Gazan Fishermen Attacked by Israeli Navy

This information comes from the Free Gaza Movement

See a video of Israeli Navy harrassment of these fishermen. The footage was taken from one Gazan fishing boat on 5 October 2008 as it fished in Gazan waters. 14 fishermen of Gaza have been killed by the Israeli Navy over the past four years as they were fishing off their coast.

For Immediate Release,
November 5, 2008

Contact: Mary Hughes, Cyprus +357 96 750059 Greta Berlin, Cyprus: +357 99 081767
David Schermerhorn, Cyprus +357 977 81 283
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Jerusalem: +972 547 366 393

Larnaca. When members of the Free Gaza Movement sailed to Gaza in August, several accompanied fishermen aboard their small boats. Israeli gunboats regularly confine these boats inside a 6-mile Israeli-imposed limit. Although international law allows every Mediterranean sea territory fishing rights 12-20 miles offshore, Israel ignores those laws and has killed at least 14 fishermen over the past few years.

"All we ever wanted to do was fish," said one as he fixed his nets. "We can't feed our families or make money doing what our ancestors have done for thousands of years."

Over the next two months, internationals reported and video taped several incidents of machine-gun fire and water-cannon attacks. Around 8:00 am, on October 31, ten internationals joined the fishermen as witnesses. By 8:30, the two lead boats had passed the Israeli limit. "The second boat was about 100 yards away from us when it was attacked for 30 minutes by a high-pressure water cannon from an Israeli warship. The spray was so powerful you couldn't even see the boat," said David Schermerhorn.

Throughout the day, as the men continued to fish, boats were hit so severely by high-pressure water cannon that only makeshift shutters and mattresses prevented the wheelhouse from flooding and windows from exploding onto the men. Within minutes, the Israeli water-cannon boat was joined by another gunboat, machine gun mounted in back. The gunner blasted multiple rounds within a meter of the fishing boat. Despite continued machine-gun fire, water cannons and three Israeli gunboats circling like sharks, the fishermen stayed out 10-11 miles for a catch.

When Angela Godfrey-Goldstein called Shlomo Dror, Israeli Ministry of Defense spokesman, to tell the Navy to stop machine gunning barely a meter over the heads of fishermen and internationals, he accused the rights advocates of being provocateurs, terrorists, supporters of Hamas. "The people of Gaza have plenty of food. They don't need to go fishing," he snarled.

"When the Ministry of Defense learns that this voyage brings a delegation of European parliamentarians, maybe he will begin to "get it." Average citizens of the world, even decision makers, are up in arms, non-violently, against the collective punishment, the state terrorism of the Israeli government. And we are restoring dignity to those abandoned human beings, just as we would have wanted to do in the past to others in other ghettoes" said Godfrey-Goldstein.

"I had only heard about these episodes before I came to Gaza. I can't begin to tell you the horror these men face every day by bullies in the Israeli Navy," an outraged Schermerhorn added. "What risks they take we don't even know about. The good news was the fishermen were ecstatic when they pulled up the nets. It was one of the largest catches they had had in years.

--
Greta Berlin
Media Team
Free Gaza Movement
357 99 08 17 67
www.freegaza.org
www.anis-online.de/office/events/FreeGazaSong.htm
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

Free Gaza boats return with European dignitaries

Larnaca: On November 7, at 5:00 pm, the DIGNITY leaves for the third time for the shores of Gaza. This time, eleven past and current members of the European Parliament are on board, along with journalists from Al Jazeera English and The Independent.

These dignitaries were among the 53 Parliamentarians denied entrance by Egypt at the Rafah checkpoint: "Egypt did not allow us to enter Gaza via the Rafah terminal, but this will not stop us from visiting the area," Lord Nazir Ahmad, head of the European delegates stated, "We will sail to Gaza, we are determined to break the siege".

Ms Clare Short MP emphasized, "The Egyptian refusal to grant us access through Rafah Crossing is insulting to all of us, and Egypt should open the crossing now."

They will be on a three-day fact finding tour organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the European Campaign to End the Siege as well as several of the organizations in Gaza who have worked with the Free Gaza Movement on the past two voyages.

On the past two trips, Israel has threatened to stop the DIGNITY, arrest its passengers and tow the boat to Israel. The government has been silent on its plans this time, perhaps out of respect for the dignitaries on the voyage. Members of the two organizations stress that the DIGNITY has no intention of going anywhere near Israeli waters but will enter Gaza through its own coastal waters.

The port authorities have asked the media to come between 3:30 and 5:00 pm Friday at Larnaca Port to see the boat leave and to conduct interviews.

