Skip to main content

Three more European boats with passengers from five countries join Freedom Flotilla 2


London, UK – May 26, 2011 – Despite the Israeli government’s continuing use of violence to stop international support from reaching Gaza by sea, three more ships carrying passengers from France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy will join Freedom Flotilla 2 in late June. The European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG), one of the flotilla's sponsors, said the ships will carry country-level legislators and members of the European Parliament among their passengers, which will number in the hundreds.

"I am sure the recent Israeli fire on the Malaysian ship, the Spirit of Rachel Corrie, was meant as warning for the flotilla, but we will not be deterred," said Anouar Gharbi, A member of the ECESG. "The ruling South African government also fought back against early attempts to end apartheid, but eventually it was forced to change by the power of the people. Veterans of that fight for human rights say that the Israeli apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is even worse, and it will take the same kind of international solidarity to bring it down."


The Spirit of Rachel Corrie, a Malaysian-owned ship sponsored by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation and carrying pipes to help repair the devastated sewage system in Gaza, was intercepted and attacked by the Israeli naval forces on May 16. Passengers included seven Malaysians, two Irishmen, two Indians and one Canadian.The ship was forced to anchor in Egyptian waters one and a half nautical miles from the Gazan shore. It remains there today. 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 years, which was organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition -- an international Coalition that brought all of the sponsors under one umbrella. On May 31, 2010, the Israeli military attacked the six-ship Freedom Flotilla, as it was called, killing nine of the passengers on the lead boat, the Mavi Marmara.

Gharbi 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. Other European countries to be represented in the flotilla are Sweden, 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 impact: More than 75 percent of Palestinians in Gaza live under the poverty line.


“There is nothing in international law that supports Israel’s four-year-long blockade of Gaza, or its attacks on humanitarian shipments in international or Palestinian waters,” Gharbi said. “In fact, as stated by the normally neutral International Committee of the Red Cross, Israel’s collective punishment of the residents of Gaza is itself a clear violation of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.”


For more details:

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG)

E-mail: info@savegaza.eu
Tel.: 00 44 7728021097

Comments

  1. IN NYC in the East River, was a massive boat that held a sign: US BOAT TO GAZA THE AUDACITY OF HOPE. This was not the actual aid ship, but a fundraiser event for the boat that is departing in June from the United States. I was exhillirated to see Americans expressing solidarity with the men and women in Gaza. Enough is enough, the hypocrisy of our policy towards Palestine and Israel has been made plain for all to see.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Coronavirus-free' Gaza prepares for the worst

Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of  the novel coronavirus  spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with  some joking  that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario.  But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned.  "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible

Boycott of New York diamond dealer launched to protest settlement construction

Members of Adalah NY call for boycott of Leviev for its crimes against Palestinians and South Africans New York, NY, May 9 – On the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel . The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company. Thanks to vivapalestina.us (not co

Support striking Palestinian quarry workers demanding their rights from Israeli employer

On 16 June, 35 Palestinian workers at Salit Quarries in Mishor Adumim (in area C, east of Jerusalem, in the Occupied West Bank) began a strike. The workers, organized with the independent union WAC-Ma'an, are demanding an end to exploitation and humiliation, and insist on signing a first collective agreement. Salit Quarries’ main customer is Readymix Industries (Israel). The total reliance of Salit Quarry on Readymix as their biggest and by far the most important customer puts responsibility on Readymix to make sure that their clients abides by labour laws and safeguards elementary rights for the workers of Salit. We call upon Readymix to urge the Salit management to terminate this unnecessary strike by signing the collective agreement with the workers and WAC-Ma’an. Click this protest link to send your message. The text of the message is as follows: I write to you to express my grave concern about the failure of Salit management to sign a collective agreement with the workers of