- Since Israel isolated Gaza under siege in mid-2007, it's
blocked essential humanitarian aid from entering, including:
-
- -- on December 1, 2008, when its warships stopped a Libyan
cargo vessel several kilometers from Gaza, ordering it back to El-Arish,
Egypt or be attacked; it was carrying 1,200 tons of rice, 750 tons of milk,
500 tons of oil, 500 tons of flour, and 100 tons of medicines;
-
- -- on December 15, 2008 when the Spirit of Humanity
carrying five tons of aid and 21 passengers, including three volunteer
surgeons, was intercepted at sea, 100 miles from Gaza, and warned to turn
back to Larnaca, Cyprus or be assaulted; and
-
- -- on June 30, 2009, the Free Gaza Movement's Spirit
of Humanity was intercepted and boarded 23 miles off Gaza's coast; its
aid cargo and 21 human rights activists were seized, including Nobel laureate
Mairead Maguire and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney; they were threatened
and forcibly taken to Israel's southern port of Ashdod, held incommunicado
under horrific conditions one passenger described as a "horror movie....in
a warehouse, where we slept on a cockroach-infested cement floor as armed
soldiers" stood guard; all their personal possessions were confiscated,
and a day later two of them were taken to Ashdod's central bus station
with no money or belongings; the others were arrested and treated like
criminals.
-
- Cynthia McKinney described her ordeal as prisoner number
88794 at Ramle prison, known as one of Israel's harshest - a former British
police station, overcrowded, "stinking," many inside with no
bed, everyone confined to tiny areas, some in isolation with no sunlight,
and a series of dungeons six feet long, three feet wide, and six feet high
that are dark, filthy, unbearable to be in, and those inside are stripped
naked, beaten, unable to shower, given a thin coverall, and allowed to
use the toilet once a day only.
-
- McKinney had a suitcase with crayons for children. Others
had medical and building supplies. Authorities tried to get her to confess
to a crime. She refused so was treated harshly. She called Ramle:
-
- "incredibly black: populated mostly by Ethiopians
who also had a dream," were en route to Israel for it, yet were denied
and then imprisoned. She and 14 others were held in a 7 by 7 meter cell
in Israel's summer heat, searched twice daily, but said it's nothing to
how Palestinians are treated.
-
- One of the passengers, Ramzi Kysia, told the Israeli
news service, Ynet.org:
-
- "We'll be back again and again....the Israeli regime
should be careful, because we're coming. We won't stop until this blockade
is broken forever and Gaza residents have access to the rest of the world."
She also said the group's attorney will demand that Israel return its vessel.
-
- Gaza Freedom Marchers' (GFM) Mission of Mercy
-
- In late December, around 1,400 activists from about 43
countries gathered in Cairo, Egypt, preparing to travel to Gaza with humanitarian
aid as a show of solidarity with its 1.5 million people needing all they
can get - "put(ting) forth a global call to Israel to Lift the Siege
of Gaza!"
-
- Seven months in the planning, the group included doctors,
lawyers, diplomats, students, artists, rabbis, priests, imams, and others,
young and old, men and women, united to end the blockade, free the Gazan
people, end their suffering, and highlight Israel's outrageous crimes of
war, against humanity, and brutalizing oppression that continues daily
against civilian "protected people" under international law.
-
- The march was under the auspices of the International
Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza, formed after Operation Cast
Lead, representing a "diverse coalition that represents all faiths
(and no faith) and is focused on human rights in conformance with international
law."
-
- On arrival in Egypt, they were harshly treated and prevented
from entering Gaza, save for a token 24 hours offered 100 only that the
group summarily rejected as outrageous and unacceptable. Some dozens, in
fact, went, as explained below.
-
- On December 27, 30 freedom marchers were held under house
arrest at their hotel in El-Arish, and another eight at the bus station
to prevent them from traveling to Gaza. At the same time, security police
broke up a Kasr al Nil Bridge commemoration on the anniversary of Israel's
attack, disrupting a peaceful protest against it.
-
- Others marked the occasion in Cairo by floating 1,400
candles on the Nile, remembering the number of Gazans killed in cold blood.
-
- On December 28, a group of French activists from the
solidarity group EuroPalestine took over the boulevard outside their Cairo
Embassy, occupied the street with tents for four hours, blocked traffic,
demanded buses to Gaza, and forced the French ambassador to negotiate on
their behalf, or at least go through the motions as nothing he did helped.