The passenger list is posted on the Free Gaza website, www.freegaza.org.

Israeli Gunboats Attack Palestinian Fishing Boats

This press release came today from the Free Gaza movement - the internationals who are accompanying Gazan fishermen. Tuesday's post (below) links to a video of this or a similar attack: http://redressnewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/video-day-in-life-of-gazan-fisherman.html.

For Immediate Release
For More Information, Please Contact:Greta Berlin (Cyprus) +357 99 081 767 / iristulip@gmail.comOsama Qashoo (Cyprus) +44 (0)78 3338 1660 / osamaqashoo@gmail.comAngela Godfrey Goldstein (Jerusalem) +972 (0)54 736 6393 / angela@icahd.org

At 10:00 am Cyprus time, three Israeli gunboats attacked Palestinian fishing boats in the territorial waters of Gaza. Eleven internationals have accompanied the fishermen on five of the boats. The internationals were from the Free Gaza Movement and had landed on the shores of Gaza on October 29 aboard the SS DIGNITY.

According to David Schermerhorn, one of the internationals on board, "Three naval vessels attacked us with machine gun fire and water cannons. All three boats have machine guns on board, one of them has a huge water cannon. The water from the cannon was so fierce, it blasted a lot of the equipment overboard as well as my GPS locator. At the time of the attack, we were about 9 miles offshore fishing. Several of us got on the radio to the Israeli navy and shouted, "We are human rights watchers. We are unarmed internationals, and we are recording everything you are doing. They completely ignored us and continued menacing all of the boats."

As David was talking to us, one of the gunboats came back to within 45 meters, shearing the water and making it difficult for the small boat to steer its course.

Greta Berlin
Media TeamFree Gaza Movement357 99 08 17 67
www.freegaza.org/
www.anis-online.de/office/events/FreeGazaSong.htm
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

"Nam, Nehnu Nastatyeh!" is Arabic for "Yes, We Can!"

"Nam, Nehnu Nastatyeh!" is Arabic for "Yes, We Can!"
By Ramzi Kysia

GAZA CITY, FREE PALESTINE (29 October 2008) - This morning I walked to the Indian Ocean and made salt in defiance of the British Occupation of India. This morning I marched in Selma, I stood down tanks in Tiananmen Square, and I helped tear down the Berlin Wall. This morning I became a Freedom Rider.

The Freedom Riders of the 21st Century are sailing small boats into the Gaza Strip in open defiance of the Israeli Occupation and blockade. This morning I arrived in Gaza aboard the SS Dignity, part of a Free Gaza Movement delegation of twenty seven doctors, lawyers, teachers, and human rights activists from across the world, including Mairead Maguire - the
1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

When I close my eyes, I still hear the crash of ocean waves, I still feel the warm sun on my face, and I still taste salt from the sea spray. When I close my eyes, I can still see the Israeli warship that tried to intimidate us when we reached the twenty-mile line outside Gaza, and I can still see a thousand cheering people crowding around our ship when we refused to be intimidated and finally reached port in Gaza City. Today, the proudest boast in the free world is truly, "Nam, Nehnu Nastatyeh!" - "Yes, We Can!"

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, sailed aboard the Dignity, along with six other Palestinians from the West Bank, from 1948/inside the Green Line, and from countries in Europe. What should have been a ninety-minute drive from Ramallah to Gaza City became a three day odyssey as he travelled from the West Bank to Jordan, then flew to Cyprus, before finally coming aboard the Dignity for the fifteen hour sea voyage to Gaza.

"We're challenging Israel in a manner that is unprecedented, " said Dr. Barghouti. "Israel has prevented me from visiting Gaza for more than two years now. I am so pleased that we managed to defy Israel's injustice so that I can see all the people I love and work with in Gaza. Israel's measures are meant to divide us, but it is our defiance and resistance which unite us. "
This is a resistance which can and should light the fire of all our imaginations, and bring hope not just to Palestinians, but to peoples suffering the terrible tides of oppression and injustice the world around.

After watching the Dignity’s arrival, Fida Qishta, the local coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Gaza Strip, said "If Gaza is free then it's our right to invite whomsoever we wish to visit us. It's our land and it's our sea. Now more groups must come, not only by sea but also the crossings at Erez and Rafah must be opened as well. This second breaking of the siege means a lot, actually. It's the second time in two months that people have come to Gaza without Israel’s permission, and that tells us that Gaza will be free."

