Free Gaza Ship
e-mailed from ISM
Free Gaza Movement: Dignity leaves for Gaza - Challenges world to
"Stop this madness!"
(Larnaca, Cyprus 29 December 2008) - There is a time when silence is
complicity and inaction is unacceptable. On Saturday, December 27,
Israel began Operation "Cast Lead," a military onslaught against the
civilian population of the Gaza Strip that has - so far - massacred
more than three-hundred men, women, and children, and seriously
injured over a thousand.
In response to Israeli butchery, the Free Gaza ship, the DIGNITY, will
depart Larnaca Port at approximately 5pm (UTC), on Monday, December
29, bound for besieged Gaza. The ship is on an emergency mission
carrying in physicians, human rights workers and over three tons of
desperately needed medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus.
Coordinating with the Gaza Ministry of Health, the doctors will be
immediately posted to overburdened hospitals and clinics upon their
arrival.
We are not asking Israel for "permission" to go, and we will not stop
until the DIGNITY lands in Gaza. We are answering urgent calls from
hospitals and health care workers in Gaza by taking in three
physicians who will stay and work in Gaza for several weeks. We will
hold Israel responsible for the safety of our passengers and our cargo
of emergency medicine.
Even before the present Israeli blitzkrieg, Karen Koning Abu Zayd,
head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), asserted
that, "Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be
intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the
knowledge, acquiescence and - some would say - encouragement of the
international community."
Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer living in Gaza, agreed with Abu
Zayd, saying: "Where is the United Nations? Where is the Arab League?
Where is the outrage against Israeli cruelty and Egyptian complicity?
Every hospital in Gaza is already overwhelmed. Israel is committing
war crimes here in Gaza, and words of condemnation are no longer
enough. The world must act now to stop this madness."
The Free Gaza Movement continues to do what the governments of the
world will not do - take direct action to defend the health, lives,
and dignity of 1.5 million Palestinians under siege in the Gaza Strip.
This catastrophe is still unfolding, and humanitarian needs in Gaza
are quite literally devastating. The world can no longer stay silent
as the Palestinian people are deliberately massacred, starved and
humiliated. We have to create a new consciousness that turns the
practice of human rights from rhetoric into reality. Palestinians have
an inalienable right to live, and the undeniable right to a life with
dignity.
The passengers on this Free Gaza emergency delegation include:
* International humanitarian and human rights workers from Cyprus,
Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, Tunisia, and the United States.
* Doctors going to Gaza to volunteer in local hospitals, including Dr.
Elena Theoharous, surgeon and Member of Parliament from Cyprus.
* Journalists going to Gaza to report on the massacre, including Al-
Jazeera reporter Sami al-Haj, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
* The Hon. Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman and Green Party
presidential candidate.
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/12/29/free-gaza-movement-dignity-leaves-for-gaza-challenges-world-to-stop-this-madness/
For more information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa +357 99 081 767 / lubnna@gmail.com
(U.S.) Greta Berlin, +1 310 422 7242 / iristulip@gmail.com
e-mailed from WRMEA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date : 12-30-2008
For more information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa +357 99 081 767 / lubnna@gmail.com
(Lebanon) Caoimhe Butterley +961 70 875 727 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.FreeGaza.org
Israeli Gunboats Came Out of the Darkness and Rammed Us Three Times
(Lebanon, Tuesday 30 December) - Today the Free Gaza ship Dignity carefully made its way to safe harbor in Tyre, Lebanon's southern-most port city, after receiving serious structural damage when Israeli warships rammed its bow and the port side. Waiting to greet the passengers and crew were thousands of Lebanese who came out to show their solidarity with this attempt to deliver volunteer doctors and desperately needed medical supplies to war-ravaged Gaza. The Lebanese government has pledged to provide a forensic analysis of what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives.
The Dignity, on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, was attacked by the Israeli Navy at approximately 6 am (UST) in international waters, roughly 90 miles off the coast of Gaza. Several Israeli warships surrounded the small, human rights boat, firing live ammunition around it, then intentionally ramming it three times. According to ship's captain Denis Healy, the Israeli attack came, ""without any warning, or any provocation."
Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement, stated that, "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the life boats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."
Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, was traveling to Gaza aboard the Dignity in order to assess the impact of Israel's military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. According to McKinney, "Israeli patrol boats...tracked us for about 30 minutes...and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side...the Israelis indicated that [they felt] we were involved in terrorist activities."
The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29 December with a cargo of over 3 tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated to Gaza by the people of Cyprus. Three surgeons were also aboard, traveling to Gaza to volunteer in overwhelmed hospitals and clinics. The ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to departure, and its passenger list was made public.
Israel's deplorable attack on the unarmed Dignity is a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes."
Delivering doctors and urgently needed medical supplies to civilians is just such a "peaceful purpose." Deliberately ramming a mercy ship and endangering its passengers is an act of terrorism.
CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking the civilian population of Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il
Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il
Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy at:
+ 972 5 781 86248
For more information read an article (click here) in the Atlantic Journal-Constitution in which former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney called on President-elect Obama to address the Gaza crisis, saying the weapons being used by Israel were supplied by the United States.
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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 August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
http://www.FreeGaza.org