Free Gaza

The democratically elected Hamas administration in Gaza has had a brilliant master stroke in appointing the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as its recruiting sergeant. Rarely has an organisation had a more effective recruiter in a territory which has been systematically destroyed by Israel (The Airport, Port, Hospitals, Factories, Government offices, power generators, etc ;) in flagrant breach of International Law including the Geneva Conventions on administration of occupied territories, protection of non-combatants and two UN Resolutions. The United Nations (unlike Israeli Spokesmen engaged in truth distortion) has no doubt what is happening in Gaza stating in the Security Council resolution adopted last Wednesday;

“Stressing that the situation in Gaza was not sustainable, the Council re‑emphasized the importance of the full implementation of resolutions 1850 (2008) and 1860 (2009). In that context, it reiterated its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed the need for the sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza, as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout the enclave. The Council also expressed support for the proximity talks.”



Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said he was distraught by the incident, which was a grave breach of international law and constituted banditry and piracy — it was “murder” conducted by a State, without justification. A nation that followed that path lost its legitimacy as a respectable member of the international community. The children of Gaza, meanwhile, did not know where their next meal was coming from; they had received no education and had no future. Today, many humanitarian workers returned home in body bags. Israel had “blood on its hands”.
High-seas freedom, he said, freedom of navigation, was one of the oldest forms of international law; no vessel could be stopped or boarded without the consent of the captain or flag State. Any suspected violation of the law did not absolve the intervening State under international law. To treat humanitarian delivery as a hostile act and to treat aid workers as combatants could not be deemed legal or legitimate. Any attempt to legitimize the attack was futile.

The strangely entitled Israeli Defence Forces commandeered the Irish flagged ship Rachel Corrie & Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched! Israel engaged in a fresh act of piracy on the high seas at the weekend taking over an Irish-flagged aid ship bearing desperately needed supplies for the Gaza Strip. The crew of the Rachel Corrie included Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mairead Maguire and former UN assistant secretary-general Dennis Halliday. As planned they put up no resistance when the ship was seized in international waters during an early-morning raid by Israeli soldiers. The ship, named after a US activist killed by Israeli forces, was taken at gunpoint to the Israeli port of Ashdod where its cargo of essential supplies to 1.5 million Palestinians illegally imprisoned in the Gaza Strip was seized and its crew imprisoned pending deportation. Dublin had demanded safe passage for its vessel. Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign reacted angrily to news of this latest breach of international law. "For the second time in less then a week, Israeli forces stormed and hijacked an unarmed aid ship, kidnapping its passengers and forcing the ship toward Ashdod port," it said. Its fury was reflected at a demonstration on the streets of the Irish capital in scenes repeated across the world involving tens of thousands of people.


MV Rachel Corrie

In Palestine protesters marching towards Gaza's border scattered as Israeli forces opened fire with live rounds. And in a show of international solidarity following Israel's deadly assault on a Gaza aid convoy last week Swedish dockworkers will begin a week-long blockade on Saturday of Israeli ships and goods. The Swedish Port Workers Union was among the groups which backed the Ship to Gaza campaign involved in the flotilla. "The reason for the blockade is the unprecedented criminal attack on the peaceful ship convoy," the union said. Elsewhere, veteran alt-rockers The Pixies have become the latest musicians to cancel a planned gig in Israel. The band did not issue a statement but a local promoter linked the pullout with the attack on the Gaza flotilla. Israeli human rights activists from Boycott! urged the band three months ago to cancel the gig, saying: "As much as some of us are huge fans and would love to hear your show, we won't cross the international picket line that is growing in numbers steadily nowadays to come and see you." A flotilla activist who had a gun pointed at her head by Israeli commandos has said that the "horrendous" ordeal made her "more determined to get back out there." At a demonstration against the flotilla raid in Edinburgh, Scottish postal worker Theresa McDermott said to the crowd of 5,000: "If we sit back and don't go, that allows their intimidatory and aggressive tactics to work.”Our governments might not be doing anything but it won't stop the normal people from these countries from going back and trying to get the aid in because we could see the suffering in Gaza. "The people of Palestine need to know that they have not been forgotten by the outside world. We are standing with them and we're going to do our best to get the next flotilla in."