For over forty years, Israel has occupied the Gaza Strip. Despite the so-called "Disengagement " in 2005, when they shut down their illegal settlements here, Israel maintains absolute control over Gaza’s borders and airspace, severely limiting the free movement of goods, services, and travel. Israel is still an occupying power.

For over two years, Israel has maintained a brutal blockade of Gaza. Less than twenty percent of the supplies needed (as compared to 2005) are allowed in. This has forced ninety-five percent of local industries to shut down, resulting in massively increased unemployment and poverty rates. Childhood malnutrition has skyrocketed, and eighty percent of families are now dependent on international food aid just to be able to eat. An hour after we arrived, I watched a teenage boy digging through the garbage, looking for something he could use.

Israel’s siege isn’t simply illegal - it's intolerable.

Renowned human rights activist Caoimhe Butterly also sailed aboard the Dignity, and will remain in Gaza for several weeks as Project Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. But, said Butterly, "My feelings are bittersweet. Although we're overjoyed at reaching Gaza a second time, that joy is tempered by the fact that the conscience of the world has been reduced to a small boat and 27 seasick activists. This mission is a reminder of not only the efficacy of non-violent direct action, but also of the deafening silence of the international community."

Our first voyage in August, the first voyage of any international ship to Gaza in over forty years, showed that it was possible to freely travel. This second voyage shows that it is repeatable, and this sets a precedent: The Siege of Gaza can be overcome through non-violent resistance and direct action. Today, the Free Gaza Movement has a simple message for the rest of the world: What are you waiting for?
-----
Ramzi Kysia is an Arab-American writer and activist, and one of the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement. To find out more about Free Gaza and what you can do to help support their work, please visit http://www.freegaza.org/

Video: A day in the life of a Gazan fisherman

If you want to see what it is like to be a fisherman in Gaza, please take five minutes to look at this video of Israelis harrassing a Palestinian fishing boat: Video: A day in the life of a Gazan fisherman This footage was taken from one Gazan fishing boat on 5 October 2008 as it fished in Gazan waters. The furthest it ventured from shore was approximately 4 miles. There are other videos on this site as well - showing numerous incidents of Israeli military actions designed to disrupt the work of the fishermen.

A Beautiful Face from Jayous

This is a picture of our host, hydrologist Dr. Abdul-Latif, showing us his village when we visited Jayous in June on a Sabeel fact-finding trip. Read about our experience in Jayous on my blog: See the July 5 entry at http://apilgrimstales.blogspot.com/

This latest letter from Dr. Abdul-Latif shows that conditions are not improving for Palestinians traveling between towns in the West Bank. Remember, this is a Palestinian traveling between two towns WITHIN the West Bank, all in territory supposedly to be part of Palestine under a two-state solution.

Dear Friends,

New way for Security Checking at Beit Iba Check Point in Nablus
Long time ago I did not write to you, however; nothing has changed at Beit Iba Check point.

What surprised me today when I came back from Nablus to Beit Iba Check point at 16:00 o'clock, that I was standing in what they call the humanitarian lane!!. When it is my turn, I gave my Id Card to the soldier in the checking room, he looked to me and said " go back to the youth line".

This means I have to go through the long line of the university students, and this alone means additional one hour waiting. I told the soldier, why? He said go back, then he called in Hebrew for another soldier. The new soldier came and took my Id from the soldier in the checking room and said "go back". I said why? he said" your face is not beautiful" and he was showing that to me in his finger. Then I said what?!! could you repeat what you have said?! He said " your face is not beautiful" then I said to him do you insist that this is the reason? He said "yes" then I look to the other soldier that I may find different answer. But he told me "the same, your face is not beautiful" I said be sure what you have both said will reach many people including your people. He said "I don't care go back"

I turned back and in my way to the back line I found another soldier, and I started telling him my story and without any introduction. He seemed to be not happy with what I said to him and he took my Id, but the same soldier who sent me back and claims he is the commander at the check point came and took the Id from this soldier and he was shouting on me to move. I said I am discussing what happened to your colleague. He said" no discussion. I said go back"

I went back and I followed the soldier's rules with little changes. The students in the line let me very close to the rotating gate, so it took me only twenty minutes to check again.

I am not sure if these are the new regulations at the check points, or if this make their commanders happy or if their families can be proud of such a shame. What I am sure that such things happen daily everywhere at the checkpoints.

I am not sure if my face is not beautiful because I don't see it much. But I am sure that my heart is beautiful because I see it every minute.
I cried, but the tears are in the heart.

