From the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza
While the UN’s call for Israel to end the blockade of Gaza and avoid the use of violence is welcome, its simultaneous attempts to stop a flotilla of ships planning to set sail to break the siege has no basis in international law and violates the right of the Palestinian people to control their own ports, charges the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG).
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent a letter to all governments bordering the Mediterranean Sea, asking them to “use their influence to discourage” transit of any ships attempting to reach Gaza. In a written statement, he said he was concerned that future flotillas “have the potential to escalate into violent conflict,” as occurred a year ago when the Israeli military attacked the six-ship Free Gaza Flotilla, killing nine of the passengers on the lead boat, the Mavi Marmara. A new, larger flotilla is expected to sail to Gaza from multiple ports in late June, bearing hundreds of parliamentarians, journalists and other solidarity activists as well as aid such as construction materials — vital supplies that have not been allowed by Israel to enter the Strip legally for more than five years.
“Ban Ki-moon says assistance to Gaza should use ‘established channels,’ But Israel controls the only crossings through which good are allowed, and has used its power to reduce the 1.6 million people there to an immoral 38 percent poverty rate,” said Mazen Kohail, a member of the ECESG, “The UN itself just issued a report finding that 70 percent of the population in Gaza, more than a million people, are now dependent on food aid because of the economic impact of the blockade. That’s long enough to show that the ‘established channels’ don’t work or are being manipulated.
Kohail added that the ultimate mission of the flotilla is not to provide humanitarian aid only, but to bring international attention to the need and right of Palestinians in Gaza to open borders that allow them to trade and to travel in and out of their territory without threat. “Palestinians in Gaza have a right to their own sea, something Israel has denied to them in some form since 1967, and almost completely since 2006,” said a statement from the Free Gaza Movement.
Kohail declared that despite Ban Ki-moon’s letter, and the statement by Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, that she does not consider a flotilla to be the “right response” to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, plans to set sail will continue.
“If the ‘Arab Spring’ showed us one thing, it’s that governments won’t act on their own to protect civil rights,” added Kohail. “Only civil society — the people — can affect change, by taking matters into their own hands. The flotilla will continue to sail until the blockade is lifted and the Palestinians of Gaza are free.
Nine flotillas have attempted sail to Gaza since August 2008 to break Israel’s illegal stranglehold, three of which have been co-sponsored by the ECESG. Five of those flotillas were successful in entering Gaza; however, they were violently intercepted on the past four voyages — including last year’s, which was organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition — an international organization that brought all of the sponsors under one umbrella.
Kohail noted that the Freedom Flotilla 2 — using the slogan “Stay Human” in honor of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian peace activist killed in Gaza earlier this year — will include the largest number of ships yet (still being finalized, but more than 10), which this time will depart from ports throughout the Mediterranean. The three new ships just announced will leave from Marseille, France; Genoa, Italy; and a port yet to be named in Germany. European countries to be represented in the flotilla are France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, Spain, the UK and Ireland. Elsewhere, ships are being sent by delegations from the United States, Canada, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Israel has controlled the Palestinian people for 63 years, since more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes or fled out of fear following the creation of Israel in 1948. That control intensified in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Although Israel withdrew its settlers from Gaza in 2005, it has continued to control the inhabitants’ lives; since 2007, it has prevented most human traffic in and out of the densely populated Strip, while restricting imports and banning virtually all exports.
The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG)
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