-
- They were confronted by dozens of armored police vehicles,
hundreds of riot cops, water cannons ready if they resisted orders to disperse.
They negotiated with the police, said they intended to stay, demanded buses
to Gaza, and asked others to join them in peaceful solidarity.
-
- Others staged a sit-in outside Cairo's UN building demanding
the world body intervene on their behalf. They, too, were met by security
forces while some of them negotiated with UN representatives asking for
safe entry to Gaza for all 1,400 marchers. They were rejected even though
the UN agreed to try to arrange a meeting with the Foreign Ministry's chief
of staff to deliver their request to President Mubarak, Egypt's reigning
despot since 1981, in league with Washington and Israel, and fully supportive
of the siege, so expecting him to help is futile.
-
- Most protestors dispersed at the end of the day, promising
to return, while Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, age 85, began a hunger
strike (with dozen or more others) to protest, drinking only water and
orange juice for energy. Concerned about her health, she ended it on New
Year's eve, but vowed to continue her efforts to end the criminal siege.
-
- On December 29, Egyptian security forces detained about
25 American citizens inside the US Embassy and another seven or eight outside
the compound. They were seeking help to enter Gaza, but were met almost
immediately in response, and according to Gael Murphy, one of the organizers,
this action "suggests the American Embassy is responsible." Indeed
so, as one word from inside and it would end, or perhaps never happen
in the first place.
-
- America, Israel, and Egypt, of course, are complicit
in isolating Gaza. Washington and Tel Aviv jointly planned Operation Cast
Lead and all other IDF conflicts, and the world community turns a blind
eye to daily attacks, land seizures, torture, killings, targeted assassinations,
and decades of these and other Israeli crimes and oppression against millions
of Palestinian civilians.
-
- After three days of vigils, protests, and determination
to persist, the March Coordinating Committee and other contingents "flatly
reject(ed) Egypt's (token) offer" to let 100 enter Gaza for 24 hours.
All or no one they said as one step toward liberating 1.5 million Gazans.
In fact, about 85 activists went, including Palestinians who had never
seen family members there and wanted a chance.
-
- On December 31, the entire group defied police blockades
and unfurled banners calling on supporters to join with them in solidarity.
Some got past barricades and marched to Tahreer Square in downtown Cairo.
Courageous Egyptians joined them to denounce their government's role, risking
severe measures freely used
- against anyone defying government orders.
-
- Police separated them from the marchers, then assaulted
them. One of them, Desiree Fairooz said:
-
- "I was lifted by the Egyptian police forces and
literally tossed over the fence."
-
- More measures likely followed, unreported away from the
demonstration, perhaps including arrests and brutal treatment in detention,
common measures by Egyptian security forces, including torture.
-
- On January 1, marchers protested in front of the Israeli
consulate, and were quickly confronted again, but demonstrated again the
next day. Reports were that Egyptian plainclothes police were involved,
used violence, and injured seven or more protestors. Mick Napier, head
of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:
-
- "The police used excessive force, and at one stage
several female protestors were punched and kicked. A couple had their hijabs
ripped away from the head. Many of us were taken aback by the naked (police)
aggression as this was a nonviolent protest."
-
- Marchers were also "dragged, pulled, and manhandled"
according to Code Pink's Medea Benjamin. Surprisingly, no one was arrested,
but they were fenced into a pen and held for two days, surrounded by baton-wielding
riot police, forced sleep on the sidewalk, and most were denied food or
toilet access. About 50 US citizens were roughed up and held briefly in
detention.
-
- On January 3, organizers reported a French citizen's
death from security force sustained injuries. Marie Renee died in a Cairo
hospital. She was one of 300 members of a French delegation.
-
- The same day, Al-Jazeera reported that hundreds of Israelis
and Arab activists protested against the siege in central Tel Aviv chanting
"Freedom and Justice in Gaza." They demanded an end to the blockade,
calling it a "war crime," according to the AFP new agency.
-
- Besides wanting access to Gaza and the siege ended, marchers
want to stop Egypt (with US Army Corps of Engineers help and congressional
funding) from building a 9 - 10 km long iron wall across its Gaza border,
extending up to 30 meters below ground to prevent essential goods from
the Strip through hundreds of tunnels.