Demonstrators marched through the city centre to the US consulate and ended outside Bute House, First Minister Alex Salmond's official residence. Ms McDermott was on board the Challenger when it was taken over during the fatal attack on the flotilla by Israeli soldiers last Monday. She told a Scottish tabloid after returning to the Scottish capital following her release from Israeli prison: "It was needless brutality. "We were telling them they had an obligation to the people of Gaza to let us in. But they wouldn't listen and I even had a cocked gun pointed at my head." Scottish activists who were on the flotilla will hold a press conference on Monday about the raid of the three different ships they were on. They will also speak about their own experience of beatings, torture and detention in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through cities around the world on Saturday over the Israeli killing of nine Turkish activists last week aboard an aid ship bound for Gaza. Rallies took place in London, Sheffield, Edinburgh and other British cities as part of an international day of action which also saw demonstrations in Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, Ireland and Gaza itself.



In London, 20,000 protesters marched from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy to express outrage at the killings on the Mavi Marmara aid vessel and the seizure of the MV Rachel Corrie, another aid ship trying to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, by Israeli forces on Saturday morning. As demonstrators left Downing Street they waved Palestinian flags and placards saying: "End The Siege" and "For Freedom We Sail." Others chanted: "Stop Israeli piracy." Among the protesters was Sarah Colborne of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara and was in Israeli custody for almost two days before being deported to Britain. "Israel cannot be allowed to continue to commit these crimes without being brought to justice," said Ms Colborne. "It cannot board boats in international waters which have nothing but humanitarian aid and peace activists, to murder nine people and to hold us hostage, to kidnap us effectively. "What we need to happen is for humanitarian aid to freely go into Gaza, for the siege to be lifted, for an independent investigation to take place into the events of the last few days and for Israel to end its violation of international laws." Green MP Caroline Lucas, who joined the demonstration, also called for an independent inquiry into Israel's "murder and piracy."

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said the event showed that victims' "deaths have not been in vain - what it has done is bring the world's attention to the terrible crime of the blockade of Gaza." Protester Ali Seylan, who said his brother had been aboard the flotilla, told the rally: "Israel made a big mistake. Israel's government managed to make all Turkish people the enemy of Israel." Former Respect MP George Galloway told the London rally that new Viva Palestina land and sea convoys to break the siege of Gaze would soon set off. He said after "extensive discussions in Istanbul I can announce that a land convoy will leave Britain in September.”At exactly the same time a flotilla of boats will be leaving to tour the countries of the Mediterranean before heading for Gaza." Around 5,000 Scottish protesters marched through central Edinburgh, ending in a rally where SNP MSP Sandra White read out a message on behalf of the Scottish government. She declared: "We have added Scotland's voice to that of the wider international community in condemning" the Israeli attack. The statement also demanded "the immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza." International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced on Sunday that Britain would award £19 million in aid for refugees in Gaza to be spent on health care, education and other services.

This is Rachel Corrie a 23 year old peace activist who was killed on March 16, 2003 when she was crushed by a bulldozer on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Army, while trying to prevent the demolition of the house of a Palestinian doctor. This is her 5th grade speech at school. The Irish ship intercepted trying to break the illegal Gaza Blockade (UN Resolution and Geneva Conventions) was named after her.



Malnourished children, restrictions on Gaza-fisherman, lacklustre sewage and water systems, and the confiscation of $4.5 billion in international aid will not improve Israel’s security in the long run. It will only increase the popularity of the Hamas Movement, decrease the effects of counterterrorism throughout the globe, and create the next generation of dangerous faith-based ideologues. As Cynthia McKinney, Mairead Maguire, and Betty Williams argue, it may be time for the state of Israel to start abiding by the concept of universal human rights. Not only would such activities have the symbolic effect of furthering international unity towards tolerance and respect (despite religion, ethnicity, or background), but may strengthen Israel’s right to exist by severely diminishing Arab hostility towards the Jewish people.

The solution is rather straightforward: allowing food and medicine into the Strip will help the PEOPLE escape the poverty that has dominated their lives thus far. Who knows, perhaps lifting the embargo and easing the life of the Palestinian people will save the world from the next wave of suicide bombers. Over to you recruiting Sergeant Benjamin Netanyahu? O one more point, during the past week has anybody anywhere heard a single word from the Special Middle East Peace Envoy, Tony Blair? Obviously nothing too much was happening to interest him?