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gaza freedom flotilla
Following Israel's Assault on Gaza, 'Freedom Flotilla' to Sail Against Siege
'It is the responsibility of civil society worldwide to sail to Gaza.'
Aug 13, 2014
Following Israel's latest military assault on Gaza, civil society groups from around the world say they are moving forward with plans to break the blockade on this besieged strip by sailing a "freedom flotilla" into Gaza Port.
At a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey this week, the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and numerous other groups came to the conclusion that "it is the responsibility of civil society worldwide to sail to Gaza," according to a press statement. They committed to making the voyage during 2014, which has been coined by the United Nations as the "International Year of Solidarity With the Palestinian People."
While the group did not publicly disclose a launch location or date, they announced that they expect participation from civil society organizations across the globe -- from Greece to South Africa to Jordan to Malaysia--as a counter to "the complicity of world governments" in the blockade on Gaza.
"Calls to end the blockade of Gaza need to move from words to actions," said Ann Ighe, chairperson of Ship to Gaza and member of the FFC. "We invite all interested citizens worldwide to participate in this initiative in any way you can."
Israel's month-long military assault on Gaza, currently stalled by a tenuous ceasefire, has left at least 1,939 Palestinians dead, 9,886 wounded, over 200,000 displaced, and more than 10,000 Palestinian housing units destroyed or severely damaged. United Nations officials estimate that at least three-fourths of Palestinians killed in Gaza are civilians and one third are children.
Another freedom flotilla--Gaza's Ark, which Palestinians planned to sail from the Gaza Port to break the siege--was one of the many civilian targets hit by Israeli air strikes in July. The shelling, which destroyed the boat, followed a previous attack that partially sunk the boat in April. David Heap, Canada-based spokesperson for Gaza's Ark, told Common Dreams that Palestinian organizers on the ground plan to continue the campaign "once they are able to concentrate on something other than surviving another day."
The 1.7 million residents of Gaza -- one of the most densely populated areas on earth--were already living under a U.S.-backed military and economic siege, which has escalated since 2007, cutting off residents from public goods including clean water and medical supplies.
"We are sailing against the sea blockade because there is no possibility of a peaceful future without freedom of movement for Palestinians," said Heap.
Previous attempts to sail against the siege have been met with violent attacks, including a 2010 Israeli assault on the Mavi Marmara ship sailing from Turkey that killed nine people and injured dozens, sparking global condemnation.
"We urge all governments to defend Human Rights and the right of the Palestinian people to freedom of movement, to facilitate the sailing of our ships to Gaza," said Ehab Lotayef of the FFC. "It is their responsibility."
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Despite Explosion, Gaza Freedom Flotilla to Sail Against Siege: Organizers
'We are full of hope that we can do something for the people of Gaza'
May 12, 2014
Gaza's Ark--a freedom flotilla aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade from within this besieged strip--was rocked by an unidentified explosion last month before it ever left the Gaza Port. Yet organizers announced Monday they intend to overcome severe damage sustained to the boat's hull, and a history of sabotage against similar flotillas, to sail the ship this Autumn.
"The future plan is to continue our efforts and prepare Gaza's Ark to be ready for sailing at maximum by late September," said Zaher Birawi, member of the International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza--a founding organization of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in an interview with Common Dreams. "We will not stop trying our best to break the siege of Gaza using all peaceful means."
The decision emerged from a two-day meeting of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, held in London, during which organizers committed to do the estimated two months of repair--at the cost of $30,000--needed to get the ship into the necessary condition to sail.
While the cause of the late April explosion is still unknown, Gaza's Ark released a statement on Monday declaring, "[I]t is well known who enforces the blockade on Gaza and who doesn't want it challenged. Preliminary results of the investigation and inspection by our partners indicate that the materials which were used in the attack are not readily found in Gaza."
Jointly organized by Palestinians living in Gaza--including the Palestine Sailing Federation and the Fishermen's Solidarity Campaign--and international solidarity organizations, the vessel was constructed by Palestinians and initially slated to embark in June on a voyage through international waters carrying Palestinian goods and people from Gaza and around the world.
"The goal is to challenge the ongoing, illegal Israeli blockade and focus worldwide attention on the situation in Gaza and the complicity of the governments that support it or look the other way," according to the organization's website.
The explosion follows numerous attacks on vessels attempting to break the siege, including a 2010 Israeli assault on the Mavi Marmara ship sailing from Turkey that killed nine people and injured dozens, sparking global condemnation.
Since 2007, Israel--with U.S. backing--has intensified its blockade of Gaza, trapping and isolating its population of 1.7 million people. The siege has strangled the local economy, forcing 80 percent of all people in Gaza to rely on humanitarian aid, and has cut residents off from essential goods, including clean water and medical supplies.
"We will continue our campaign to break the siege by sea using Gaza's Ark, and by land using convoys from Rafah to Gaza and the petition we launched recently to put some pressure on political decision makers to stop this illegal siege," said Birawi.
He added, "We are full of hope that we can do something for the people of Gaza. If we did not have hope, we would have nothing"
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The Story of the Gaza Flotilla Is Not Over
What the flotilla has shown, as have the Arab uprisings and all movements for justice is that it is only real democracy, people worldwide taking matters into their own hands, which creates the conditions for true change.
