Search

band annie's Weblog

I have a parallel blog in French at http://anniebannie.net

Open Search

Freedom Flotilla Update by Ismail Patel 24-05-10 #1

MiddleEastMonitor — 25 mai 2010 — Meanwhile the Israelis have announced several measures to counter the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Apparently half of the Israeli navy has been placed on full alert to confront and stop our peaceful mission to take humanitarian aid to Gaza. Reports also claim that the Israelis have “set aside 700 places” in their prisons, which is a thinly-veiled threat to arrest all of those taking part in the flotilla. They used to call that sort of thing piracy.

Ismail Patel is the chair of UK human rights NGO friends of Al-Aqsa. He is one of the 700 activists from more than 40 countries preparing to embark on the Freedom Flotilla sailing from Turkey to Gaza with much-needed humanitarian aid.

1

Gaza aid flotilla to set sail for confrontation with Israel

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 25 May 2010

he Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara is one of the eight boats expected to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. Photograph: Reuters

Israelis promise to stop eight ships carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid, 800 activists and politicians from more than 40 countries

A flotilla of eight boats carrying thousands of tonnes of construction materials, medical equipment and other aid is preparing to sail to Gaza in the next few days, setting the scene for a confrontation with Israel which has vowed to prevent the ships breaking the blockade on the Palestinian territory.

Three cargo ships and five passenger vessels plan to meet up in international waters between Cyprus and Gaza Strip before heading towards Gaza City. The Israeli military is expected to stop the flotilla and divert it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

read on

0

Live from the Gaza ships

Watch live streaming video from shiptogaza at livestream.com

Help us grow the movement to end the siege on Gaza, please Forward this message widely!

May 24, 2010

Dear friends,

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is Underway!

Over the weekend in Istanbul, the second ship was cheered and supported while it sailed off to join the Freedom Flotilla. It carries 700 passengers to Gaza as part of the ‘blockade busting’ flotilla. Unlike previous Free Gaza boats, this flotilla includes large vessels carrying substantial amounts of reconstruction, medical, and school supplies, and passengers from 50 countries. The likely date the convoy will reach Gaza coastal waters is Friday, May 28.

The Greek/Swedish cargo ship, the passenger boat from the European Campaign, and the Free Gaza passenger boats are ready to leave Greece this week. Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel, former U.S. diplomat, and active Gaza Freedom Marcher, will be joining this crew. Colonel Wright says,

“The Israeli siege of Gaza is illegal and a violation of international law. We demand that the Israeli, Egyptian, United States and European governments end this siege. If the governments will not stop the siege, it is up to the citizens of the world to break it-and that is what we will do!”

Despite Israel’s flagrant disrespect for international law, the director of European affairs for the Israeli foreign ministry, Naor Gilon, described the flotilla mission as “provocative and in violation of Israeli law”. He told diplomats, “Israel has no intention of allowing these sailboats in Gaza.” The government of Israel has repeatedly stated publicly that they intend to intercept this convoy, using the Israeli Navy “at any price”.

Israel’s intimidation tactics will not deter us! To this end, the Gaza Freedom March joins the flotilla emergency response network. We are taking pro-active measures to stop Israel from launching any military attack or naval blockade on the flotilla. The Emergency Response Plan is in effect. This includes confirmed protests at Israeli embassies worldwide! To add your embassy protest to the list, please email flotilla@gazafreedommarch.org or register your event on our website.

Direct actions can be taken now to support the flotilla! On this single page, you can track the flotilla GPS location, news, Twitter feeds, livestream videos, uploaded photos, discussions, social network groups and more.

The Freedom Flotilla mission could never be accomplished without your support and participation!

Keep up the pressure to lift the siege of Gaza,
GFM Team

0

Lowkey ft Mai Khalil – The Cradle Of Civilization

0

PalestineBilin — 23 mai 2010 — Almost 120 persons including Palestinians, internationals and Israelis participated this morning in a pacifist march in Al-Masara village, close to Bethlehem. The objective, as every Friday, was to protest the construction of the apartheid wall which upon completion will annex 350 hectares of the Palestinian land of this area.
Participants sang songs, panels and cameras were carried by many of the participants who nearly arrived at the main road where they sat down in front of the Israeli soldiers in a peaceful way of responding to the show of guns and tanks.
Suddenly two young men were arrested. The Israeli soldiers claimed the men were being violent. The Israelis responded to the peaceful demonstration with force; firing sound bombs, tear gas, and rubber bullets. The action continued until the crowd had completed dispersed. In addition to the two arrested men, whose physical condition currently remain unknown, one young man was hospitalized with a serious head injury caused by a gas canister. Moreover tens of people were suffering from tear gas. This demonstration came in the 62 anniversary of the Nakba.
The demonstration of this Friday was also very important because it is the first time that people support the boycott to the products of the settlers and all the political parties like Hamas, Fatah or Peoples Party agree in the non violent resistance.

0

Richard Falk supports FreeGaza

0

planxtysumoud — 23 mai 2010 — The ongoing collusion between PA security with Israeli Occupation Forces was clearly evident today when, same as in previous Beit Jala protests, protestors were arrested by both instruments of suppression. Preparatory groundwork on the site for a new section of the Apartheid-Annexation Wall was halted for a period before the sit-in activists were roughly removed and arrested by the IOF.

0

People kept in cages before going to work

91177info — 21 mai 2010 — People are in these cages for up to 4 hours a day. So nearly one day a week they are in a cage. Thousands of people have to wait in line for hours on their way to work. This is the line leading to the checkpoint itself. Inside the checkpoint they will have to go through additional checks and wait once more in long lines.

Filmed by Neta Efroni.
Edited by Hadass Shuve.

Thank you to Machsom

0

In the event of the Gaza flotilla being stopped reaching Gaza

Having read this article today

Israel’s naval forces are allegedly in training to prepare to seize eight boats scheduled to dock in the Gaza Strip on 24 May from Europe, Arabic-language media reported on Wednesday.

“About half of the Israeli naval forces will participate in an operation that was approved by the cabinet. [Israeli] Defense Minister Ehud Barak will supervise the operation,” an Israeli official told the Arabic-language satellite TV station Al-Hurra. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=283759

I think it time for some forward planning of our own..

In the event of the Gaza flotilla being stopped by the Israeli navy I would suggest a email phone and fax bombardmet of Israeli goverment offices and embassies around the world…

A list of contact numbers and email addresses and links to even more can be found here http://tpah.wordpress.com/israeli-goverment-and-embassies-address-phone-numbers-emails/
Further ideas would be also to contact your own goverments and your news media also…

For more information on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

http://www.freegaza.org/

1

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