UN-Truth

The Free Gaza expedition’s two ships, the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, have set sail at 9:06 am this morning towards Gaza, according to the group’s website.

A group of 46 activists from around the world are said to be on board.

The trip has been in preparation for over a year. The stated aim is to “break the siege” on Gaza.

Gaza’s territorial waters, or maritime space, is under total Israeli control — this was a fact before, but agreed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 1994 in the Oslo Accords.

Israel’s security control of the Mediterranean Sea off Gaza has continued even after Israel’s 2005 “disengagement” from Gaza, in contradiction to the adamant argumentation of many Israeli officials that Gaza is no longer “occupied”. However, the fact that Israel controls Gaza’s maritime space is one of the main criteria used in international law to determine that a situation of occupation persists.

Gaza, meanwhile, is now under the control of Hamas, which is not part of the PLO — at least not yet (the main obstacle appears to be the number of seats Hamas would be accorded in the Palestine National Council). And the Palestinian Authority, set up under the Oslo Accords, has been silent.

Whatever the outcome of this Free Gaza expedition, one of the main effects will be to probe and expose this complicated and rather discrete if not generally hidden situation.

The following pre-”disengagement” Notice to Mariners issued by the Israeli Navy apparently still applies:

From a note to a Notice to Mariners 2846/2004
Dated 6 November 2004 – edition 25/2004
SECURITY AREA K
(31° 41’•5N., 34° 17’•2E)
Vessels wishing to pass through Security Area
K must obtain permission from the Israeli Navy
on VHF channel 16; they should then cross the
area keeping a minimum distance of 3 miles
from, and parallel to, the coast.

http://www.nmwebsearch.com/

(For a description of Security Area K, see excerpt from Oslo Accords at the bottom of this post.)

NOTE: Israel uses as its reference British Admiralty naval navigation chart 2634 – Beirut to Gaza. Israel requires prior authorization and notification for vessel at 100 nautical miles (25 NM for smaller vessels), and designates specific sea channels for passage. There must be radio contact with the Israeli Navy at 25 NM for all vessels.

According to the UN Law of the Sea website, Israel measures its baseline from a low-water line. Though previously claiming a 6-mile territorial sea, Israel now claims a 12-mile territorial sea, and a Continental shelf outer limit to the depth of exploitability.

Israel is not a party to the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, but — like the Palestine Liberation Organization, though presumably for different reasons — it did sign the Final Act.

Not incidentally, when the PLO was given observer status at the United Nations, by UN General Assembly Resolution 3237 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974, one of the justifications was the invitation extended by the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea to the PLO “to participate in its deliberations as an observer”.

Another Notice to Mariners (No. T/ 1/ 2005), issued by the Israeli Ministry of Transport on 28 March 2005, states: “All ships bound for any Israeli Mediterranean Port are hereby advised to approach the Israeli coast only through the assigned corridors marked on the navigational chart BA-2634. All traffic along the Israeli coast (NNE-SSW) must follow within the ‘Coastal Route’ also marked on chart BA-2634. All vessels navigating within Israeli territorial waters (12NM) are advised not to exceed a maximum speed of 15 (fifteen) knots”.

While Israeli officials continue to insist that Gaza is no longer occupied, these navigational rules apparently also apply to the Israeli-controlled maritime space off Gaza.

For those following the Free Gaza expedition’s ships progress on the Google map, Gaza’s geographic coordinates are: 31 25 N, 34 20 E

The Free Gaza announcement today stated that “Our mission is to expose the illegality of Israel’s actions, and to break through the siege in order to express our solidarity with the suffering people of Gaza (and of the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole) and to create a free and regular channel between Gaza and the outside world. Israel claims that since the ‘disengagement’ in 2005 it no longer occupies Gaza. However, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international human rights organizations reject this claim since Israel still exerts effective control over Gaza. As an Occupying Power, Israel has a responsibility for the well-being of the people of Gaza under the provisions of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel has abused its control and responsibilities by wrongfully obstructing vital supplies and humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. As Israel’s 41-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip defies international consensus, and because Israel has grossly violated its obligations, we do not recognize Israel’s right to stop us outside its own territorial waters, which we will not be approaching. To remove any ‘security’ pretense that Israel may raise, we have had our boats inspected and certified by Cypriot authorities that they carry no arms or contraband of any kind. We have invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to join us on our voyage and, in fact, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has itself told us the Israeli government ‘assume[s] that your intentions are good’.”

Foreign Minister Livni was not asked a single question about this imminent event in a press conference she gave to members of the Foreign Press Association in Israel on Thursday at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

This is a tough one. How will the Israeli authorities handle this challenge? So far, the ships have not been blown up in port, and nobody has been assassinated. But, the general expectation is that these ships will not be able to sail up to Gaza’s coast, and the international activists will not be allowed to disembark triumphantly there.

