From: "Karin Pally" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Four Angelenos, including three members of Women in Black-Los Angeles,
Mary Hughes Thompson, Greta Berlin and Kathleen Wang, along with Monir
Deeb who was born in Gaza, are part of the Free Gaza Movement and
will soon be on their way from Cyprus to Gaza. Most funds for this project
were raised from house parties and small online donations to the
website, www.freegaza.org. The project is getting intense news
coverage overseas but not in the U.S. The boats and crew are now in
Crete preparing to sail to Cyprus to pick up the rest of the boat
passengers and sail to Gaza.
Cherie Blair's sister joins battle to break Gaza blockade
* Rachel Williams <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rachelwilliams>
* The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian>,
* Tuesday August 5 2008
Campaigners could face resistance off Gaza from the Israeli navy, which
previously imposed a similar sea blockade off the Lebanese coast.
A group of activists including Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth
plans to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip by sailing into the
Palestinian territory.
Some 46 campaigners, among them several Britons, a Holocaust survivor
and an 81-year-old retired Catholic nun from the US, will make the
241-mile crossing from Cyprus in two wooden vessels at the end of the
week, carrying medical supplies. The journey takes about 20 hours.
The California-based Free Gaza movement wants to open unrestricted
international access to Gaza while delivering a "symbolic" shipment of
200 hearing aids and batteries for a society for deaf children and other
supplies such as painkillers. Organisers say they will not pass through
Israeli waters and have therefore not notified Israeli authorities of
their plans.
But they are prepared for the 21-metre (70ft) Free Gaza and 18-metre
Liberty to encounter resistance. The Gaza Strip's waters are patrolled
by the Israeli navy. The boats' crews will cover as much of the journey
as possible under sail to conserve fuel, so they can stay at sea as long
as possible if their progress is blocked, British campaigner Hilary
Smith said.
"The passengers are prepared to remain on board for weeks or longer if
their passage is impeded," she told a press conference in London. "Gaza
is a virtual prison for well over a million Palestinians. It's been
under siege almost continuously for two years. Israel says it no longer
occupies the Gaza Strip so the boat will not be asking permission from
Israel and will not allow Israel to board the boats."
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza last year after Hamas took control,
and allows limited supplies of food, fuel and aid into the territory. In
March a coalition of eight UK human rights groups said Gazans were
living through their worst humanitarian crisis since the 1967 war.
Dr Mona El Farra, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in
Gaza, said she knew of at least 226 patients who had died since the
siege was imposed, 55 of them children, and 1,500 patients were waiting
for treatment. "As a doctor there is nothing more sad for me than
watching my patients dying," she said.
Free Gaza said the boats would be inspected by an independent security
service, to prove that no weapons or dangerous substances were on board.
The group hopes to transport a group of young Fulbright scholars out of
the territory so they can pursue their studies abroad, and return some
exiled Gaza residents.
Another aim, ultimately, is to create a permanent maritime link between
Cyprus and Gaza. "This is not a one-time symbolic trip," said Israeli
organiser Jeff Halper. "The idea is when we get to Gaza we have broken
the siege."
Blair is yet to visit Gaza in his role as the Quartet envoy working on
Palestinian economic development. Last month a planned trip was
cancelled after what his spokeswoman described as threats made against him.
***
Please send to your lists.
An Appeal from the Passengers and Crew
of the SS FREE GAZA and SS LIBERTY
Two years ago, about a dozen human rights activists devised a plan to
sail a boat to Gaza in order to break the siege. We rejected a plan to
rent a boat as impractical because a similar venture in 1988 failed when
the Israelis disabled the boat before it sailed and the three organizers
were killed. Thus no boat owner would willingly risk his craft. We
ultimately decided to purchase two small boats that could carry 40
passengers and crew.
Each of us contributed what we could, and we also received thousands of
dollars from individual supporters, most of whom used the Paypal link on
our website. We also held fundraising events, received a few thousand
dollars from small grants, and several "angels" helped us along the way.
Each passenger has paid his/her own way here, and many have raised
additional money through their groups, worked extra jobs, and asked
family and friends to donate. The passengers also paid an additional 600
Euros each for lodging in Cyprus and to cover the cost of supplies and
food on land and sea.
Through these efforts we raised $300,000, which we thought would cover
our costs. But the eroding dollar/Euro exchange rate seriously drained
our funds. All of our planning did not anticipate this contingency.
We are now in Cyprus awaiting our boats' arrival from Crete. When they
come in, we will fuel up (with very high-cost diesel) and stock
necessary food and supplies. We hope to cast off for Gaza this weekend.
We are told that hundreds of thousands of Gazans will greet us on arrival.
Many people thought we'd never come this far. But here we are and we
firmly intend to set sail regardless of some recent staggering debts.