-
- Washington, Israel and Egypt call it "smuggling."
Gazans say it's a vital lifeline bringing in food, medicines, fuel, and
other essentials in whatever amounts possible, way short of what's needed,
but important nonetheless.
-
- Gaza Freedom Marchers persist and on January 1 issued
their Cairo Declaration saying:
-
- "We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during
the Gaza Freedom March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from
the South African delegation, state:
-
- In view of:
-
- -- Israel's ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians
through the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza;
-
- -- the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including
East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid
Wall and settlements;
-
- -- the new Wall under construction by Egypt and the US
which will tighten even further the siege of Gaza;
-
- -- the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown by Israel,
the US, Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006;
-
- -- the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion
of Gaza one year ago;
-
- -- the continuing discrimination and repression faced
by Palestinians within Israel;
-
- -- and the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian
refugees;
-
- -- all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately
on the Zionist ideology which underpins Israel;
-
- -- in the knowledge that our own governments have given
Israel direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and
allowed it to behave with impunity;
-
- -- and mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous People (2007)
-
- We reaffirm our commitment to:
-
- Palestinian Self-Determination
- Ending the Occupation
- Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine
- The Full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees
-
- We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian
call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel
Israel to comply with international law.
-
- To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a
global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation
with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.
-
- Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid
Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:
-
- 1. An international speaking tour in the first 6 months
of 2010 by Palestinian and South African trade unionist and civil society
activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to this
programme within the countries toured, to take mass education on BDS directly
to the trade union membership and wider public internationally;
-
- 2. Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week in March
2010;
-
- 3. A systematic unified approach to the boycott of Israeli
products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail,
warehousing, and transportation sectors;
-
- 4. Developing the Academic, Cultural and Sports boycott;
-
- 5. Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and
other pension funds from companies directly implicated in the Occupation
and/or the Israeli military industries;
-
- 6. Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of
soldiers to serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli
government war criminals; coordination of Citizen's Arrest Bureaux to identify,
campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support for the Goldstone
Report and the implementation of its recommendations;
-
- 7. Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish
National Fund (FNF).
-
- We appeal to organisations and individuals committed
to this declaration to sign it and work with us to make it a reality."
-
- Before heading home, Freedom Marchers formed a five member
working committee to implement specific measures outlined above, including
a BDS speaking tour and efforts to have Israeli war criminals prosecuted.
-
- They were prevented from entering Gaza, but highlighted
the complicity of Israel, America and Egypt in stopping them, aroused greater
world outrage, and enlisted more support as a result - including in America
despite a mostly dominant media blackout on their mission.
-
- Finally on January 3, one marcher, Emily Ratner, delivered
this message:
-
- "May we leave Cairo with more hope than when we
arrived that the siege will end and Gaza and all of Palestine will be free."
-
- May Israel, Washington and Egypt know that committed
activists and growing millions worldwide won't relent until the siege and
occupation ends and those responsible are held fully accountable.
-
- Viva Palestina's Commitment to Break the Gaza Siege
-
- In an emergency year end appeal, the registered UK charity
announced that on December 6, its third aid convoy left London, traveling
almost 3,000 miles through nine countries, gaining support to bring vital
relief to Gaza and end the siege.
-
- On Christmas eve, over 500 people from 20 countries in
250 vehicles, loaded with humanitarian aid, were stranded in Aqaba, Jordan
when they were refused permission to take the short route to Egypt.
-
- Forced to turn around, they headed back to Syria to travel
a longer one to get there. Because of the added cost, they appealed for
help to charter ferries and a plane to complete their mission. World Bulletin.net
reported that a Gulf businessman paid for a Turkish cargo ship to transport
them, named Ulosoy 6, after which they prepared to leave.
-
- On January 3, Al-Jazeera reported that the convoy left
Latakia, Syria with 210 lorries of medicines and other supplies, sailing
for the Egyptian port of El Arish on the Mediterranean where they were
expected to arrive the next day.
-
- British MP George Galloway and Kevin Ovenden lead it,
had appealed to Egypt for Gaza access through the Red Sea Nuweiba port,
but were denied. Cairo ordered the alternate, much longer route, risking
Israeli interception, and no assurance of Gaza entry on arrival regardless
of promises made.