Jul 12, 2011
The story of the second Freedom Flotilla is not over. Israel and the international community have deployed multiple deterrent tactics, falsely accusing participants of terrorism, chemical warfare and plans to murder Israeli soldiers. Boats have been sabotaged, boarded and blockaded with crews and owners arrested.
Last year's violent assault on the Mavi Marmara, which included summary executions, torture and theft, remains the starkest recent example of Israel's tactic of deterrence towards solidarity activists trying to break its hold over Palestinian territory. But is it working?
The doctrine of deterrence has been a staple of Israel's political and military strategy for colonial expansion since the establishment of the state on a foundation of injustice. Application of international law does represent an existential threat to Israel precisely because the state is dependent on continuous violations of international law which are then normalized by the international community through its failure to uphold international law.
The re-legitimization of Palestinian human rights as protected under international law necessitates a delegitimization of Israeli violations of international and human rights law. Delegitimization of impunity, occupation and apartheid means re-legitimizing the rule of law and democracy.
Exposure of all of the above and the rules by which they can be challenged and changed (international law) is immediately reduced by defenders of Israeli exceptionalism to an act of war -- what they have begun to call "lawfare." For Israel, the application of international law is something to be deterred, which means promoting an "exceptionalist" narrative. Israel's right to defend itself trumps all laws and conventions and human rights, because it is a special case, facing oppositional threats which are exceptional and unique.
Therefore, unilateral force and disproportionate force can be applied in order to deter anything or anyone that challenges the illegitimate actions of Israel, whether it be Palestinian political parties or unarmed civilians or paramedics rescuing the victims of Israeli deterrence. The full force of this was seen during Israel's three weeks of attacks in winter 2008-09, dubbed Operation Cast Lead, and which was brought to bear on the inhabitants of Gaza who dared to hold on to a vision of a free Palestine and a right of return.
It's not only Palestinians struggling for their freedom who have been targeted. Israeli soldiers exposing the army's human rights abuses with the group Breaking the Silence speaking out against war crimes, activists with the International Solidarity Movement and Israeli and international activists promoting the strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) have been targeted, as have journalists wishing to report on the flotilla. They have been subjected to the policy of deterrence with threats of fines and jail, ten-year-long bans and deportation. Several international activists have also been murdered by Israeli forces. Israel's actions suggest that the diversity of voices and forces opposing Israeli impunity and illegality have no right to exist and must be silenced, deterred from activism, reporting and revealing.
The second Freedom Flotilla challenges this doctrine head-on. In the case of the occupation and blockade on Gaza, this action represents a global democratic movement of delegitimization of the illegal blockade. The Freedom Flotilla has played outside the worn-out chessboard of diplomatic state maneuverings, negotiations and lobbying.
The lesson learned from Greece serving as Israel's mercenary by intercepting the flotilla boats shows the lack of democracy, autonomy and accountability states have when pressured by the bullies of the global school-yard. However, it also shows the power democratic movements have in creating scenarios and actions which propel them into the arena of state-level politics and force these actors to have to deal with democracy from below.
In Egypt and Tunisia, the people won changes but the struggle is ongoing. The flotilla has also helped win changes -- albeit cosmetic ones -- in easing the siege. Last year Israel increased the number of items allowed in to Gaza and the Rafah border was opened, in early June of this year Israel permitted reconstruction material into Gaza for 1,200 homes and 18 schools for the first time since the blockade was enacted ("Israel approves 1,200 new Gaza Strip homes," Associated Press, 21 June 2011).
The flotilla has also forced Israel onto the defensive and into a hasbara (propaganda) overdrive, which it has not won. An attempt to smear flotilla organizers as homophobic was exposed as a hoax and claims of the blockade as necessary for defence and of no humanitarian crisis in Gaza discredited by Wikileaks and the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) respectively (see "Wikileaks: Israel aimed to keep Gaza economy on brink of collapse," Reuters, 5 January 2011 and "UNRWA: Gaza blockade anniversary report," UNRWA, 13 June 2011).
It has also exposed the hypocrisy and fake democracy of states which continue to treat respect for international law as a policy issue rather than an obligation.
The affect of the flotilla action is cumulative, building on decades of Palestine solidarity struggle as well as last year's effect of creating pressures, profile and political space that have given Palestinian activists more agency, voice and access to mainstream media and spheres of power for their case for freedom. It's not the audacity of hope which drives this movement but an audacity of practical, confrontation direct action that takes hope in hand and moulds into a tool sharp enough to penetrate political discourse at the highest level.
The pseudo-democracies of Israel, Greece and US bare their teeth, sending in the tanks, masked commandos and armed guards when threatened by real democracy from below. What the flotilla has shown, as have the Arab uprisings and all movements for justice is that it is only real democracy, people worldwide taking matters into their own hands, which creates the conditions for true change.
The moves and counter-moves of Israel, Greece and other powers teach us that this is a continuous and intergenerational struggle that will require multiple tactics and dimensions, by land, sea, air and cyberspace, in constant adaptation, flexibility and ever more audacious and tenacious ideas. These democratic movements are undeterred.
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