UN-Truth

The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, briefed the UN Security Council this week about the situation in the region. He told Council members that Israel has, regrettably, still not extended its cooperation to UN Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission on the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza (27 December – 18 January).

Goldstone is due to hold public hearings in Gaza on Sunday and Monday, with Palestinian and Israeli testimony (how there will be Israeli testimony is not clear — unless some witnesses are planning to arrive on the next Free Gaza expedition due to leave Cyprus by ship later today, despite the continuing formal naval blockade that Israeli declared on 3-4 January, as it began the ground phase in its Gaza military offensive). Maybe the Israeli testimony (from Sderot, on the Gaza perimeter, the community hardest hit from rocket fire from Gaza?) will have to be during public hearings planned for 5 and 6 July in Geneva, Switzerland, instead.

Because Israel had not yet responded to requests for visas — one of its classic ways of not cooperating — Justice Goldstone had to enter Gaza from the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border during his mission’s first visit at the beginning of June, and will presumably have to do so again this coming weekend, unless Israeli authorities change their minds, of course.

The Free Gaza expedition to blockaded and beseiged Gaza is its eighth, and is scheduled to leave Larnaca port in Cyprus at 10:00 a.m.

UPDATE: The Free Gaza expedition seems to have been held up and is still in Cyprus port while extensive inspections are being conducted. There seems to be some kind of news blackout — there are no updates on the Free Gaza website. Reuters has reported that Serghios Serghiou, head of Cyprus’s Department of Merchant Shipping, said that “One of the ships was only recently registered in Cyprus and under Cyprus law it has to undergo inspection before being given permission to sail … (The second) … did not apply for any inspections before sailing”. Reuters noted that “Cypriot shipping officials cited inspection requirements for stopping the two vessels, a small ferry and a sailing boat, from leaving port two hours before their scheduled departure. Both vessels had travelled to Gaza before”. This Reuters report can be read in full here.

A press release from the group announced that “We are sending two ships, the Free Gaza and the Spirit of Humanity, with 3 tons of medical supplies, 15 tons of cement, suitcases full of toys, crayons and coloring books for children, as well as human rights workers and journalists from 14 countries, including Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. This will be our first attempt to challenge Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza by sea since the Israeli Navy brutally rammed our boat, DIGNITY, in December, and nearly sank the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY with all on board in January. Jane Arraf, one of the group’s organizers who will be on board this expedition, said in a press conference earlier this week that “People in Gaza are being made to live in subhuman conditions. Children are dying, and governments are silent. It is important to continue sending boats to Gaza to challenge the criminal blockade enforced by the Israeli military … International donors pledged over $4bn to rebuild Gaza, yet none of them are doing a thing about the fact that Israel allows no building supplies into the territory. So 36 of us from 16 countries are leaving on Thursday to tell the world to do something.”

The group is trying to buy a larger cargo boat to bring in more supplies on two other expeditions scheduled for this summer (14 July and 16 August).

Arraf stated that “We do not seek permission from or coordinate with the Israeli authorities. Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power, daily violating the human rights of Palestinians, and imposing collective punishment on them. It is past time for the international community to stop abetting Israel’s illegal closure policy”.

However, the Free Gaza Expedition did send Israeli government ministries an Official Notice of Intent to Enter, which is posted on their website here:

June 24, 2009

To: The Israeli Ministry of Defense, Fax: 972-3-697-6717
To: The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fax: 972-2-5303367
From: The Free Gaza Movement

This letter serves as a formal notification to you, as the Occupying Power and belligerent force in the Gaza Strip, that on Thursday, June 25, 2009 we are navigating the motor vessel Spirit of Humanity, and the motor vessel Free Gaza from the Port of Larnaca to the port of Gaza City. Our
vessels will be flying the Greek flags, and, as such, fall under the jurisdiction [of] Greece.

We will be sailing from Cypriot waters into international waters, then directly into the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip without entering or nearing Israeli territorial waters.

We will be carrying medical supplies in sealed boxes, as well as crayons, coloring books and toys for children, cleared by customs at the Larnaca International Airport and the Port of Larnaca. We will also be carrying 300 bags of cement delivered directly from the supplier to the Port of
Larnaca. There will be passengers and crew on board from 14 different countries. Our boats and cargo will have received security clearance from the Port Authorities in Cyprus before we depart.

As it will be confirmed that neither we, the cargo, any of the boats’ contents, nor the boats themselves constitute any threat to the security of Israel or its armed forces, we do not expect any interference with our voyage by Israel’s authorities.

On Tuesday, December 30, an Israeli Navy vessel violently, and without warning, attacked our motor vessel Dignity, disabling the vessel and endangering the lives of the 16 civilians on board. This notice serves as clear notification to you of our approach. Any attack on the motor vessels, Spirit of Humanity and/or Free Gaza will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the people on board will be considered the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.

A copy of this notification has been sent to the embassies of the civilians who will be on board”.

The passenger list is posted on the Free Gaza website here.

Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, United Nations