-
- On January 4, AP reported that the "convoy will
be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip after organizers struck a deal with
Egyptian authorities over its transit route."
-
- On January 4, they arrived at El Arish, cleared customs,
expect to enter Gaza as soon as possible, are just 100 miles away, and
"198 vehicles" are coming with aid that includes specialized
medical equipment and the vehicles themselves. Those let in will stay and
are vitally needed.
-
- Convoy organizer, Kevin Ovenden, expressed optimism saying:
-
- "We now have every right to expect unhindered and
safe passage into Gaza, but we call on all our friends internationally
to stand ready to raise their voices if we face further unjustified delay."
-
- On January 3, Al-Zajeera reported that Egypt will temporarily
open the Rafah crossing from January 3 - 6, something sporadically done
before, only to be shut again on short or no notice.
-
- Whether all, or even any, aid gets in unknown as earlier
promises have been broken, and Israel keeps Gaza isolated under siege with
Cairo a complicit ally.
-
- Events are fast-moving and fluid. On January 5, aid members
reported that Egyptian authorities seized 157 passports, including from
convoy leaders George Galloway and Kevin Ovenden. They'd been stamped on
arrival, then got an exit stamp, meaning they'd have to leave the country.
Word was that these members alone would gain Gaza entry, not another 400
flying into Al Arish late Monday. After "noisy protests," passports
were later returned with exit stamps removed, so temporarily the issue
was resolved.
-
- However, members report that the "situation is changing
by the hour," yet everyone remains hopeful. Spokeswoman Alice Howard
said the "convoy expects to enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing
from Egypt at 2pm local time on Tuesday." In 2009, Galloway lead two
successful missions. He hopes to make this one his third with much more
aid if successful.
-
- On January 5, a late report from Al Arish casts doubt
saying:
-
- "Our situation is now at a crisis point! Riot has
broken out in the port of Al Arish. This late afternoon we were negotiating
with a senior official from Cairo who left negotiations some two hours
ago and did not return." It was about securing safe passage to Gaza
with needed aid.
-
- Afterward, "Egyptian authorities called over 2,000
riot police who then moved towards our camp at the port. We have now blocked
the entrance (and) now faced with (them) and water cannons and are determined
to defend our vehicles and aid."
-
- "The Egyptian authorities have by their stubbornness
and hostility....brought us to a crisis point."
-
- Early AM January 6, it's reported that hundreds of members
broke down the gate at the Al Arish port in protest. George Galloway scuffled
with Egyptian police, and 55 activists were injured when police used water
cannons, tear gas and batons to beat people who objected to Cairo's obstructionism.
-
- Authorities told Galloway and other convoy leaders that
dozens of aid vehicles would be sent to the Israeli checkpoint, not Rafah
that Egypt controls. Of course, nothing entering Israel reaches Gaza, so
this idea was rejected. Hence the scuffle, standoff, and unsuccessful resolution
as of early AM US Central time, January 6.
-
- As a result, Viva Palestina calls on friends and supporters
to protest by any means possible and demand that the entire convoy be granted
free access to Gaza. The situation remains fluid, so new developments are
likely after this article is published. Follow them at vivapalestina.org
and web sites reporting their progress, or lack of it.
-
- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to the Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday
at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
-
- http://republicbroadcasting.org/Lendman
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- lendman box and DP only
-
-
-
- Blocking Freedom Marcher/Viva Palestina Aid To Gaza
-
-
-
- By Stephen Lendman
-
- 1-6-10
-
-
- Since Israel isolated Gaza under siege in mid-2007, it's
blocked essential humanitarian aid from entering, including:
-
- -- on December 1, 2008, when its warships stopped a Libyan
cargo vessel several kilometers from Gaza, ordering it back to El-Arish,
Egypt or be attacked; it was carrying 1,200 tons of rice, 750 tons of milk,
500 tons of oil, 500 tons of flour, and 100 tons of medicines;
-
- -- on December 15, 2008 when the Spirit of Humanity
carrying five tons of aid and 21 passengers, including three volunteer
surgeons, was intercepted at sea, 100 miles from Gaza, and warned to turn
back to Larnaca, Cyprus or be assaulted; and
-
- -- on June 30, 2009, the Free Gaza Movement's Spirit
of Humanity was intercepted and boarded 23 miles off Gaza's coast; its
aid cargo and 21 human rights activists were seized, including Nobel laureate
Mairead Maguire and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney; they were threatened
and forcibly taken to Israel's southern port of Ashdod, held incommunicado
under horrific conditions one passenger described as a "horror movie....in
a warehouse, where we slept on a cockroach-infested cement floor as armed
soldiers" stood guard; all their personal possessions were confiscated,
and a day later two of them were taken to Ashdod's central bus station
with no money or belongings; the others were arrested and treated like
criminals.
