessel DIGNITY, which was loaded with medical supplies and carried amongst others, doctors headed to Gaza to assist with the humanitarian crisis there. Neither the ship, nor its passengers and crew constituted any kind of danger to the Israeli Naval Forces. Yet our boat was rammed again and again, in an apparent attempt to disable the vessel, and in a manner that jeopardized the lives of the 16 civilians on board.
We will not be deterred by the violence of the Israeli military. We will set out again for Gaza. We are doctors, journalists, members of parliament, and human rights observers trying to reach the people of Gaza to deliver much needed aid and witness the atrocities being committed again the Palestinians there.
Israel is hereby put on notice that we are coming. We will announce our exact departure date, time and route, traveling from Cypriot waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza territorial waters, never nearing Israeli waters. The Israeli Navy, Ministry of Defense, and Foreign Ministry will all receive a copy of this notice. Any attack on our vessel will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the 30 civilians on board will be the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.
Free Gaza Movement
http://www.FreeGaza.org
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
ISRAEL ON NOTICE, WE ARE COMING
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 20:49
Last Updated on Saturday, 10 January 2009 13:31
Written by Free Gaza Movement
There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is unacceptable. The ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have lead to the death of over 550 Palestinians, including children and women, and the injury of thousands, with the death and injury toll rapidly rising. Massive violations of international humanitarian law are being committed by Israel, both with regard to its obligations as an Occupying Power and in its conduct of hostilities.
The community of states has thusfar failed to comply with their duty to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention and protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's serious and persistent violations in accordance with the Convention. Consequently, we, concerned citizens from Belgium, Columbia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Scotland, Spain, and the United States feel that it is our moral duty to do what we can to provide some measure of protection. We are willing to put our bodies on the line to get in the way of Israel's unlawful violence against innocent Palestinian civilians.
There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is unacceptable. The ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have lead to the death of over 550 Palestinians, including children and women, and the injury of thousands, with the death and injury toll rapidly rising. Massive violations of international humanitarian law are being committed by Israel, both with regard to its obligations as an Occupying Power and in its conduct of hostilities.
The community of states has thusfar failed to comply with their duty to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention and protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's serious and persistent violations in accordance with the Convention. Consequently, we, concerned citizens from Belgium, Columbia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Scotland, Spain, and the United States feel that it is our moral duty to do what we can to provide some measure of protection. We are willing to put our bodies on the line to get in the way of Israel's unlawful violence against innocent Palestinian civilians.
In the early hours of Tuesday, December 30, the Israeli Navy violently attacked our motor vessel DIGNITY, which was loaded with medical supplies and carried amongst others, doctors headed to Gaza to assist with the humanitarian crisis there. Neither the ship, nor its passengers and crew constituted any kind of danger to the Israeli Naval Forces. Yet our boat was rammed again and again, in an apparent attempt to disable the vessel, and in a manner that jeopardized the lives of the 16 civilians on board.
We will not be deterred by the violence of the Israeli military. We will set out again for Gaza. We are doctors, journalists, members of parliament, and human rights observers trying to reach the people of Gaza to deliver much needed aid and witness the atrocities being committed again the Palestinians there.
Israel is hereby put on notice that we are coming. We will announce our exact departure date, time and route, traveling from Cypriot waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza territorial waters, never nearing Israeli waters. The Israeli Navy, Ministry of Defense, and Foreign Ministry will all receive a copy of this notice. Any attack on our vessel will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the 30 civilians on board will be the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.
Free Gaza Movement
http://www.FreeGaza.org
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, January 2, 2009
Rice accuses Hamas of holding Gaza hostage; Free Gaza Activists in demo against attack on Gaza
Condoleezza Rice accuses Hamas of holding Gaza's people hostage:
"02.January.2009"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"02.January.2009"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
CNN Video: Israeli Patrol Boat Rams Gaza Relief Vessel (8:36)
Israeli Patrol Boat Rams Gaza Relief Vessel Cynthia McKinney & CNN Penhaul Reports:
"An Israeli patrol boat struck a boat carrying medical volunteers and supplies to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, witnesses and Israeli officials said.
The Dignity arrives in Tyre, Lebanon, after it was reportedly rammed by an Israeli military vessel Tuesday.
1 of 3 CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot pleasure boat Dignity when the contact occurred. When the boat later docked in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, severe damage was visible to the forward port side of the boat, and the front left window and part of the roof had collapsed. It was flying the flag of Gibraltar.
The Dignity was carrying crew and 16 passengers -- physicians from Britain, Germany and Cyprus and human rights activists from the Free Gaza Solidarity Movement -- who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory.
Also on board was former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
Palmor called those allegations 'absurd.'
'There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody,' Palmor said.
McKinney on boat in Gaza crash 1:37
A former U.S. congresswoman was on a volunteer ship during a clash with the Israeli Navy. CNN's Brooke Baldwin reports.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"An Israeli patrol boat struck a boat carrying medical volunteers and supplies to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, witnesses and Israeli officials said.
The Dignity arrives in Tyre, Lebanon, after it was reportedly rammed by an Israeli military vessel Tuesday.
