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Michigan Peace Team has sponsored peace teams to Gaza each year since the summer of 2003 and MPT is committed to ending the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the closure of Gaza. In this spirit the staff of MPT applauds the peace actions of the Free Gaza Movement! Here is some background to the efforts of the Free Gaza Movement that we have gleaned from direct experience in Gaza ISRAEL HAS SEALED GAZA FOR TWO YEARS Israel has destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes in Gaza, and assassinated many people. Since June 2007, the State of Israel has sealed the borders of Gaza and strictly limited movement into and out of the Gaza Strip. Israeli gunboats blockade access to the Mediterranean; Israeli war planes, drones, helicopters, tanks, gun towers, and electrified fences, blockade access to land borders or air space. Egypt has largely complied with the closure, though it occasionally opens Rafah -- the only Gaza crossing that bypasses Israel -- to allow aid in and students and medical cases out. This closure has crippled rebuilding efforts in the impoverished territory of 1.5 million people, which was devastated during Israel’s war against Gaza, (December 2008 and January 2009) in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. Israel waged this war against a Gazan population of 1.5 million that already had been suffering intensely from the effects of the blockade. The siege has meant that residents have access only to unsanitary drinking water because they are prevented from getting purification agents; they may die from curable cancers because they can't import chemotherapy drugs. They suffer malnutrition and anemia because Israel limits the types of foodstuffs it will allow to enter the Gaza Strip. (Foodstuffs and products banned at one time or another has included pasta, chick peas, jam, toilet paper, and soap.) Gazans suffer from homes made unsafe by Israeli bombardment, but which cannot be rebuilt because Israel has decided that they cannot have construction materials. The consequences have been horrific. This is the background that led the Free Gaza Movement to action. In all five boats have be launched by the Free Gaza Movement: three brought aid to Gaza, a fourth was fired on and turned back, and yesterday a fifth was encircled and seized by the Israeli Navy. Here is their report. FROM FREE GAZA MOVEMENT: http://freegaza.org/ Israel Attacks Boat; Kidnaps Human Rights Workers; Confiscates Medicine, Toys and Olive Trees URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/06/30-0
23 miles off the coast of Gaza - June 30 - Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel. "This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip," said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. "President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey." According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are "trapped in despair." Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel's December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel's disruption of medical supplies. "The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of "Cast Lead". Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone" said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland. Just before being kidnapped by Israel, attorney Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: "No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children's toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters." Arraf continued, "Israel's deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release." ACTION: Contact President Obama and members of the US Senate. Insist that Free Gaza representatives are released; and demand that the closure of Gaza comes to an immediate end.
Thank you for your support, Peter Dougherty, Mary Hanna, Liz Walters The Staff of Michigan Peace Team |
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