Frankly, we have spent much more than we have raised; here are just a
few of our recent expenses:
· Two Sailor 250 FleetBroadband systems to allow us to stay in
electronic contact and to send streaming video in real time, $16,000
each, or $32,000;
· Repairs required to make the boats seaworthy, $25,000-$30,000;
· Electronics, wiring, connections, satellite uplinks, SPOT Trackers to
make the system work, $5000-$8000. (Most of the labor on the electronics
and boats has been donated by the Greek crew and technicians.)
· Forty-four life jackets and two hand-held GPS units, $8000;
· Paint & banners for the boats, and balloons & toys for Gaza children,
$2000;
· Diesel fuel for both boats, both ways, $15,000 to $25,000.
Except for the diesel fuel, we have already paid these costs by running
our personal credit cards to the limit, borrowing money, and asking some
of the Greek crew to help. Frankly, we're tapped out.
We need your help so that we sail on the Mediterranean Sea but not on a
sea of debt. Please . . . donate through the Paypal account on our
website (www.freegaza.org), send a check to the address on the website,
and/or send a check to the address in Doha. Every donation, large or
small, will help keep us afloat.
And, finally, thanks for your interest, support, and prayers!
***
Bulletin from Lauren Booth
Tuesday 12th August 2008
Well here on baking, blissfully breezy Crete it has been a day of high
expectation and yes, again, disappointment.
I spent my first night on board last night, in water so calm it reminded me
of
lake Geneva. Our group had enjoyed a late dinner with sympathetic locals in
a
communal dwelling in what was once Chania's law court and prison. A
touchingly
run down setting of past grandeur, with a vegan feats thoughtfully prepared.
Music was provided by an elderly man singing in Spanish, accompanied on the
guitar by a young man with dreadlocks n=known only ''citizen of the world'.
I
finally arrived back on the boat at 2am certain I could sleep even standing
up
(much less lying down on a foam mattress). Chania is a rather lively dock
even
on Monday nights. The nearest taverna was hosting a family celebration
complete
with Greek musicians, the clink of moonlit glasses and much enthusiastic
chatter. Suffice it to say I decided to find a vacant cabin. These are
basic,
unless you lived your life trawling for sardines.
An hour later the alarm on my mobile phone went- time to take guard of the
ships with Jeff Halper, anthropologist and founder of The Israeli Committee
Against House Demolitions. The ships are never left vacant the risk of
sabotage
being considered too high. Our turn as guardians of the Freegaza and Liberty
consisted of patrolling with a torch and talking noisily about subjects I
was
too tired to remember afterwards. However knowing Jeff I'm certain they were
both funny and profound.
The early morning meeting saw most sailors bright eyed and eager to sail,
making plans for the longest leg of the journey to Gaza; the 3 day odyssey
from
the legendary isle of Crete to Cyprus. Both ships now have professional
captains. Matthew who arrived this morning fresh from a private tour of the
Greek islands looks very young (I have insisted he grow a beard to look
older
than seventeen) he assures us all that over three days his face will age. In
fact Matthew is in this thirties with a wife and children and knows the
waters
between the Greek Islands intimately, the groups are very pleased to welcome
him aboard. Having spent the morning studying the charts and the local
shipping
forecast (weather report) at 11 am Captain Mat (as he shall now be known)
announced
'Friday night is the perfect time to sail. Before that the journey in these
vessels from Crete to Cyprus is not so much dangerous as suicidal.'
What did we do here in Crete at that announcement? For half an hour nails
were
chewed, each person went into a private purdah considering personal
situations,
the financial implications of staying longer, the commitment to those hoping
for boats of hope to arrive on their shores. I know that the equally keen
volunteers in Nicosia have important business commitments they have already
delayed time and again for this mission. The news must have hit them hard.
Soon, everyone put the delay aside deciding how best to use this extra time
to
prepare. Huwaida and Courtney (please see biogs to find out more about them)
are keen to brighten up both ships. Both locals and tourists who stop in
front
of both ships, point to them and saying the word "Palestine' They are
unsure
they have found the ships they have either heard of read about. To remedy
this,
plans are afoot to paint the wheel houses in the red and green of the
Palestinian flag, interspersed, at Huwaida's suggestion, with lines of
poetry
by the recently deceased Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.
Practical preparations continue, this delay means more funding for the
project
to break the siege of Gaza needs an urgent boost. Fifty travelers in two
locations need to be fed and those in Nicosia need the rent for their
housing
to be covered. Meanwhile here in Crete, despite the various pressures put
upon
them not one single person is leaving the project. How they cope financially
with the pressure put upon them I have no idea. The single principle, the
only
thought on the minds of those here this afternoon is that thousands in Gaza
are
willing on this small, independent project.
It's the people watching the horizon in Gaza that keeps everyone going here
in
Crete.
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