1 of 3 CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot pleasure boat Dignity when the contact occurred. When the boat later docked in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, severe damage was visible to the forward port side of the boat, and the front left window and part of the roof had collapsed. It was flying the flag of Gibraltar.
The Dignity was carrying crew and 16 passengers -- physicians from Britain, Germany and Cyprus and human rights activists from the Free Gaza Solidarity Movement -- who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory.
Also on board was former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
Palmor called those allegations 'absurd.'
'There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody,' Palmor said.
McKinney on boat in Gaza crash 1:37
A former U.S. congresswoman was on a volunteer ship during a clash with the Israeli Navy. CNN's Brooke Baldwin reports.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, January 1, 2009
HR Activist Caoimhe Butterly on Gaza Health Crisis
Activist, Caoimhe Butterly, comments on Gaza crises:
"01.01.2009
http://www.presstv.ir/
Caoimhe is a renowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"01.01.2009
http://www.presstv.ir/
Caoimhe is a renowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Israel attacks Cynthia Mckinney's Boat
Israel attacks Cynthia Mckinney's Boat:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8Lc-... Israeli attack plesure boats full with health supplies as Cynthia remembers the USS Liberty..If u dont know about this event..Then follow the links http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTI... PS:If the title offends you..Then Im sorry..But I call them like I see them..Attacking a leisure vessel is Pretty dirty"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8Lc-... Israeli attack plesure boats full with health supplies as Cynthia remembers the USS Liberty..If u dont know about this event..Then follow the links http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTI... PS:If the title offends you..Then Im sorry..But I call them like I see them..Attacking a leisure vessel is Pretty dirty"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Cynthia Mckinney violently blocked from Gaza and the latest 12/30/08
Cynthia Mckinney violently blocked from Gaza and the latest 12/30/08:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/3....
From Democracy Now 12/30/08
Israel Rams Activist Boat Carrying Aid to Gaza
Gaza Death Toll Tops 375
Israel Vows to Wage War to the Bitter End
UN: 64 Palestinian Civilians Killed
Four Israelis Killed in Palestinian Rocket Attacks
Kucinich Calls on UN to Investigate Israeli Attack
Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Synagogue in Chicago"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/3....
From Democracy Now 12/30/08
Israel Rams Activist Boat Carrying Aid to Gaza
Gaza Death Toll Tops 375
Israel Vows to Wage War to the Bitter End
UN: 64 Palestinian Civilians Killed
Four Israelis Killed in Palestinian Rocket Attacks
Kucinich Calls on UN to Investigate Israeli Attack
Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Synagogue in Chicago"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Damaged Gaza aid boat docks in southern Lebanon - 30 Dec 08
Damaged Gaza aid boat docks in southern Lebanon - 30 Dec 08:
"A boat carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza has arrived in Lebanon after being turned back by the Israeli navy.
The Dignity set off from Cyprus on Monday carrying three tons of emergency and medical supplies.
Activists on board say it was rammed by an Israeli ship but the navy says it was an accident.
Mohammed Vall reports."
Press TV Report
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"A boat carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza has arrived in Lebanon after being turned back by the Israeli navy.
The Dignity set off from Cyprus on Monday carrying three tons of emergency and medical supplies.
Activists on board say it was rammed by an Israeli ship but the navy says it was an accident.
Mohammed Vall reports."
Press TV Report
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Israel attacks Dignity aid-boat to Gaza
dignity aid boat hit:
An Israeli navy vessel Rams the "Dignity" boat in international waters as it headed to Gaza on a medical aid mission.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
An Israeli navy vessel Rams the "Dignity" boat in international waters as it headed to Gaza on a medical aid mission.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, December 29, 2008
Free Gaza movement to defy Gaza blockade
Free Gaza movement to defy blockade:
"12-30-2008"
Former US Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate Cynthia Mckinney is on the Aid Boat to Gaza.
Passengers List (Dignity has left Cyprus)
Source: FreeGaza
Date : 12-29-2008
(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years, beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while atschool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Giorgios Klontzas, Relief Captain
Cpt. Klontzas is an experienced sailor and human rights activist. This will be his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist. He has served as a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in August.
(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist. She will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza.
(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected freelance journalist in Cyprus. She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.
(Sudan) Sami El-Haj
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(UK) Dr. David Halpin
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(USA) Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.
(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist. She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.
(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogotá, Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing conflict.
(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"12-30-2008"
Former US Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate Cynthia Mckinney is on the Aid Boat to Gaza.
Passengers List (Dignity has left Cyprus)
Source: FreeGaza
Date : 12-29-2008
(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years, beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while atschool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Giorgios Klontzas, Relief Captain
Cpt. Klontzas is an experienced sailor and human rights activist. This will be his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist. He has served as a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in August.
(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist. She will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza.
(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected freelance journalist in Cyprus. She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.
(Sudan) Sami El-Haj
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(UK) Dr. David Halpin
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(USA) Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.
(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist. She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.
(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogotá, Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing conflict.
