Free Gaza

Sending a Flotilla in the Spring to Break the Siege of Gaza

Contact:
* IHH, Ahmet Emin +90 530 341 19 34
* Free Gaza Movement, Eliza Ernshire +44 754 011 22 94

[Istanbul, Turkey, 28 January 2010] Today the Free Gaza Movement and
the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH), announce a joint venture, sending
10 boats in the spring of 2010 to the besieged Gaza strip.
Organizations from Greece, Ireland and Sweden have also promised to
send boats to join the flotilla with the Free Gaza movement and
Turkey.

Mr. Bulent Yildirim, chairman of the IHH said, “We sail in the spring
to Gaza, and our last port is freedom; freedom for the 1.5 million
Palestinians denied the right to rebuild their society. We will never
stop sailing until Israel’s siege is lifted.”

Two cargo ships will be part of the flotilla, one donated by the
Malaysia-based Perdana Foundation and one from IHH. Both will be laden
with building supplies, generators and educational materials that
Israel prohibits from entering Gaza since their brutal attack on the
civilian population a year ago.

The many passenger boats accompanying the cargo ships will carry
members of Parliament from countries around the world as well as
high-profile journalists and human rights workers.

According to the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, Huwaida Arraf, “The
illegal blockade on Gaza and Israel’s continued intransigence make a
mockery of international law. If our governments will not take a
stance to stop Israel’s abuse of the Palestinian people, global civil
society is showing that we will.”

The Free Gaza movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza
in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in
the port in 41 years. Since then, seven more voyages boarded
Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to
witness the effects of Israel’s draconian policies on the civilians of
Gaza. The last three voyages were illegally stopped by the Israeli
navy when, in December, 2008, they rammed the DIGNITY in international
water, turned back the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY by threatening to shoot all
on board, then hijacking the SPIRT on July 1, 2009, kidnapping the
passengers and throwing them into prison for a week. http://www.freegaza.org.

Since 1992, the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH) has provided
humanitarian assistance to civilians who have been victims of war or
natural disasters all over the world. One of IHH’s main objectives is
to take necessary steps to prevent any violations against civilian
basic rights and liberties. IHH aims at providing relief help so
communities can resume their daily life and stand on their own feet,
as well as strengthening leadership and institutions of communities
that have been made dependent on aid. http://www.ihh.org.tr

January 29, 2010 0

This spring, the Free Gaza Movement is sending at least six boats to Gaza to break Israel’s illegal blockade on 1.5 million Palestinians. This blockade constitutes an act of collective punishment, a crime prohibited under international humanitarian law. Gaza’s man-made and internationally perpetuated crisis is set to deepen as Egypt builds an Iron wall 30 meters deep and 20 meters high on the southern Rafah border, closing off the final route for Palestinians to get basic supplies.

The urgency of breaking the blockade grows by the day, as Palestinians living in this prison are denied their most basic rights.

Our mission will include two boats committed by a Turkish NGO plus a cargo ship purchased with donations from the Malaysian people. This ship will be loaded with cement, water filtration systems and paper – all essential reconstruction materials denied entry to Gaza by Israel.

Free Gaza’s missions were the first to challenge Israel’s hermetic closing of Gaza when we sailed two small boats into Gaza in August 2008. We did not ask permission of Israel or Egypt to travel to Gaza and sailed directly from international waters into the waters of Gaza. Since then, we have been the catalyst for a growing international movement of civilian advocates, including the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina.

Of course we will face Israel’s illegal naval blockade. But we have broken through it before and we will do it again. We are writing to ask you to make sure the mission is funded and publicized.

We sailed four more successful missions to Gaza since August 2008, and we intend to come back this year with a small flotilla, so you still have time to get boats and come with us. We are calling on all NGOs, human rights organizations and communities around the world to join us. If you already have funding for boats, we can provide the logistical and technical advice on how get them ready to join the flotilla. If you want to help in other ways, we have listed five below.

