Its the wee hours of Tuesday morning here and news has just reached me that the two sailing boats, SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, have set sail on the first leg of their brave voyage to Gaza.

The first stage is to pick up passengers from Cyprus and then it is off to Gaza, in an attempt to break the siege that Israel holds the Palestinians in.

The boats will not sail through Israeli waters, but will sail from Cyprus to Gaza; however, Israeli naval vessels patrol the Gaza sea and effectively blockade shipping there - often by force.

The Free Gaza/Breaking the Siege vessels are determined not to recognise the authority of the Israeli state in the Gaza water and to resist by peaceful means .....what will happen next remains to be seen and it it thought that Israeli has already tried to sabotage the plans by intimidating Palestinians involved in the purchase of the boats and by threatening Israeli citizens involved with imprisonment. The good news is that Cyprus said yesterday that they will no stop the boats.

Mission Statement
We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation. We want to uphold Palestine's right to welcome internationals as visitors, human rights observers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, or otherwise.

Who are we?
We are these human rights observers, aid workers, and journalists. We have years of experience volunteering in Gaza and the West Bank at the invitation of Palestinians. But now, because of the increasing stranglehold of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, many of us find it almost impossible to enter Gaza, and an increasing number have been refused entry to Israel and the West Bank as well.

For more information check out www.freegaza.org