(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Sunday, December 28, 2008
28th December attack on Gaza Strip - bombings in Rafah continue
28th December attack on Gaza Strip - bombings in Rafah continue:
"Shortly before 7:00am local time, yet another Israeli missile strike hit the residential neighbourhood of Hi Alijnina in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. This time a pharmacy was targeted, totally destroying the building and causing severe damage to surrounding homes. Electricity lines were torn down during the blast and the street was littered with medicines. This footage was filmed within minutes of the attack as fire fighters battled to control the blaze. Shocked residents poured into the streets, some still wearing pyjamas."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Shortly before 7:00am local time, yet another Israeli missile strike hit the residential neighbourhood of Hi Alijnina in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. This time a pharmacy was targeted, totally destroying the building and causing severe damage to surrounding homes. Electricity lines were torn down during the blast and the street was littered with medicines. This footage was filmed within minutes of the attack as fire fighters battled to control the blaze. Shocked residents poured into the streets, some still wearing pyjamas."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, December 22, 2008
International activists break the siege, deliver medical aid to Gaza
International activists delivering medical aid to Gaza:
"http://www.euronews.net/
A fifth boat carrying humanitarian activists arrives to the Gaza Strip, loaded with aid and baby food."
Dignity Returns with Qatari Dignitaries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Source:FreeGaza
Date : 12-21-2008
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +970 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +970 599 130 426 / Huwaida.Arraf@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Greta Berlin, +357 99 081 767 / Iristulip@gmail.com
(Gaza Port, Gaza, 21 December 2008) At ll:00 am on Tuesday, December 22, the DIGNITY will pull into the port of Larnaca carrying several Palestinians out of Gaza as well as the two envoys from the Qatari charity.
Alaze Al-Qahtani and Talal Al-Qutaibi of the Eid Charity from Qatar were on a two-day mission to Gaza to determine how their charity can work with their Palestinian colleagues to improve the lives of the beleaguered population.
While in Gaza, Talal Al-Qutaibi said, "We are calling on all Qatari people to join forces to break this terrible siege on Gaza. We also call for a general mass mobilization to break the siege. And we very much want to bring a ship of supplies in and will be working hard to arrange this voyage soon. "
When the Dignity entered the waters of Gaza, it was not stopped at sea and was never searched by the Israeli Navy. According to Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board, "They contacted us by radio and asked us to turn back, OR they would board and take off the two Israelis on board. We refused and said we were going to Gaza. The Israeli Navy did nothing."
We expect that the Israeli Navy will do nothing on our return as well.
Also traveling from Gaza are four Palestinians who have been denied their right to leave, even though they have citizenship from other countries. They hope to rejoin family members they have not seen for years.
###########
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
Qatari Ship Against the Israeli Siege Leaves Gaza
Source: IMEMC
Date: Monday December 22, 2008 04:32
The Free Gaza Movement reported on Sunday that the Qatari ship, the first Arab solidarity boat to break the Israeli siege, sailed out of Gaza after activists onboard spent 48 hours delivering humanitarian supplies, and observing the negative and devastating effects of the unjust Israeli siege.
The activists visited relief organizations and educational facilities in the coastal region. Fifteen Qatari nationals and international peace activists were onboard the ship.
The visiting delegates also observed the situation at the Gaza Port in order to prepare plans for rehabilitation and development. They also observed the conditions of the health sector, which collapsed due to the ongoing Israeli siege, and weighed the means to rehabilitate it.
On their way back, the activists carried a number of projects to be presented to the government of Qatar, and Qatari institutions in an attempt to collect aid to implement them.
Five Palestinians struck in Gaza managed to leave the region onboard the ship.
The Free Gaza Movement also vowed to organize further visits to support Gaza and its residents.
Jamal El Khodary, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, said that the ship left Gaza, but the area remains isolated, the crossings remain closed, and the conditions are continuously deteriorating.
“This requires more efforts from the Arab, Islamic and international countries”, EL Khodary said, “They all need to act to end this siege”.
He also stated that more ships will sail to Gaza until the siege if fully lifted, and called on the Arab and Islamic world to practice the needed pressure on the Israeli occupation to end the siege.
El Khodary thanked Qatar and its people for their efforts against the siege and their support to the residents in the Gaza Strip. He added that more efforts are essential to break this unjust siege.
----
Popular Committee Against Siege
Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS) is a popular committee established in Gaza Strip on the 25th October 2007, headed by independent Palestinian MP. Eng. Jamal Naji AL-Khodri. The launch of PCAS comes as a step to face the recent siege imposed by Israeli Occupation.
The establishment Chart of the committee assert on serving the Gaza Strip civilians and alleviating siege ramifications and burdens on people's lives. PCAS is a pure popular gathering of thinkers, well-educated, expert people as well as NGO's. We serve and help harmed people far from any political or factional affiliation.
ISRAEL-OPT: UNRWA suspends food distribution in Gaza
Source: IRIN
GAZA CITY, 19 December 2008 (IRIN) - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was forced to suspend its emergency and regular food distribution services in the Gaza Strip without warning on 18 December, due to the continued closure of all commercial and passenger border crossings.
Wheat supplies scheduled to arrive in Gaza on 9-10 December were unable to enter, and UNRWA had exhausted all stocks of flour in its warehouses due to the crisis.
“The food distribution programmes are suspended until further notice,” said UNRWA spokesperson Jamal Hamed in Gaza. “As soon as Israel allows us to import food we will resume.”
Some 750,000 refugees out of a population of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza depend on food aid from UNRWA.
On average, the UN agency distributes food to about 20,000 refugees per day, including rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned meat and milk.
“UNRWA was able to import an average of 20 trucks of humanitarian assistance per day into Gaza last month, while a minimum of 50 are required to cover their basic assistance,” said Hamed.
Israel sealed commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into neighbouring Israeli towns. A five-month Egyptian-brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
Ceasefire set to end on 19 December
“The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel officially ends on 19 December,” said Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, adding: “We [Hamas] bear the responsibility of defending our people if Israel attacks”.
“Thousands in Gaza depend on the UN for basic assistance in Gaza. This will increase the burden on the Hamas government to provide for people,” said Hamas political leader Ghazi Hamad - though the government has no alternatives while the crossings are closed.
At a speech at Hamas’s 21st anniversary rally in Gaza City on 14 December, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh noted the US$55 million in emergency assistance the Hamas government had provided to 10,000 families, fishermen and students in 2008. However, “there is no official budget for 2009, and it will not be enough,” said Hamad.
Tunnels
The alternatives for the civilian population living in Gaza are grim.
It has been almost a month since greengrocer Mohammed Abu Amra received fruit and vegetables from Israel. He gets fruit via the tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border but the deliveries are sporadic and “the goods from Egypt cost double,” said Abu Amra.
Apples are shipped from China to Egypt, and then make their way to Gaza via tunnel.
“Vegetables are available in Gaza, but there is not enough and they lack preservatives,” said Abu Amra. He is making less than half the profit he was two years ago, before Hamas won the legislative council elections.
*****
Israel's 'crime against humanity'
Chris Hedges, TruthDig.com, Dec 16, 2008
Israel's siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem's refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw.
"This is a stain on what is left of Israeli morality," I was told by Richard N. Veits, the former U.S. ambassador to Jordan who led a delegation from the Council on Foreign Relations to Gaza to meet Hamas leaders this past summer. "I am almost breathless discussing this subject. It is so myopic. Washington, of course, is a handmaiden to all this. The Israeli manipulation of a population in this manner is comparable to some of the crimes that took place against civilian populations fifty years ago."
The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, former Princeton University law professor Richard Falk, calls what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza "a crime against humanity." Falk, who is Jewish, has condemned the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza as "a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention." He has asked for "the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law."
Falk, while condemning the rocket attacks by the militant group Hamas, which he points out are also criminal violations of international law, goes on to say that "such Palestinian behavior does not legalize Israel's imposition of a collective punishment of a life- and health-threatening character on the people of Gaza, and should not distract the U.N. or international society from discharging their fundamental moral and legal duty to render protection to the Palestinian people."
"It is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe that each day poses the entire 1.5 million Gazans to an unspeakable ordeal, to a struggle to survive in terms of their health," Falk said when I reached him by phone in California shortly before he left for Israel. "This is an increasingly precarious condition. A recent study reports that 46 percent of all Gazan children suffer from acute anemia. There are reports that the sonic booms associated with Israeli overflights have caused widespread deafness, especially among children. Gazan children need thousands of hearing aids. Malnutrition is extremely high in a number of different dimensions and affects 75 percent of Gazans. There are widespread mental disorders, especially among young people without the will to live. Over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 have been found to have no will to live."
“This is a crime of survival,” Falk said of the rocket attacks. “Israel has put the Gazans in a set of circumstances where they either have to accept whatever is imposed on them or resist in any way available to them. That is a horrible dilemma to impose upon a people. This does not alleviate the Palestinians, and Gazans in particular, for accountability for doing these acts involving rocket fire, but it also imposes some responsibility on Israel for creating these circumstances.”
Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinians to resist. The Israeli government has demonstrated little interest in diplomacy or a peaceful solution. The rapid expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank is an effort to thwart the possibility of a two-state solution by gobbling up vast tracts of Palestinian real estate. Israel also appears to want to thrust the impoverished Gaza Strip onto Egypt. There are now dozens of tunnels, the principal means for food and goods, connecting Gaza to Egypt. Israel permits the tunnels to operate, most likely as part of an effort to further cut Gaza off from Israel.
“Israel, all along, has not been prepared to enter into diplomatic process that gives the Palestinians a viable state,” Falk said. “They [the Israelis] feel time is on their side. They feel they can create enough facts on the ground so people will come to the conclusion a viable state cannot emerge.”
The use of terror and hunger to break a hostile population is one of the oldest forms of warfare. I watched the Bosnian Serbs employ the same tactic in Sarajevo. Those who orchestrate such sieges do not grasp the terrible rage born of long humiliation, indiscriminate violence and abuse. A father or a mother whose child dies because of a lack of vaccines or proper medical care does not forget. A boy whose ill grandmother dies while detained at an Israel checkpoint does not forget. All who endure humiliation, abuse and the murder of family members do not forget. This rage becomes a virus within those who, eventually, stumble out into the daylight. Is it any wonder that 71 percent of children interviewed at a school in Gaza recently said they wanted to be a “martyr”?
The Israelis in Gaza, like the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, are foolishly breeding the next generation of militants and Islamic radicals. Jihadists, enraged by the injustices done by Israel and the United States, seek to carry out reciprocal acts of savagery, even at the cost of their own lives. The violence unleashed on Palestinian children will, one day, be the violence unleashed on Israeli children. This is the tragedy of Gaza. This is the tragedy of Israel.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"http://www.euronews.net/
A fifth boat carrying humanitarian activists arrives to the Gaza Strip, loaded with aid and baby food."
Dignity Returns with Qatari Dignitaries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Source:FreeGaza
Date : 12-21-2008
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +970 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +970 599 130 426 / Huwaida.Arraf@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Greta Berlin, +357 99 081 767 / Iristulip@gmail.com
(Gaza Port, Gaza, 21 December 2008) At ll:00 am on Tuesday, December 22, the DIGNITY will pull into the port of Larnaca carrying several Palestinians out of Gaza as well as the two envoys from the Qatari charity.
Alaze Al-Qahtani and Talal Al-Qutaibi of the Eid Charity from Qatar were on a two-day mission to Gaza to determine how their charity can work with their Palestinian colleagues to improve the lives of the beleaguered population.
While in Gaza, Talal Al-Qutaibi said, "We are calling on all Qatari people to join forces to break this terrible siege on Gaza. We also call for a general mass mobilization to break the siege. And we very much want to bring a ship of supplies in and will be working hard to arrange this voyage soon. "
When the Dignity entered the waters of Gaza, it was not stopped at sea and was never searched by the Israeli Navy. According to Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board, "They contacted us by radio and asked us to turn back, OR they would board and take off the two Israelis on board. We refused and said we were going to Gaza. The Israeli Navy did nothing."
We expect that the Israeli Navy will do nothing on our return as well.
Also traveling from Gaza are four Palestinians who have been denied their right to leave, even though they have citizenship from other countries. They hope to rejoin family members they have not seen for years.
###########
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
Qatari Ship Against the Israeli Siege Leaves Gaza
Source: IMEMC
Date: Monday December 22, 2008 04:32
The Free Gaza Movement reported on Sunday that the Qatari ship, the first Arab solidarity boat to break the Israeli siege, sailed out of Gaza after activists onboard spent 48 hours delivering humanitarian supplies, and observing the negative and devastating effects of the unjust Israeli siege.
The activists visited relief organizations and educational facilities in the coastal region. Fifteen Qatari nationals and international peace activists were onboard the ship.
The visiting delegates also observed the situation at the Gaza Port in order to prepare plans for rehabilitation and development. They also observed the conditions of the health sector, which collapsed due to the ongoing Israeli siege, and weighed the means to rehabilitate it.
On their way back, the activists carried a number of projects to be presented to the government of Qatar, and Qatari institutions in an attempt to collect aid to implement them.
Five Palestinians struck in Gaza managed to leave the region onboard the ship.
The Free Gaza Movement also vowed to organize further visits to support Gaza and its residents.
Jamal El Khodary, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, said that the ship left Gaza, but the area remains isolated, the crossings remain closed, and the conditions are continuously deteriorating.
“This requires more efforts from the Arab, Islamic and international countries”, EL Khodary said, “They all need to act to end this siege”.
He also stated that more ships will sail to Gaza until the siege if fully lifted, and called on the Arab and Islamic world to practice the needed pressure on the Israeli occupation to end the siege.
El Khodary thanked Qatar and its people for their efforts against the siege and their support to the residents in the Gaza Strip. He added that more efforts are essential to break this unjust siege.
----
Popular Committee Against Siege
Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS) is a popular committee established in Gaza Strip on the 25th October 2007, headed by independent Palestinian MP. Eng. Jamal Naji AL-Khodri. The launch of PCAS comes as a step to face the recent siege imposed by Israeli Occupation.
The establishment Chart of the committee assert on serving the Gaza Strip civilians and alleviating siege ramifications and burdens on people's lives. PCAS is a pure popular gathering of thinkers, well-educated, expert people as well as NGO's. We serve and help harmed people far from any political or factional affiliation.
ISRAEL-OPT: UNRWA suspends food distribution in Gaza
Source: IRIN
GAZA CITY, 19 December 2008 (IRIN) - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was forced to suspend its emergency and regular food distribution services in the Gaza Strip without warning on 18 December, due to the continued closure of all commercial and passenger border crossings.
Wheat supplies scheduled to arrive in Gaza on 9-10 December were unable to enter, and UNRWA had exhausted all stocks of flour in its warehouses due to the crisis.
“The food distribution programmes are suspended until further notice,” said UNRWA spokesperson Jamal Hamed in Gaza. “As soon as Israel allows us to import food we will resume.”
Some 750,000 refugees out of a population of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza depend on food aid from UNRWA.
On average, the UN agency distributes food to about 20,000 refugees per day, including rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned meat and milk.
“UNRWA was able to import an average of 20 trucks of humanitarian assistance per day into Gaza last month, while a minimum of 50 are required to cover their basic assistance,” said Hamed.
Israel sealed commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into neighbouring Israeli towns. A five-month Egyptian-brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
Ceasefire set to end on 19 December
“The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel officially ends on 19 December,” said Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, adding: “We [Hamas] bear the responsibility of defending our people if Israel attacks”.
“Thousands in Gaza depend on the UN for basic assistance in Gaza. This will increase the burden on the Hamas government to provide for people,” said Hamas political leader Ghazi Hamad - though the government has no alternatives while the crossings are closed.
At a speech at Hamas’s 21st anniversary rally in Gaza City on 14 December, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh noted the US$55 million in emergency assistance the Hamas government had provided to 10,000 families, fishermen and students in 2008. However, “there is no official budget for 2009, and it will not be enough,” said Hamad.
Tunnels
The alternatives for the civilian population living in Gaza are grim.
It has been almost a month since greengrocer Mohammed Abu Amra received fruit and vegetables from Israel. He gets fruit via the tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border but the deliveries are sporadic and “the goods from Egypt cost double,” said Abu Amra.
Apples are shipped from China to Egypt, and then make their way to Gaza via tunnel.
“Vegetables are available in Gaza, but there is not enough and they lack preservatives,” said Abu Amra. He is making less than half the profit he was two years ago, before Hamas won the legislative council elections.
*****
Israel's 'crime against humanity'
Chris Hedges, TruthDig.com, Dec 16, 2008
Israel's siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem's refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw.
"This is a stain on what is left of Israeli morality," I was told by Richard N. Veits, the former U.S. ambassador to Jordan who led a delegation from the Council on Foreign Relations to Gaza to meet Hamas leaders this past summer. "I am almost breathless discussing this subject. It is so myopic. Washington, of course, is a handmaiden to all this. The Israeli manipulation of a population in this manner is comparable to some of the crimes that took place against civilian populations fifty years ago."
The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, former Princeton University law professor Richard Falk, calls what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza "a crime against humanity." Falk, who is Jewish, has condemned the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza as "a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention." He has asked for "the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law."
Falk, while condemning the rocket attacks by the militant group Hamas, which he points out are also criminal violations of international law, goes on to say that "such Palestinian behavior does not legalize Israel's imposition of a collective punishment of a life- and health-threatening character on the people of Gaza, and should not distract the U.N. or international society from discharging their fundamental moral and legal duty to render protection to the Palestinian people."
"It is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe that each day poses the entire 1.5 million Gazans to an unspeakable ordeal, to a struggle to survive in terms of their health," Falk said when I reached him by phone in California shortly before he left for Israel. "This is an increasingly precarious condition. A recent study reports that 46 percent of all Gazan children suffer from acute anemia. There are reports that the sonic booms associated with Israeli overflights have caused widespread deafness, especially among children. Gazan children need thousands of hearing aids. Malnutrition is extremely high in a number of different dimensions and affects 75 percent of Gazans. There are widespread mental disorders, especially among young people without the will to live. Over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 have been found to have no will to live."
“This is a crime of survival,” Falk said of the rocket attacks. “Israel has put the Gazans in a set of circumstances where they either have to accept whatever is imposed on them or resist in any way available to them. That is a horrible dilemma to impose upon a people. This does not alleviate the Palestinians, and Gazans in particular, for accountability for doing these acts involving rocket fire, but it also imposes some responsibility on Israel for creating these circumstances.”
Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinians to resist. The Israeli government has demonstrated little interest in diplomacy or a peaceful solution. The rapid expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank is an effort to thwart the possibility of a two-state solution by gobbling up vast tracts of Palestinian real estate. Israel also appears to want to thrust the impoverished Gaza Strip onto Egypt. There are now dozens of tunnels, the principal means for food and goods, connecting Gaza to Egypt. Israel permits the tunnels to operate, most likely as part of an effort to further cut Gaza off from Israel.
“Israel, all along, has not been prepared to enter into diplomatic process that gives the Palestinians a viable state,” Falk said. “They [the Israelis] feel time is on their side. They feel they can create enough facts on the ground so people will come to the conclusion a viable state cannot emerge.”
The use of terror and hunger to break a hostile population is one of the oldest forms of warfare. I watched the Bosnian Serbs employ the same tactic in Sarajevo. Those who orchestrate such sieges do not grasp the terrible rage born of long humiliation, indiscriminate violence and abuse. A father or a mother whose child dies because of a lack of vaccines or proper medical care does not forget. A boy whose ill grandmother dies while detained at an Israel checkpoint does not forget. All who endure humiliation, abuse and the murder of family members do not forget. This rage becomes a virus within those who, eventually, stumble out into the daylight. Is it any wonder that 71 percent of children interviewed at a school in Gaza recently said they wanted to be a “martyr”?
The Israelis in Gaza, like the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, are foolishly breeding the next generation of militants and Islamic radicals. Jihadists, enraged by the injustices done by Israel and the United States, seek to carry out reciprocal acts of savagery, even at the cost of their own lives. The violence unleashed on Palestinian children will, one day, be the violence unleashed on Israeli children. This is the tragedy of Gaza. This is the tragedy of Israel.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Saturday, December 20, 2008
First Arab boat docks in Gaza in defiance of blockade
First Arab boat docks in Gaza in defiance of blockade:
"The Dignity boat carrying 15 International activists from different countries arrived in the besieged Gaza"
"We are going to Gaza"
Source: FreeGaza
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date : 12-20-2008
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +970 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +970 599 130 426 / Huwaida.Arraf@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Greta Berlin, +357 99 081 767 / Iristulip@gmail.com
(Gaza Port, Gaza, 20 December 2008) The DIGNITY pulled into Gaza Port at 8:00 am today after the Israeli Navy threatened to board them and take the two Israelis off the boat. "We know you have Israelis on board, so either turn back, or we will board and take them off," said the voice on the radio.
"We are going to Gaza," Huwaida Arraf, the delegation leader, replied.
Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board and a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement stated, "Countries that commit crimes against humanity often hide those crimes from their own people. Israel is doing exactly that, by not allowing Israelis to come in to witness what they are doing in our name."
The Dignity also carries two envoys from the Eid Charity in Qatar who are going to Gaza to assess the tragedy there. They will go back with concrete proposals on what they can do to help alleviate Israel's collective punishment of the 1.5 Palestinians.
"This is just the beginning. We are delighted that we are finally able to see the shores of Gaza and be the first Arab envoys to arrive. We will see how we can work together to help relieve this terrible situation in Gaza," said Alaze Al-Qahtani.
This is the fifth voyage for the Free Gaza movement. "Everyone said it couldn't be done, that we would never be able to get to Gaza. But we have now arrived for the fifth time. Now, other ships, especially cargo ships, need to follow in our wake," said Darlene Wallach, one of the internationals kidnapped from a Palestinian fishing boat by the Israeli navy on l8 November.
Greta Berlin
Media Team
Free Gaza Movement
357 99 08 17 67
www.freegaza.org
www.anis-online.de/office/events/FreeGazaSong.htm
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"The Dignity boat carrying 15 International activists from different countries arrived in the besieged Gaza"
"We are going to Gaza"
Source: FreeGaza
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date : 12-20-2008
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +970 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +970 599 130 426 / Huwaida.Arraf@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Greta Berlin, +357 99 081 767 / Iristulip@gmail.com
(Gaza Port, Gaza, 20 December 2008) The DIGNITY pulled into Gaza Port at 8:00 am today after the Israeli Navy threatened to board them and take the two Israelis off the boat. "We know you have Israelis on board, so either turn back, or we will board and take them off," said the voice on the radio.
"We are going to Gaza," Huwaida Arraf, the delegation leader, replied.
Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board and a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement stated, "Countries that commit crimes against humanity often hide those crimes from their own people. Israel is doing exactly that, by not allowing Israelis to come in to witness what they are doing in our name."
The Dignity also carries two envoys from the Eid Charity in Qatar who are going to Gaza to assess the tragedy there. They will go back with concrete proposals on what they can do to help alleviate Israel's collective punishment of the 1.5 Palestinians.
"This is just the beginning. We are delighted that we are finally able to see the shores of Gaza and be the first Arab envoys to arrive. We will see how we can work together to help relieve this terrible situation in Gaza," said Alaze Al-Qahtani.
This is the fifth voyage for the Free Gaza movement. "Everyone said it couldn't be done, that we would never be able to get to Gaza. But we have now arrived for the fifth time. Now, other ships, especially cargo ships, need to follow in our wake," said Darlene Wallach, one of the internationals kidnapped from a Palestinian fishing boat by the Israeli navy on l8 November.
Greta Berlin
Media Team
Free Gaza Movement
357 99 08 17 67
www.freegaza.org
www.anis-online.de/office/events/FreeGazaSong.htm
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Fourth blockade-defying boat docks in Gaza port
Fourth blockade-defying boat docks in Gaza port.wmv:
"The Free Gaza Movement boat Dignity successfully broke through the Israeli blockade for the fourth time since August, arriving in Gaza Port, The ship carried one ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula, in addition to a delegation of international academics, humanitarian and human rights workers"
Related News:
Dignity to Gaza: “We’re Back!” - Fourth Successful Voyage Breaks Through Siege of Gaza
Source: FreeGaza.org
(GAZA, 9 December 2008) - The Free Gaza Movement ship “Dignity” successfully broke through the Israeli blockade for the fourth time since August, arriving in Gaza Port at 2:45pm, Tuesday 9 December. The ship carried one ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula, in addition to a delegation of international academics, humanitarian and human rights workers. Three earlier missions made landfall in Gaza in August, October, and November through the power of non-violent direct action and civil resistance. The Free Gaza ships are the first international ships to reach the Gaza Strip in over 41 years.
Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer, journalist, and solidarity worker, pointed out that, “Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day, and it's high time the world turned its rhetoric on human rights into reality. We mounted this mission to give our solidarity to the people of Palestine and to highlight the strangulating conditions Israel causes in besieged Gaza. The inhumane effects of this siege threaten to stunt an entire generation - both in terms of physical and mental growth due to malnutrition, terrorization by bomb attacks, incursions and the use of sonic booms - but also in terms of the generation of students which have won places at academic institutions around the world but cannot fulfill them, and those undermined on the ground in Gaza by a lack of food, medicine, electricity, materials, and the peace and space to make use of them in.”
For over two years, Israel has imposed an increasingly severe blockade on Gaza, dramatically increasing poverty and malnutrition rates among the 1.5 million human people who live in this tiny, costal region. The World Bank recently warned that the entire banking system in Gaza may soon collapse resulting in “serious humanitarian implications.” Already, over eighty percent of Gazan families are dependent on international food aid in order to feed their children.
Lubna Masarwa, another Free Gaza organizer and the current delegation’s leader, pointed out that, “The Palestinians of Gaza don't need charity. What they need is effective political action that changes their lives and ends the Occupation. We can't bring electricity to Gaza on our boats. We can't import freedom of movement or safety. But we can get into Gaza and we are intent to keep coming. We will come again and again and again until the world breaks its silence and we shatter this siege once and for all.”
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"The Free Gaza Movement boat Dignity successfully broke through the Israeli blockade for the fourth time since August, arriving in Gaza Port, The ship carried one ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula, in addition to a delegation of international academics, humanitarian and human rights workers"
Related News:
Dignity to Gaza: “We’re Back!” - Fourth Successful Voyage Breaks Through Siege of Gaza
Source: FreeGaza.org
(GAZA, 9 December 2008) - The Free Gaza Movement ship “Dignity” successfully broke through the Israeli blockade for the fourth time since August, arriving in Gaza Port at 2:45pm, Tuesday 9 December. The ship carried one ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula, in addition to a delegation of international academics, humanitarian and human rights workers. Three earlier missions made landfall in Gaza in August, October, and November through the power of non-violent direct action and civil resistance. The Free Gaza ships are the first international ships to reach the Gaza Strip in over 41 years.
Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer, journalist, and solidarity worker, pointed out that, “Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day, and it's high time the world turned its rhetoric on human rights into reality. We mounted this mission to give our solidarity to the people of Palestine and to highlight the strangulating conditions Israel causes in besieged Gaza. The inhumane effects of this siege threaten to stunt an entire generation - both in terms of physical and mental growth due to malnutrition, terrorization by bomb attacks, incursions and the use of sonic booms - but also in terms of the generation of students which have won places at academic institutions around the world but cannot fulfill them, and those undermined on the ground in Gaza by a lack of food, medicine, electricity, materials, and the peace and space to make use of them in.”
For over two years, Israel has imposed an increasingly severe blockade on Gaza, dramatically increasing poverty and malnutrition rates among the 1.5 million human people who live in this tiny, costal region. The World Bank recently warned that the entire banking system in Gaza may soon collapse resulting in “serious humanitarian implications.” Already, over eighty percent of Gazan families are dependent on international food aid in order to feed their children.
Lubna Masarwa, another Free Gaza organizer and the current delegation’s leader, pointed out that, “The Palestinians of Gaza don't need charity. What they need is effective political action that changes their lives and ends the Occupation. We can't bring electricity to Gaza on our boats. We can't import freedom of movement or safety. But we can get into Gaza and we are intent to keep coming. We will come again and again and again until the world breaks its silence and we shatter this siege once and for all.”
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, November 27, 2008
PAUL LARUDEE - THE FREE GAZA EXPERIENCE
BREAKING THE BLOCKADE: AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE FREE GAZA EXPERIENCE:
Meet one of the human rights workers who broke the blockade of the Gaza Strip on August 23, 2008. Paul Larudee, is a piano tuner from El Cerrito. He says what he saw from his trip is something he'll never forget.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Meet one of the human rights workers who broke the blockade of the Gaza Strip on August 23, 2008. Paul Larudee, is a piano tuner from El Cerrito. He says what he saw from his trip is something he'll never forget.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
UK humanitarian worker deported from Gaza by Israel
UK humanitarian worker deported from Gaza by Israel
Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:48:21
Roshan Muhammed Salih, Press TV, London
(Windows Media or Real Player)
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:48:21
Roshan Muhammed Salih, Press TV, London
(Windows Media or Real Player)Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Free Gaza Movement. Hesham Tillawi interviews Derek Graham
Free Gaza Movement. Hesham Tillawi interviews Derek Graham:
"holocaust in process. Gaza slowly diying. Come see what some freedom loving people are trying to do."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"holocaust in process. Gaza slowly diying. Come see what some freedom loving people are trying to do."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Free Gaza Movement. Greta Berlin interview with Hesham Tillawi
Free Gaza Movement. Greta Berlin interview with Hesham Tillawi:
"Greta Berlin, one of the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement. What did they find out when they arrived in Gaza"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Greta Berlin, one of the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement. What did they find out when they arrived in Gaza"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
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