-
- Cynthia McKinney described her ordeal as prisoner number
88794 at Ramle prison, known as one of Israel's harshest - a former British
police station, overcrowded, "stinking," many inside with no
bed, everyone confined to tiny areas, some in isolation with no sunlight,
and a series of dungeons six feet long, three feet wide, and six feet high
that are dark, filthy, unbearable to be in, and those inside are stripped
naked, beaten, unable to shower, given a thin coverall, and allowed to
use the toilet once a day only.
-
- McKinney had a suitcase with crayons for children. Others
had medical and building supplies. Authorities tried to get her to confess
to a crime. She refused so was treated harshly. She called Ramle:
-
- "incredibly black: populated mostly by Ethiopians
who also had a dream," were en route to Israel for it, yet were denied
and then imprisoned. She and 14 others were held in a 7 by 7 meter cell
in Israel's summer heat, searched twice daily, but said it's nothing to
how Palestinians are treated.
-
- One of the passengers, Ramzi Kysia, told the Israeli
news service, Ynet.org:
-
- "We'll be back again and again....the Israeli regime
should be careful, because we're coming. We won't stop until this blockade
is broken forever and Gaza residents have access to the rest of the world."
She also said the group's attorney will demand that Israel return its vessel.
-
- Gaza Freedom Marchers' (GFM) Mission of Mercy
-
- In late December, around 1,400 activists from about 43
countries gathered in Cairo, Egypt, preparing to travel to Gaza with humanitarian
aid as a show of solidarity with its 1.5 million people needing all they
can get - "put(ting) forth a global call to Israel to Lift the Siege
of Gaza!"
-
- Seven months in the planning, the group included doctors,
lawyers, diplomats, students, artists, rabbis, priests, imams, and others,
young and old, men and women, united to end the blockade, free the Gazan
people, end their suffering, and highlight Israel's outrageous crimes of
war, against humanity, and brutalizing oppression that continues daily
against civilian "protected people" under international law.
-
- The march was under the auspices of the International
Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza, formed after Operation Cast
Lead, representing a "diverse coalition that represents all faiths
(and no faith) and is focused on human rights in conformance with international
law."
-
- On arrival in Egypt, they were harshly treated and prevented
from entering Gaza, save for a token 24 hours offered 100 only that the
group summarily rejected as outrageous and unacceptable. Some dozens, in
fact, went, as explained below.
-
- On December 27, 30 freedom marchers were held under house
arrest at their hotel in El-Arish, and another eight at the bus station
to prevent them from traveling to Gaza. At the same time, security police
broke up a Kasr al Nil Bridge commemoration on the anniversary of Israel's
attack, disrupting a peaceful protest against it.
-
- Others marked the occasion in Cairo by floating 1,400
candles on the Nile, remembering the number of Gazans killed in cold blood.
-
- On December 28, a group of French activists from the
solidarity group EuroPalestine took over the boulevard outside their Cairo
Embassy, occupied the street with tents for four hours, blocked traffic,
demanded buses to Gaza, and forced the French ambassador to negotiate on
their behalf, or at least go through the motions as nothing he did helped.
-
- They were confronted by dozens of armored police vehicles,
hundreds of riot cops, water cannons ready if they resisted orders to disperse.
They negotiated with the police, said they intended to stay, demanded buses
to Gaza, and asked others to join them in peaceful solidarity.
-
- Others staged a sit-in outside Cairo's UN building demanding
the world body intervene on their behalf. They, too, were met by security
forces while some of them negotiated with UN representatives asking for
safe entry to Gaza for all 1,400 marchers. They were rejected even though
the UN agreed to try to arrange a meeting with the Foreign Ministry's chief
of staff to deliver their request to President Mubarak, Egypt's reigning
despot since 1981, in league with Washington and Israel, and fully supportive
of the siege, so expecting him to help is futile.
|
