SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty set sail
Rosie Perkins | 04.08.2008 23:30 | Palestine
News has just come through that the 2 small sailing boats attempting to break the siege of Gaza have set sail.
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
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
Rosie Perkins
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Need to expand mission?
05.08.2008 11:12
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."
Missing something possibly very important?
There is a possibility that the Israelis will choose NOT to block this (first) attempt to reach Gaza throuhg Gaza's border with the outside world. Thus proving that they are NOT in fact besieging Gaza (the haven't been OCCUPYING Gaza for quite a while now). The fact that they might continue to block the border between Gaza and Israel or that Egypt might block the border between gaza and Egypt not relevant to the reality that Gaza is NOT "surrounded".
Understand? The only basis upon which outsiders can claim that Israel is under some obligation to allow goods or people in or out of Gaza THROUGH ISRAEL would be that Israel IS blockading Gaza. As long as Israel allows supplies/people in and out otherwise, no matter how hopelessly uneconomic a route, then there is no obligation for Israel to supply Gaza even though every Gazaqn perished. Or to put that better, no MORE obligation to supply Gaza than anybody else in the world has.
So your mission SHOULD include a clause "will organize the supply of Gaza via the beaches and small ports of Gaza should Israel demonstrate that they are not, in fact, conducting a siege" because othewsie you might be making the plight of the Gazans worse as the result of your trip.
A very important "rule of war" -- never base your plans entirely on your estimation of the opponent's intentions (here you think they will stop you) but rather upon the opponent's capabilities (they could easily choose not to stop you).
You need to consider carefully what will happen if they let you through. Do you really think the world cares enough about the Gazans to supply them this way? Is it worth the loss of legitimacy of any claim to pass through Israel?
Mike Novack
e-mail:
stepbyspefarm mtdata.com
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