1. Fundraise for this trip. Consider organizing a big or small fundraiser in your community. We already have people available to speak at your events. http://www.freegaza.org/en/join-in/speaker-bureau. Friends returning from the Gaza Freedom March, or the Viva Palestina convoy can be especially helpful by turning report backs into fundraisers.
2. Get your community involved and turn this flotilla into a global effort. Our boats will carry building supplies and school supplies, both banned by Israeli authorities. Contribute by donating paper, ink or books for our Right to Read campaign: http://www.freegaza.org/right-to-read. If you can donate reconstruction supplies, please contact us. Get your children and their schools involved by having them write letters to children in Gaza that we will carry on our boats and deliver.
3. Publicize the trip. Once we have announced the date, help us get the message out to the media and to your elected officials to assure the passengers and boats will sail safely.
4. Ask your Member of Parliament/Congress to come with us. We already have MPs from South America, South Africa, Malaysia, Turkey and Europe who are going. If you have contacts with other high profile people, please let us know.
5. Volunteer as land crew, media or support crew in your countries.

To help, organize a fundraiser, suggest passengers and offer support, please email us at friends@freegaza.org, and we will follow up immediately. We have only two to three months to finish organizing, raise the additional funds, and to set sail.

Join us as we sail together to Gaza this spring!

Defying Israel With Aid

Faryal Leghari

29 October 2009
The Palestinians need humanitarian aid because of the situation created by Israel, but more than this, Israel needs to be confronted politically, argues Huwaida Arraf, leader of the Free Gaza Movement and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement.

In an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, Huwaida and Adam Shapiro, a human rights activist and documentary filmmaker, spoke at length about their mission, that is aimed at helping the besieged Palestinians and defying the Israeli siege of Gaza until it is lifted.

read on

November 2, 2009 0

29th Aug 09 Video Free Gaza WE MADE IT TO GAZA 23rd August 2008

A year ago, 44 of us saw the coastline of Gaza in the distance, after 30 hours of traveling across the Mediterranean Sea. We were jubilant. We had made it to Gaza. We had actually made it to Gaza. We had really, really made it to Gaza.

We had MADE IT TO GAZA.

From a distance, the shore looked like stalagmites had sprouted across the landscape. Every piece of sand, every section of pier, every chunk of rock was occupied by people. Thousands of Palestinians greeted us, blowing whistles and cheering and high-fiving each other. At first, just one small boat came out to greet us. Then every kind of vessel swarmed around our two small fishing boats, boys jumped in the water retrieving the balloons we had inflated, stuffing them inside their shirts and tying them onto their small boats. The balloons said FREE PALESTINE with a dove and an olive branch on them. They were in the colors of the Palestinian flag… white, red, green and black. Once we saw the shoreline, many of us had started to blow the balloons up, dropping them onto the deck of the boats, a small pool of bouncing color ready to be set free

On the sides of both boats were banners in English and Arabic… WE ARE COMING and END THE OCCUPATION

We motored into port, the flags of 17 countries flying from the halyards, the Palestinian flag the highest of them all.Fishermen climbed onto our boats trying to shake our hands and hug us. At one point, we worried that the boats would tip and toss us all into the port, but, just as our Greek partners had said, these boats were sturdy, even if they were not pretty.

Our seasickness disappeared. Our worry that we would be stopped by the Israeli Navy was gone. Most of us had not slept, and we no longer cared. Some of us women tried to comb our hair and put on lipstick, then realized no one minded that we looked haggard and messy. We had arrived.

The Palestinians of Gaza were overjoyed to see us. They had been waiting three weeks for us. They had waited 41 years for internationals to visit. And they had waited 60 years for Palestinians to return to Gaza without going through checkpoints, immigration and humiliation by Israeli and Egyptian authorities.

Much has been written over the past year about our dedication and determination to get to this small enclave, shut off from the rest of the world by Israel’s draconian blockade. None of that was on our minds or in our hearts that day. For all of us, Palestinian and International, August 23, 2008 will be a day that none of us will ever forget. If we get discouraged, we pull out that memory. When our boats were rammed by the Israeli navy, we remember that day. When our boat was hijacked and our passengers kidnapped and thrown into prison by the Israelis, we are more determined to continue our missions.

We will return. We will come back. We will never forget.

August 28, 2009 0