Via MCS
- 30. May, 2011ED NOTE: With the forthcoming possibility of the UN possibly declaring a State of Palestine with defined borders, it is important for Israel to do what they can now to “legitimize” their own existence, and to cut or minimize their losses before anyone sits down with a chart and starts drawing lines. What the UN decides or declares in chamber or on the floor, is of little relevance, compared to what happens when a small committee of people sit down and actually start lines on charts, for that is the knife which carves the goose, or slices the ham!
I recall in art that there are two ways to define an object…either by drawing a line around it, or by drawing a line around inside the space which surrounds it. The same method can be used to define the borders of States.. Outlining the shape of Palestine will limit and define the shape of Israel.
There is obvious panic in Tel Aviv, and they have the hit men making calls world-wide, dropping off verbal bullets on important and influential Heads of State’s and NGo’s desks. This also explains why Bibi displayed such a harsh and rude attitude toward his little friendly ally, Obama!
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FREE GAZA MOVEMENT PRESS RELEASE
Dear Ban Ki-Moon, Your Concern for our Safety is TouchingWe Will Continue to Sail to Gaza until Israel Lifts its Illegal Blockade
The Free Gaza Movement welcomes Ban Ki-Moon’s request that all nations, including Israel avoid violence when our flotilla sails to Gaza at the end of June. We also welcome his comments that, “Israel take “meaningful and far-reaching steps to end its closure of Gaza.”
News organizations over the past two days have decided to emphasize Ban’s concern for our flotilla by reporting he is telling governments to stop us. He can’t tell them that. We are not engaged in illegal activity in the in the Mediterranean; it is Israel’s blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians that is illegal. And as head of the United Nations, he knows that the UN High Commission for Human Rights (UN HCHR) produced a report that identified the blockade of Gaza as collective punishment – a war crime.
Audrey Bomse, attorney for Free Gaza stated, “The Report concluded that Israel was “clearly unlawful” when it intercepted Freedom Flotilla I in May 2010. Israel had no right to use force against us or detain flotilla passengers. Finally, UN HCHR asked for recognition of the activities of the Flotilla as “an agreed form of intervention” by civil society in humanitarian crises.”
We would remind the Secretary-General that the flotilla violates no international laws or laws of the sea and so an outright ban on our sailing to Gaza is essentially a statement against the rights of the Palestinian people to control their own ports, and lives.
Huwaida Arraf, chair of Free Gaza added, “Suggesting that aid to Gaza should be delivered via “legitimate crossings and established channels” implies that we accept Israel’s brutal and unlawful regime. Would the Secretary-General have said the same to the Egyptian and Tunisian people, telling them to address their grievances to Mubarak and Ben Ali?”We do not sail just to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Palestinians don’t want humanitarian aid, they want the right to trade and have open borders and come in and out of their territory without walls and gunboats and snipers shooting at them. Palestinians in Gaza have a right to their own sea, something Israel has denied to them in some form since 1967, and almost completely since 2006.
Our mission is to end Israel’s deliberate policies that have left Gaza in need of humanitarian aid. Since governments seem to have their hands tied behind their backs, it is up to civil society to hold Israel’s feet to the fire. It seems as though, in diplomatic language, Ban is more concerned about how Israel’s violent response to our flotilla looks and does not want another international incident like last year where Israel murdered nine of our volunteers.
Freedom riders in the US during the 1960s paid no attention to governmental warnings; and Arabs in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and Syria seeking freedom are also ignoring similar threats, and so will we. We are sailing at the end of June.
Mr. Secretary-General, the choice is Israel’s – either end the blockade or continue its violence against the Palestinians and their supporters. The blockade is an act of violence and our effort reflects the will of the international community to stand up to injustice. Therefore, your choice is to support tyranny or to support freedom.
Written by Free Gaza team | 27 May 2011
http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-freedom-flotilla-to-gaza
http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-freedom-flotilla-to-gazaWe are writing to ask for your support for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla scheduled to set sail in the second half of June to the besieged Gaza strip.
At least ten ships with dignitaries, doctors, professors, artists, journalists, and activists, as well as construction supplies and humanitarian aid, will sail from ports in Europe to Gaza in an act of non-violent civil disobedience to persuade the international community to fulfill its obligations towards the Palestinian people and end Israel’s four-year illegal blockade of Gaza.
This is the second, large-scale citizen-to-citizen flotilla to be launched by international grassroots groups. Organized by 14 national groups and international coalitions, the flotilla will carry approximately 1,000 passengers. It includes a US boat named The Audacity of Hope, which will have aboard dozens of dedicated social justice activists (visit: http://ustogaza.org/).
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, called on Middle Eastern countries to prevent the new Freedom Flotilla from heading to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies next month. Ban Ki-moon sent letters to several leaders telling them that supplies must be transferred to the Gaza Strip through what he called “legal channels”, and existing mechanisms, and added that “violence must be avoided”, the Maan News Agency reported.
