Free Gaza Movement

Free Gaza is a political organization created in 2008 by a coalition of pro-Palestinian political organizations and activists for the purpose of publicizing the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza after the election of Hamas by sailing two ships from Greece to Gaza. [http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20080730freegazaport.html JTA: Group will test Israel's Gaza blockade] ]

The group originally planned to depart Piraeus on Aug 1st 2008, stopping at several Greek islands, and sail from Cyprus to Gaza on Aug 5th. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL910386520080729 Boat trip aims to break Israeli blockade of Gaza] Reuters.] The Israeli newspaper Haaretz recalled the 1988 failure of the PLO to sail to Haifa on the Sol Phryne, when an explosion punctured the hull. [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1006667.html ... Sol Phryne ... damaged in a mine attack in the Cypriot port of Limassol] Haaretz 29th July 2008.] Israel officially denied carrying out the car-bombing that killed 3 of the PLO organisers earlier the same day, but, according to Time "hardly bothered to conceal its role in disabling the ferry". [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966806-3,00.html Israel ... hardly bothered to conceal its role in disabling the ferry] Time Magazine 29th Feb 1988.]

Egypt has closed its border with Gaza and does not permit the passage of supplies; organizers of Free Gaza told interviewers that they were not attempting to sail from Egypt or via Egyptian waters because they "did not want to make a political statement" hinting that Egypt disagreed with the plan. [ [http://www.ejpress.org/article/28934 European Jewish Press: 'Free Gaza,' plans to sail from Greece to Gaza] , Jean Cohen, 30/Jul/2008] The Free Gaza Movement claimed that, if it proved impossible to sail from Cyprus, then they might go from Turkey or from Alexandria, Egypt, which they left before picking up their passengers in Cyprus. [ [http://www.freegaza.org/pages/calendar.html ... departs Alexandria, Ship picks up at Cyprus] freegaza.org]

The organizations participating in the Free Gaza movement include the International Solidarity Movement. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1006144.html Israel concerned leftists plan to send ship from Cyprus to break Gaza blockade] by Barak Ravid, Haaretz]

The "left-wing activists" organizing the effort include include Jeff Halper, Hedy Epstein, Lauren Booth, former British prime minister Tony Blair's sister-in-law, and members of various Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious organizations.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Israeli civil rights NGO, Shurat HaDin have asked United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey to stop the ships on the grounds that the American fundraising for the venture is a violation of the Neutrality Act. [ [http://www.sunherald.com/prnewswire/story/717401.html Israeli Civil Rights Center Warns US Attorney General: Gaza Boat Organizers Have Violated the Neutrality Act] , Sun-Herald, July 21, 2008]

On August 23 the ships arrived in Gaza to be greeted by crowds of thousands. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7578880.stm BBC report] The Israeli navy did not stop them but both boats had great difficulty with their communications, a problem they blamed on jamming by Israel. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLN194771._CH_.2400 Gaza activists fight poor communications, rough seas] Reuters 23rd Aug 2008.]

The Free Gaza movement claims that leaving Gaza 5 days later was even more significant than arriving. On arrival, they were the first people to freely enter Gaza in forty-one years - but on leaving, they (and the seven Palestinians with them) were given exit stamps by their own government, making them the first Palestinians, ever, to freely enter and leave their own country. [ [http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=f6551877c2161c3bb6fbccb59f9032bf&offset= SS FREE GAZA & SS LIBERTY ON INTERNATIONAL WATERS ON WAY TO CYPRUS] Free Gaza Movement 28th Aug 2008.]

Consequences

Israeli citizen Jeff Halper did not return to Cyprus on the boats, but traveled into Israel via the Erez crossing. He was arrested and has been told he will be prosecuted for breaking the Israeli law forbidding its citizens from entering the Gaza Strip. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7583391.stm Israeli police hold Gaza activist] BBC 26th August 2008.] A spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement believes that Israel’s foreign and interior ministries had given the boats permission to land in Gaza, and she believed that meant they were all in Gaza legally. [ [http://karmalised.com/?p=4058 Israeli arrested for entering Gaza] Jerusalem Post (mirrored by Karmalised.com) 26 August 2008.]

Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair also planned to enter Israel. She was told that she'd entered Gaza illegally and refused permission to cross, finally leaving Gaza by the Rafah crossing into Egypt 4 weeks later on 20th Sept. [ [http://news.scotsman.com/world/Escape-from-Gaza.4512967.jp Escape from Gaza] (Lauren Booth). The Scotsman 21st Sept 2008.] 3 days earlier she had called Gaza a "concentration camp" and "a humanitarian crisis on the scale of Darfur".

econd Sailing

A second sailing is planned on Thursday 25th Sept, immediately after a press conference in Larnaca. The SS HOPE will carry doctors, lawyers, observers and journalists, along with six cubic meters of "badly-needed medical supplies for the children of Gaza". [http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=d42ebafe1ea3932b540c3286e457a149&offset=]

References

External links

* http://www.freegaza.org