A story in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper nearly a week ago reported that “Defense officials favor forcefully blocking two boats which a group of U.S.-based activists plan to sail to Gaza to protest what they call ‘the Israeli siege on the Strip’, Haaretz has learned. According to the Foreign Ministry, Israel is within its rights to use force against the seafarers … [This situation has] prompted defense officials to hold a series of discussions; they said allowing the ships to reach the Gaza coastline could create a dangerous precedent. But the Israel Navy has not yet received any instructions on how to treat the vessels. A position paper by the Foreign Ministry’s legal department says Israel has the right to use force against the demonstrators as part of the Oslo Accords, which names Israel as responsible for Gaza’s territorial waters. An official in Jerusalem said the Foreign Ministry’s paper means that security forces could detain the vessels upon entry to Gaza’s territorial waters, arrest the passengers and haul the ship to Israel, where the detainees could be interrogated”. This Haaretz report can be read in full here .

The Jerusalem Post reported a day later that “The navy has been ordered to turn back two boats carrying 44 pro-Palestinian foreign activists who are attempting to ‘break the siege of Gaza’, The Jerusalem Post has learned…Officials said the navy had a number of options in dealing with the boats, which have set out from Crete, en route to Gaza, via a stop-over in Cyprus… Israeli officials said Sunday that the Mediterranean waters around Gaza fell under Israeli sovereignty due to an agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Gaza has also been declared a combat zone, giving the navy the legal right to patrol the sea around the Strip, the officials said … The boat journey was largely a publicity stunt, the Israeli officials said, adding that its organizers were hungry for international and Israeli media attention”. The full JPOST report can be read here .

Now the JPost is reporting that Free Gaza organizer Paul Larudee has said that those on board plan “to deliver 200 hearing aids to a Palestinian charity for children and hand out 5,000 balloons … Israeli officials said the delivery was illegal but they have refused to publicly say what the response would be if the activists tried to break the blockade. However, The Jerusalem Post has learned that the navy has been ordered to turn back the boats. Larudee said it was ‘highly unlikely’ the navy would fire on the boats to stop them. But he said the group expected Israeli authorities to intercept the boats and arrest those onboard. Larudee said the group would contest any arrests in court on the premise that Israel committed kidnapping”. Today’s report in the JPost can be read in full here .

On 18 August, an official of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Noam Katz (Director, Public Relations Department) wrote to the Free Gaza group saying that “in fact, the result of your action is that you are supporting the regime of a terrorist organization in Gaza, an organization dedicated to non-recognition of the State of Israel and its right to exist … In this protest voyage to Gaza , you seek to remove legitimate pressure on the Hamas government and to violate the conditions of the international community; therefore we cannot cooperate with your efforts … We would like to point out that the area to which you are planning to sail is the subject of an advisory notice that has been published by the Israeli Navy, which warns all foreign vessels to remain clear of the designated maritime zone off the coast of Gaza in light of the current security situation. We have received information that you are planning to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. We would like to bring to your attention that the transfer of humanitarian aid to Israel is effected, at present, through agreed-upon channels, and the Israeli authorities will ensure that the shipment reaches its destination via the land crossing points. We will be happy to assist you in this endeavor. If your intentions are good, please choose this way; if you do not intend to deliver the humanitarian aid via Israel, this proves that your goal is political and constitutes the legitimization of a terrorist organization”. The full text can be read on the Free Gaza website here .

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This map of Gaza’s (and Palestine’s) maritime space, attached to two agreements signed under the Oslo Process (the 1994 ‘Gaza-Jericho first’ Agreement, and subsequently confirmed in the 1995 Israel-Palestinian Interim Arrangements Agreements) allocates a 20 mile (32 km) fishing /economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea off Gaza. The map, used as the reference for both Agreements, was signed by Israel’s then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late Yasser Arafat, and witnessed by the foreign ministers of the United States and the Soviet Union. It is available from the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry here

The Free Gaza statement adds that “We are human rights activists, invited to visit Gaza by our Palestinian partners, and each of us has vowed to do no violence, in either word or deed. If Israel chooses to forcibly stop and search our ships, we will not forcibly resist. Such a search will be under duress and with our formal protest. After such a search, we fully expect the Israeli navy to stand aside, as we continue peacefully to Gaza. If we are arrested and brought to Israel, we will protest and prosecute our kidnapping in the appropriate forums. It is our purpose to show the power that ordinary citizens of the world have when they organize together to stand against injustice. Let there be no doubt: the policies of repression against the civilian population of Gaza represent gross violations of human rights, international humanitarian law, and constitute war crimes. The goal of our voyage is to break the illegal siege on the people of Gaza as a step toward ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine”.

The full announcement that this expedition has set sail — plus updates and occasional live streaming of images from the two ships — can be viewed on the Free Gaza website here.

