Tony Blair's Sister-in-Law on Arrest of a Gaza Activist

Tony Blair's Sister-in-Law on Arrest of a Gaza Activist:

"Afshin Rattansi talks to Lauren Booth, broadcaster and journalist after the arrest of Professor Jeff Halper.

Minnesota-born Halper, an Anthropology lecturer from Ben Gurion University who also chairs the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, was among dozens of international activists who sailed from Cyprus over the weekend in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade of the coastal enclave.

Related Article:
Jeff Halper, an Israeli activist on the "Free Gaza" boats arrested when leaving Gaza
by Palestine Monitor
Jeff Halper, an Israeli left wing activist who sailed as a member of the ‘Free Gaza' ship to challenge Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was arrested by the Israeli police at the Erez Crossing this Tuesday, on his way to leave Gaza and return to Jerusalem.

According to the Maariv newspaper, the police decided after deliberations to arrest the Professor who will be submitted to Ashkelon Court tomorrow morning to consider his case. The Israeli authorities accuse Halper of violating a decree banning any Israeli citizens from entering the Gaza Strip, although Jeff Halper is also holder of American citizenship.

The professor spent three days in the Gaza strip after the arrival of the boat before trying to enter Israel through the Erez crossing, where the police arrested him and took him to Sderot for further interrogations. As the only Israeli citizen on board, Halper told newspapers he was expecting to be arrested and interrogated for his act of civil disobedience upon re-entering Israel.

Born in Minnesota, Professor Jeff Halper is a famous Israeli peace activist, anthropology lecturer from Ben Gourion University and chairman of ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, an organization that works to block the IDF's activities in the Palestinian territories and the demolition of Palestinian homes. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his longtime commitment to anti-occupation and pro-peace activities.

The Professor was the only Israeli among the 44 activists from 17 nations who took part in the blockade-busting project ‘Free Gaza'. The two boats ‘SS Free Gaza' and ‘SS Liberty' sailed last week from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip and reached the Palestinian coast on Saturday. By defying the Israeli blockade, the crewmembers are the first foreigners to reach the closed territory by sea since the complete closure of the Strip one year ago.
Once. And again?

Although the achievement of the ‘Free Gaza' project was uncertain due to the harsh restrictions carried out by the Israeli government, Israel finally allowed the activists to dock on the Gaza strip on the 25th of August. But what looks like a softening gesture, has more to do with avoiding public confrontation and bad media coverage for Israel, which the government recognized when allowing the ship to dock. Indeed, the international activists' project enjoyed great international coverage. “They wanted a provocation at sea, but they won't get it”, explained Foreign Ministry spokesman Aviv Sharon.

To Halper, whatever was the outcome, the resistance was always worth it: "the beauty of a non-violent activity is that we win, no matter what. If we break the siege, we win, and even if they arrest us, we win, because this will expose the face of the occupation and prove that Israel is still an occupier in Gaza", he said, while interviewed early August about its expectations for that trip.

Contacted after his arrival on the Palestinian prohibited ground, Harper told Haaretz: “I feel like we're fresh air entering a prison where a million and half people are living”. And when expressing his views about the Israeli public opinion -mostly unaware of the real situation on the ground in Gaza- the peace activist emphasized: "Our impression that Gaza is Hamas, that there is only hatred there, is mistaken," adding that he learned that "we are more of an obstacle to peace than the Palestinians."

As the only Israeli Jew who participated in the journey, Harper holds, as a consequence, a great symbolic value for the Israeli authorities. As a matter of fact, even if Tzipi Livni, the Israeli minister of foreign affairs, allowed those specific ships to dock in Gaza, it is still certain that Israel doesn't want a copy-cat of this action in the future. The Israeli government was quoted in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonot as confirming that, “This was a one time thing,” in order to discourage any other activists from carrying out such an action. This might also be the reason why Jeff Halper has been arrested and questioned, as the Israeli authorities would like to make an example of him.

In place since 2007, the Israeli blockade of Gaza has totally isolated the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip from the outside world, barring all but a minimum of Humanitarian aid, worsening the Gazan economy, heath and humanitarian situation as neither goods nor people are free to enter and leave the Strip.

But above this, by preventing any foreigners, and moreover any Israelis to enter the Strip, Israel is also carrying a ‘blackout' policy, ensuring that Israelis will not enter the territory and will not discover the Gazan reality on the ground. By doing so, Israeli is securing its occupation policy, making sure that any Israelis will protest against it and that their journalists cannot report on it.

Still, by having broken the siege once, ‘ordinary citizens' have shown that they can do something and succeed. However, it cannot yet be taken for granted that breaking the siege via sea will work again, without the kind of media attention that the Free Gaza Movement received last Saturday.

Today, on the edge of the departure, the rest of the crew plans to sail back to Cyprus on Thursday, taking several Palestinians with them, including Fulbright students prevented by Israel from leaving Gaza to study abroad, and a young woman wishing to be reunited with her husband.