New book "Freedom Sailors" provides riveting account of siege-breaking journey to Gaza

Freedom Sailors is a first-hand account of the first successful attempt to break the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip by sailing two boats into Gaza City, a port that had been closed to international ship traffic since Israel initiated the 1967 war.

With contributions from 24 persons who either took part in the sailing or helped organize it, the book takes us from the initial inception of the idea through the drama of organizing the voyage while keeping the details secret from Israel’s prying eyes to the final jubilant welcome by tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza on 23 August 2008.

Freedom Sailors offers an often-riveting narrative and gives important information about the inhumane consequences of Israel’s siege. But this book may ultimately be valued simply for documenting the fact that a group of ordinary people came up with an extraordinary idea that succeeded in calling world attention to the plight of Gaza’s 1.6 million people.

Knowing what we know now, it was also an extremely dangerous idea. Subsequent attempts to break the blockade by sea resulted in boats being rammed and taken into custody by the Israeli Navy, their passengers and crew imprisoned and then deported. And then came the killing on 31 May 2010 of nine Turkish citizens on board the Mavi Marmara, including the point-blank, execution-style slaying of Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old Turkish-American student who apparently committed the grave crime of pointing a video camera at an Israeli commando. more

Buy at Amazon: Freedom Sailors: The Maiden Voyage of the Free Gaza movement and how we succeeded in spite of ourselves.

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