Fifth Free Gaza expedition arrives in Gaza after sailing from Cyprus

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening by the day — UNRWA has now suspended food deliveries; bakeries are now nearly totally out of flour, and of fuel to bake bread; Hamas has said its tahdiya (period of calm) that began with Israel last June is over; Hamas leaders say they will not recognize Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ authority in three weeks, after his term of office expires by their analysis on 9 January.

But the Free Gaza expedition has made another successful trip from Cyprus and arrived in Gaza this morning.

Haaretz reported today here that “Free Gaza Group spokeswoman Greta Berlin confirmed that the 66-foot yacht SS Dignity left Larnaca on Friday evening. It is scheduled to return to Cyprus on Monday … The boat is carrying a ton of medicine, baby food and 20 satellite tracking devices to be installed on Palestinian fishing boats. The group has previously made four successful boat trips to Gaza. Three more trips are planned for next month. Israel patrols the coastal waters around Gaza, but has not obstructed activists from sailing to the enclave since the U.S. based Free Gaza movement launched regular boat shuttles from Cyprus last August”.

Last month, a Libyan ship was turned back last month by the Israeli Navy, and went to an Egyptian port instead. And a boat chartered by Israeli Arabs, including elected parliamentarians in Israel’s Knesset, was not allowed to leave from Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv.

A news announcement on the Free Gaza website said that “The [SS] DIGNITY pulled into Gaza Port at 8:00 am today after the Israeli Navy threatened to board them and take the two Israelis off the boat. ‘We know you have Israelis on board, so either turn back, or we will board and take them off’, said the voice on the radio. ‘We are going to Gaza’, Huwaida Arraf, the delegation leader, replied. Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board and a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement stated, ‘Countries that commit crimes against humanity often hide those crimes from their own people. Israel is doing exactly that, by not allowing Israelis to come in to witness what they are doing in our name’. The Dignity also carries two envoys from the Eid Charity in Qatar who are going to Gaza to assess the tragedy there. They will go back with concrete proposals on what they can do to help alleviate Israel’s collective punishment of the 1.5 Palestinians”. This news can be seen in full here.

Two Israelis who sailed with earlier Free Gaza expeditions were arrested upon their return through the Erez checkpoint and are facing criminal charges for having violated Israel’s ban on Israeli (Jews) going to Gaza. Both of these are Jewish Israelis. The first was Jeff Halper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), author of The Matrix of Control and Warehousing the Palestinians, who sailed on the first Free Gaza expedition. The second was Amira Hass, journalist for Haaretz newspaper, who used to live in Gaza and who now lives in Ramallah; she sailed on the third Free Gaza expedition — becoming the first Israeli journalist in Gaza in two years. She was “deported” from Gaza by Hamas security personnel on what she believes was a fabricated pretext of alleged security threats to her life. She was disappointed, because she had intended to stay in Gaza until the end of January, she has said.

UPDATE: Ma’an News Agency has reported that Neta Golan has now become the third Israeli Jew to be arrested, “while attempting to leave Gaza through the land border with Israel” on Monday 22 December. In its report, Ma’an said that “Neta Golan, International Solidarity Movement (ISM) will appear in court in the city of Kiryat Gat tomorrow. Golan arrived in Gaza on 20 December along with 17 others on the SS Dignity, on the fifth voyage to break the blockade since August. Neta Golan’s lawyer, Adnan Aladdin, condemned the arrest: ‘Ms Golan’s actions in no way constitute a crime. Her actions in entering Gaza were acts of necessity based on international law and a rejection of the policies of collective punishment pursued by the Israeli government … Humanitarian needs, such as those faced by the Palestinian people of Gaza due to the Israeli siege, make nonviolent acts that are clearly a response to this act of collective punishment necessary. This is common sense and has precedent’, added Aladdin”. The brief Ma’an story can be viewed in full here .

Huwaida Arraf also apparently has an Israeli passport, but she has returned from previous expeditions by air from Cyprus, and faced no problems at reentry through Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

In an earlier press release, the Free Gaza movement announced that the fifth Free Gaza expedition would be carrying “another ton of medicine, baby formula and gifts to Gaza. This time, the donations come from the people of Qatar”. This press release can be read in full here.

Three days ago, the Free Gaza movement took issue with disparaging remarks about their efforts — made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In a statement, the Free Gaza movement said “We do not ask permission from Israel”, and added that:
“On the eve of this voyage, the Free Gaza Movement would like to correct a few the statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a December 11 interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. In that interview, Abbas suggesting that our efforts are coordinated with the Israelis – that the Israelis check the passports of the passengers aboard our ship and officials from the Israeli Embassy in Larnaca, Cyprus, check our boat before we leave the port. And as a result of this interference, President Abbas stated that ours is a ‘silly game’ and that we are not really breaking the siege. We do not coordinate any of our actions with the Israelis. Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power by collectively punishing the people of Gaza and denying them basic human rights. As such, we neither seek Israel’s permission, nor submit to their searches, to assert the right of the Palestinian people to have access to the outside world, which includes the right to invite and welcome us to Gaza. So, why do we get in, while other efforts are stopped by the Israeli authorities? Because we remove the ‘security’ pretext with which Israel tries to justify its brutal actions and inhumane policies towards the Palestinian people. Amongst other things, we publicize our passenger list; we depart from Cyprus, a neutral European country; and we submit to a search by the Cypriot Port Authorities to verify that we are not carrying anything that can be considered a threat to Israel’s security. We sail from Cyprus waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza’s territorial waters, without entering Israeli waters. Israel realizes that it cannot stop us without using force against us, because we will not be turned around easily. President Abbas’ statement that we coordinate with the Israelis was misinformed. However, Abbas was correct when he said that we are not really breaking the siege on Gaza. Our boats cannot break the siege alone. Our hope is that we have started something that others can build on. We have shown that the concerted efforts of ordinary civilians working together in the name of justice can confront and successfully challenge Israel’s brutal policies and hope we have inspired other people to break their silence over Israel’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip and throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. From the continued and accelerated Judaization of Jerusalem and the rabid violence of the settler movement, to the vicious racism of Israeli politicians, Israel is committing massive violations against the people Gaza and Palestine as a whole. The world must stand up to this. The Free Gaza Movement will continue to send boats to Gaza to challenge Israel’s imprisonment of 1.5 million Palestinians, and we will continue to work for freedom and justice for all of the Palestinian people. We do not need Israel’s permission and we will never ask for it. We do need President Abbas, the Arab world, and the entire international community to join us”. This press release can be read in full here .

For all the bravado — and, make no mistake, it takes a lot of bravery and courage to do what those who have sailed on these expeditions have done — these activists and observers are quite vulnerable. Three members of a previous (the third, or maybe the fourth) expedition were recently seized by Israeli naval vessels while they were accompanying Gazan fishermen on fishing boats in Gazan maritime space in Mediterranean waters not far off the Gaza coast, forced to swim (it is not clear if they, too, were forced to strip and swim naked, like the Palestinian fishermen were) to the Israeli naval boats, and then imprisoned in what they reported were very miserable conditions until their deportation from Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport several days later.