“Although the Gaza Strip has a long Mediterranean Sea coastline, it has no seaport that would enable Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to conduct foreign trade by sea without going through Israeli ports. The idea of constructing a seaport for Gaza was discussed in almost all agreements reached by Israel and the Palestinians as part of the peace process, the sides ‘recognizing the great importance of Gaza Port for Palestinian economic growth and for increased Palestinian trade’. In the Declaration of Principles, signed in September 1993, the parties agreed for the first time to establish a joint committee to ‘set the guidelines’ for implementing the idea. After six years of foot-dragging, Israel agreed, in the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, signed in September 1999, to allow the Palestinian Authority to ‘begin construction work on the seaport’. According to the memorandum, the two sides agree that the Gaza seaport would not be used at all before a joint protocol on the port is reached by the parties…’ The parties have never signed such a protocol. In the summer of 2000, work began on constructing the infrastructure of the seaport on the coast of Gaza City. The costs were funded by the Donor States. However, in October, the Israeli Air Force bombed the building site in response to an incident in Ramallah where a Palestinian mob killed two Israel soldiers. Following this, the Donor States ceased funding the project. The work on the port stopped and has not recommenced.”
“One Big Prison”, HaMoked report, (pages 64-65) here

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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice helped broker a 15 November 2005 agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on Movement and on Access to Gaza, which decided, among other things, that: “Construction of a seaport can commence. The GoI (Government of Israel) will undertake to assure donors that it will not interfere with operation of the port [emphasis added here]. The parties will establish a U.S.-led tripartite committee to develop security and other relevant arrangements for the port prior to its opening. The 3rd party model to be used at Rafah will provide the basis for this work.” Excerpted from a document entitled “Israel, Palestinians Agree on Two Documents on Movement, Access: Pacts affect movement in Palestinian Territories, crossings at Egypt border”, U.S. Department of State – formerly here and now here and here.

Yesterday afternoon in Cyprus, the passengers and crew of the SS FREE GAZA and the SS LIBERTY held a memorial service in Larnaca’s commercial port, to “commemorate the 14 fishermen of Gaza who have been killed by the Israeli Navy over the past four years as they were fishing off their coast … (and) the 34 American sailors killed aboard the US LIBERTY … attacked by Israeli fighter jets and submarines for 75 minutes on June 8, 1967…” This news item can be read in full here.

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From the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement’s Annex I, “Protocol Concerning Redeployment and Security Arrangements”, this document contains a few slight updates from the earlier agreement reached in 1994, but no changes in the designation or description of the various zones:

“ARTICLE XIV
Security along the Coastline to the Sea of Gaza
1. Maritime Activity Zones
a. Extent of Maritime Activity Zones
The sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip will be divided into three Maritime Activity Zones, K, L, and M as shown on map No. 8 attached to this Agreement, and as detailed below:
(1) Zones K and M
(a) Zone K extends to 20 nautical miles in the sea from the coast in the northern part of the sea of Gaza and 1.5 nautical miles wide southwards.
(b) Zone M extends to 20 nautical miles in the sea from the coast, and one (1) nautical mile wide from the Egyptian waters.
(c) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, Zones K and M will be closed areas, in which navigation will be restricted to activity of the Israel Navy.
(2) Zone L
(a) Zone L bounded to the south by Zone M and to the north by Zone K extends 20 nautical miles into the sea from the coast.
(b) Zone L will be open for fishing, recreation and economic activities, in accordance with the following provisions:
(i) Fishing boats will not exit Zone L into the open sea and may have engines of up to a limit of 25 HP for outboard motors and up to a maximum speed of 18 knots for inboard motors. Four months after the signing of this Agreement the Maritime Coordination and Cooperation Center (hereinafter “the MC”), as referred to in paragraph 3 below, will consider raising the limit for outboard motors up to 40 hp. in accordance with the types of the boats. The boats will neither carry weapons nor ammunition nor will they fish with the use of explosives.
(ii) Recreational boats will be permitted to sail up to a distance of 6 nautical miles from the coast unless, in special cases, otherwise agreed within the Maritime Coordination and Cooperation Center as referred to in paragraph 3 below. Recreational boats may have engines up to a limit of 10 horsepower. Marine motor bikes and water jets will neither be introduced into Zone L nor be operated therein.
(iii) Yachts may sail up to a distance of 6 nautical miles from the coast at a maximum speed of 15 knots.
(iv) Foreign vessels entering Zone L will not approach closer than 12 nautical miles from the coast except as regards activities covered in paragraph 4 below.
b. General Rules of the Maritime Activity Zones
(1) The aforementioned fishing boats and recreational boats and their skippers sailing in Zone L shall carry licenses issued by the Council, the format and standards of which will be coordinated through the JSC.
(2) The boats shall have identification markings determined by the Council. The Israeli authorities will be notified through the JSC of these identification markings.
(3) Residents of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip fishing in Zone L will carry Israeli licenses and vessel permits.
(4) As part of Israel’s responsibilities for safety and security within the three Maritime Activity Zones, Israel Navy vessels may sail throughout these zones, as necessary and without limitations, and may take any measures necessary against vessels suspected of being used for terrorist activities or for smuggling arms, ammunition, drugs, goods, of for any other illegal activity. The Palestinian Police will be notified of such actions, and the ensuing procedures will be coordinated through the MC…”

The full text can be consulted on the website of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs here .

Filed under: Cyprus, Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Law of the Sea Convention, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians