This is about international law and human rights. The story is bigger, much bigger, than the individuals involved. It always has been. It always will be.
This morning our time the Israeli Navy illegally boarded a boat while on international waters and kidnapped the crew and passengers. Israel has no jurisdiction to take anyone off a boat in international waters. The boat had 21 people aboard and was filled with aid to the people of Gaza.
From Free Gaza:
ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS; CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES
For more information contact:
Greta Berlin (English)
tel: +357 99 081 767 / friends@freegaza.org
Caoimhe Butterly (Arabic/English/Spanish):
tel: +357 99 077 820 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
www.FreeGaza.org
[23 miles off the coast of Gaza, 15:30pm] - Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.
"This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip," said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. "President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey."
According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are "trapped in despair." Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel’s December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel’s disruption of medical supplies.
"The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of "Cast Lead". Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone" said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland.
Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: "No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children’s toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters."
Arraf continued, "Israel’s deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release."
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WHAT YOU CAN DO!
CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Justice
tel: +972 2646 6666 or +972 2646 6340
fax: +972 2646 6357
CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
tel: +972 2530 3111
fax: +972 2530 3367
CONTACT Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
tel: +972 5 0620 3264 or +972 2670 5354
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il
We need answers from Israel, but we also need answers from US politicians.
President Obama and others, including Sen. John Kerry, have said that it is important to lift the blockade of Gaza, that much of what Israel was refusing to enter Gaza was just irrational. Pasta and tomato sauce was not acceptable? Why? Crayons on the list of banned goods? As the report from the Red Cross stated yesterday, the people of Gaza are suffering immensely. Why is the US so helpless in regard to getting aid into Gaza. After the brutal war there in December-January, Gaza was promised reconstruction aid... yet little has gotten through. Not a bag of cement, despite the fact that thousands of homes were destroyed (by US-supplied weapons). How do we expect people to live? Or do we expect people to live?
The people of Gaza need more than aid, they need the blockade to be removed, and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. On a diary i did yesterday it was asked of a supporter of Israeli policy if the purposeful suffering of Gaza's children is worth the policy. The answer was in the affirmative, because the popularity of Hamas has now gone down (i don't think that was Israel's only objective, but i will put that issue aside for now).
Let's be clear what is happening here: The people of Gaza are suffering dearly because Israel has decided to crush Hamas (and any resistance) by any means necessary.
To cause the suffering, including malnutrition, of civilians, especially children, to achieve a political goal is an act of terrorism. It is just as clearly an act of terrorism as bombing a cafe, and just as wrong. Only the suffering of the people of Gaza is much wider than any single attack by terrorists who bomb individual targets. Tens of thousands are suffering, and many, especially children, may never fully recover from this onslaught. They will be wounded for live.
It is not worth it.
It is almost impossible for me to believe that Israel cares about the long-term consequences of this action. After all this, how do they expect any reconciliation with the people of Gaza? How many years will it take? Or do they expect this blockade and military siege to last forever? Is that an option?
UPDATE: Is this just a way of getting headlines? Damn straight it is much about getting headlines. that is the art of nonviolent resistance. by making headlines we bring to light that which has been hidden.
1965 Flashback:
(George) Wallace denounced the march as a threat to public safety and declared he would take all measures necessary to prevent this from happening. The first march was led by John Lewis of SNCC and the Reverend Hosea Williams of SCLC, followed by Bob Mants of SNCC and Albert Turner of SCLC. They made it only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge, six blocks away. State troopers and the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, some mounted on horseback, awaited them. In the presence of the news media, the lawmen attacked the peaceful demonstrators with billy clubs, tear gas, and bull whips.
Brutal televised images of the attack, which presented people with horrifying images of marchers left bloodied and severely injured, roused support for the U.S. civil rights movement. Amelia Boynton was beaten and gassed nearly to death; her photo appeared on the front page of newspapers and news magazines around the world. Seventeen marchers were hospitalized, leading to the naming of the day "Bloody Sunday".
Did Martin Luther King and the other leaders of the march expect the violence of the racist thugs? Yes, they did, and they proceeded anyway. and they worked hard to make sure this would get the widest media coverage possible. This is how nonviolence works. It exposes the everyday violence of those that oppress. The everyday oppression of Gaza is nearly invisible to the world now. there are words from Obama and others that the blockade must end, but where is the action?
this boat was about making "facts on the ground". Either Israel was going to allow the people of Gaza the aid from this boat, and the illegal blockade was going to be weakened, or they had to attack the boat in some way. they chose the latter. Israel, like Wallace, was put in a lose-lose situation. Either attack or lose the ability to enforce and continue a terrible injustice.
This boat did not create this injustice against the people of Gaza, the March on Montgomery did not create violence, it exposed violence. In both cases, the violence of the everyday routine of oppression was clear to its victims. The nonviolent actions however bring it to light before the eyes of the world.
That's the power of nonviolent action.
Israel chose to make headlines by hijacking this ship at sea and kidnapping its passengers. and keeping a tight lid on what is allowed into Gaza... enforcing its embargo of some medicines and medical equipment, some foods, and yes, crayons.
I only wish the headlines were more widespread. But every time Israel does something like this, its image weakens, as the terrible injustice is brought to light. and we are closer to ending the oppression and achieving our goal of peace and justice for all in the Holy Land.