His statements came as the new flotilla launched on the one-year anniversary of the deadly Israeli attack against the Freedom Flotilla when nine activists were killed after the Israeli navy violently boarded the Turkish ship; dozens were injured.
UN spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said that he is worried about reports of a new flotilla, and called on related governments to stop the flotilla in order to stop the “potential violence that could take place”.
He said that “despite the fact that Freedom Flotillas are useless, the situation in the Gaza Strip must be changed, and Israel must conduct real measures to end the siege”.
The new Freedom Flotilla will be heading to Gaza in the second half of next month while ten ships from several European countries will be part of it.
Physicians, Academics, Artists and Reporters will be onboard, and will attempt to deliver relief supplies to the besieged coastal region.
The Free Gaza movement said that the flotilla is a nonviolent act that aims at convincing the international community to fulfill its obligations towards the Palestinians, and to end the illegal four-year siege on Gaza.
Several days ago, Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that he hopes Israel will not attack the flotilla this time, and that it would avoid any confrontations.
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The Free Gaza movement is a human rights group that, since August 2008, has traveled nine times to Gaza by sea to break Israel’s illegal stranglehold on1.5 million Palestinian civilians. We entered Gaza successfully five times in 2008; however, we have been violently intercepted on the past four voyages, including Israel’s MAY 31, 2010 lethal attack on our Freedom Flotilla,when nine of our colleagues were killed and many more injured by Israeli commandos.
The Free Gaza movement and its coalition partners, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza; IHH — the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief; the International Committee to End the Siege on Gaza; Ship to Gaza Sweden and Ship to Gaza Greece are the only organizations that have sent boats directly to Gaza in defiance of Israel’s criminal closure of the Gaza Strip. We sail as an expression of citizen nonviolent, direct action, confronting Israel’s ongoing abuses of Palestinian human and political rights.
Contact For Information and Interviews:
Audrey Bomse, audreybomse@hotmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +1 856-986-2213
Greta Berlin, Iristulip@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +33 607 374 512
Ewa Jasiewicz, freelance@mailworks.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +447749421576
At least ten ships with dignitaries, doctors, professors, artists, journalists, and activists, as well as construction supplies and humanitarian aid, will sail from ports in Europe to Gaza in an act of non-violent civil disobedience to persuade the international community to fulfill its obligations towards the Palestinian people and end Israel’s four-year illegal blockade of Gaza.
This is the second, large-scale citizen-to-citizen flotilla to be launched by international grassroots groups. Organized by 14 national groups and international coalitions, the flotilla will carry approximately 1,000 passengers. It includes a US boat named The Audacity of Hope, which will have aboard dozens of dedicated social justice activists (visit: http://ustogaza.org/).
| Ban Ki-moon Calls For Obstructing Freedom Flotilla Heading To Gaza |
By Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies – May 28, 2011
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, called on Middle Eastern countries to prevent the new Freedom Flotilla from heading to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies next month. Ban Ki-moon sent letters to several leaders telling them that supplies must be transferred to the Gaza Strip through what he called “legal channels”, and existing mechanisms, and added that “violence must be avoided”, the Maan News Agency reported.
His statements came as the new flotilla launched on the one-year anniversary of the deadly Israeli attack against the Freedom Flotilla when nine activists were killed after the Israeli navy violently boarded the Turkish ship; dozens were injured.
UN spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said that he is worried about reports of a new flotilla, and called on related governments to stop the flotilla in order to stop the “potential violence that could take place”.
He said that “despite the fact that Freedom Flotillas are useless, the situation in the Gaza Strip must be changed, and Israel must conduct real measures to end the siege”.
The new Freedom Flotilla will be heading to Gaza in the second half of next month while ten ships from several European countries will be part of it.
Physicians, Academics, Artists and Reporters will be onboard, and will attempt to deliver relief supplies to the besieged coastal region.
The Free Gaza movement said that the flotilla is a nonviolent act that aims at convincing the international community to fulfill its obligations towards the Palestinians, and to end the illegal four-year siege on Gaza.
Several days ago, Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that he hopes Israel will not attack the flotilla this time, and that it would avoid any confrontations.
Add a comment to this post
The Free Gaza movement and its coalition partners, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza; IHH — the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief; the International Committee to End the Siege on Gaza; Ship to Gaza Sweden and Ship to Gaza Greece are the only organizations that have sent boats directly to Gaza in defiance of Israel’s criminal closure of the Gaza Strip. We sail as an expression of citizen nonviolent, direct action, confronting Israel’s ongoing abuses of Palestinian human and political rights.
Must Watch Free Gaza Movement video:
Contact For Information and Interviews:
Audrey Bomse, audreybomse@hotmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +1 856-986-2213
Greta Berlin, Iristulip@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +33 607 374 512
Ewa Jasiewicz, freelance@mailworks.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +447749421576
Uprooted Palestinian
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