Abdul-Latif

Israel's settlement-building frenzy

This is an excellent piece from Tuesday's Washington Post that explains how Israel has managed to continue building settlements, in spite of international pressure and countless agreements to stop.

www.washingtonpost.com

Failure Written in West Bank Stone

By Gershom Gorenberg
Tuesday, September 30, 2008; A19

JERUSALEM -- The latest phone call came from a journalist in Denmark. Why, he asked, has Israeli settlement in the West Bank continued despite peace negotiations with the Palestinians?

As a historian of settlements, I'm used to this question. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insists that Israel's future depends on a two-state solution. Building new homes in settlements only makes it more difficult to withdraw. When President Bush convened the Annapolis conference last November, there was media buzz about a settlement freeze. Olmert said that every request to build from within the government required his approval. Yet in the past year, construction has increased -- despite Olmert's talk, despite Bush's supposed commitment to his 2003 "road map" plan with its freeze on settlement.

Nearly a thousand housing units are being built in Maale Adumim, according to Peace Now's Settlement Watch project. At Givat Zeev, another of the settlements ringing Jerusalem, a 750-unit project was approved this year. The government has asked for bids on building nearly 350 homes in Beitar Illit, also near Jerusalem. Meanwhile, hundreds of homes have been added at settlements deep in the West Bank, with the government's acquiescence if not approval.

All this fits a historical pattern: Diplomatic initiatives accelerate settlement building in occupied territory. When the peace effort fades away, the red-roofed houses remain as a monument.

Maale Adumim, a hive of apartment buildings on the parched slope between Jerusalem and Jericho, is the most imposing example. Secret discussions about settling at the site began within the Israeli government in August 1974. At just that time, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was mediating between Israel and Jordan on an interim peace agreement. Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon proposed that Israel would withdraw from Jericho as a first step toward realizing his larger plan: Israel would also give up major Palestinian towns deeper in the West Bank.


But Allon wanted to keep much of the West Bank under Israeli rule -- including a ring of land surrounding Jerusalem and separating it from Jericho. By the fall of 1974, the Israeli- Jordanian contacts had failed. But Allon's political ally, settlement czar Yisrael Galili, pushed on with Maale Adumim. Building is easier than negotiating, and it is harder to stop.

The government's method of acquiring land for the settlement was audacious -- and, until now, well hidden. After a tenacious freedom-of-information legal battle, Israeli human rights activist Dror Etkes of the organization Yesh Din recently received data from the Israeli army's Civil Administration on West Bank land expropriations. In April 1975, Israel expropriated 11 square miles east of Jerusalem "for public use." In 1977, another square mile was taken.

On his laptop, Etkes showed me an aerial photo of the settlement today, superimposed on a map of the expropriation. Most of the built-up area of Maale Adumim lies inside the land that was confiscated.

This is a prima facie violation of international law. Under the 1907 Hague Convention, an occupying power may expropriate land only for the public use of the occupied population. Taking private West Bank land for Israeli use is therefore barred.

That's just one example of the historical pattern. In 1970, Israel and Egypt ended their "War of Attrition" under a cease-fire proposed by Secretary of State William Rogers. The next stage of the Rogers initiative was supposed to be peace talks. Fearing pressure to withdraw, the Israeli cabinet approved the first settlement in the Gaza Strip to stake Israel's claim to the territory. Diplomacy stalled, but settlement continued in Gaza.

The pattern repeated itself in 1998, when President Bill Clinton convened the Wye River summit to revive the Oslo process. The summit ended with an Israeli commitment to resume West Bank withdrawals and a Palestinian pledge to suppress terrorism. Neither promise was kept. But Ariel Sharon, then foreign minister, returned home and publicly advised settlers to "grab more hills, expand the territory. Everything that's grabbed will be in our hands. Everything we don't grab will be in their hands." That spurred establishment of the tiny settlements known as outposts that dot the West Bank.

Since Annapolis, hard-line settlers have continued building, hoping to block any pullback. The government, meanwhile, is building in the so-called settlement blocs -- settlements that it insists Israel must keep under any agreement. As in the past, it is writing its negotiating position in concrete on the hills. That includes more construction on the expropriated land at Maale Adumim.

As shortsighted as Olmert has been to allow this, the same is true of Bush. The president began a negotiating process but has invested little effort in pursuing it. The administration's objections to settlement expansion have been too faint. The new buildings are a monument to Bush's failure as well as Olmert's. They will make Israeli-Palestinian peace a more difficult challenge for the next president -- assuming the next president cares about pursuing peace.

Gershom Gorenberg is the author of "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977." He blogs at http://SouthJerusalem.com .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/29/AR2008092902665.html