THE ISRAELI Foreign Ministry has called on the 40 peace activists planning to sail from Cyprus to Gaza to cancel the trip and let Israel handle all humanitarian aid to the Strip.
The Free Gaza Movement will use two boats to sail from Cyprus to Gaza this week to highlight Israel’s “illegal siege of Gaza” and the “collective punishment of 1.4 million Palestinians”.
They will also deliver hearing aids for children who have lost some or all of their hearing due to Israeli sound bombs and sonic booms. Organisers hope that by breaking the blockade, they can give Gazans some control over their territory, which Israel officially withdrew from in 2005.
As things stand, nothing goes in or out without Israeli approval, including food, aid, the sick, or even students trying to take up their places at universities abroad.
Organisers describe the populated strip as the world’s largest “open-air prison” where people are dying from lack of access to medical facilities. They claim 5,000 Palestinian lives have been taken by Israeli forces in the last eight years alone.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry yesterday sent a letter to the Movement saying, “We assume that your intentions are good but, in fact, the result of your action is that you are supporting the regime of a terrorist organisation in Gaza.”
The Ministry blamed rocket, mortar and suicide attacks from Gaza into Israel as the reason behind Palestinian suffering, which had the effect of “turning the Palestinian population into hostages of the terrorist organisations and the Hamas regime”.
The Ministry refers to the tight control over Gaza as “legitimate pressure on the Hamas government” and describes claims that Gazans are suffering from hunger as “groundless considering the amount of food that passes every day from Israel to the Gaza Strip”.
Finally, the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that the organisers are on a “humanitarian” mission, but urged them instead to hand over any humanitarian aid to Israel, which will pass on the aid to Gazans via the land crossing points.
Responding to the “groundless” claim, organisers quoted the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which said: “Only 43.5 per cent of basic commercial food import needs were met during the period between December 3 and 30, 2007.”
They went on to note that several international aid organisations, including Christian Aid and Oxfam, stated last May that, “the stranglehold on Gaza’s borders has made … the work of the UN and other humanitarian agencies… virtually impossible. Only a trickle of medicine, food, fuel and other goods is being allowed in. [The blockade] has made people highly dependent on food aid, and brought the health system and basic services such as water and sanitation near to collapse.”
As for the offer to deliver humanitarian supplies on their behalf, the organisers replied: “Israel’s deplorable track record of delivering supplies is, in fact, the very reason for our mission.”
MEMBERS of the Free Gaza Movement and their family members have received threats and aggressive messages in the last few days warning that the two boats will be blown up.
Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, Lauren Booth, blogging on one of the boats sailing from Crete to Cyprus said someone had called her husband in France saying the boats were going to be blown up.
A spokesperson for the Movement, Greta Berlin, said the boat crew has been receiving continuous messages of harassment on an emergency radio frequency.
“This channel is used in emergencies for ships to identify who they are and where they are. The boats are already getting harassment on that channel, with messages like ‘This is the Israeli Navy, we know where you are’. It’s a violation of maritime law,” said Berlin.
Reports in the Israeli press indicate that Israel will not shy from using force to deter the boats from reaching the Gaza coastline. Haaretz published an article last Friday quoting Israeli Defence officials favouring use of force to block the boats from setting a “dangerous precedent”.
The Jerusalem Post yesterday said the Israeli navy has been ordered to turn back the two boats. Israel argues that waters around Gaza fall under Israeli sovereignty, citing legal cover in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
The 40-plus non-violent activists are made up of 17 nationalities, the largest contingent represented by the United States. The Cyprus Mail yesterday asked the US Embassy in Nicosia whether any efforts were being made to ensure the safety of the 15-odd US citizens participating in the boat trip. A US Embassy spokesman said American members had been directed to the US State Department website, which “strongly recommends” against all travel to Gaza. The travel warning has remained unchanged since 2003.
“We have limited ability to offer timely consular assistance to US citizens in Gaza. But we stand ready to assist American citizens through any services regularly provided to citizens abroad,” said the spokesman.
The two ships are due in Cyprus today. They will undergo inspections by Cypriot authorities to quash rumours that weapons are being carried on board and are expected to set sail for Gaza on Thursday.
The ships have been named the SS Free Gaza, and the SS Liberty – in recognition of the USS Liberty, a US Navy ship, carrying 340 that was attacked by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats on 8 June 1967, killing 34 American sailors and wounding 170.
