24 hours into the Free Gaza expedition that set sail in two converted fishing ships from Cyprus on Friday morning heading in the direction of Gaza, the groups website reports that the most recent reported location of the boats is: Latitude:32.4755, Longitude:33.8666 [Time:08/23/2008 04:06:11 (GMT) – just after 6 am on board the boats].
It is daylight, and there still has been no reported Israeli attempt to stop the boats — but if there is going to be one, it will probably happen fairly soon. The expedition was projected to last between 24-30 hours, if all went well…
However, yesterday, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported that “Israel issued a tough threat Friday against a group of activists who are sailing from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip this weekend to try and break the blockade imposed on the territory. Foreign Ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron said the planned delivery was a ‘provocation’ that Israel could not allow. He said ‘all options’ were under consideration, though he declined to elaborate…The group plans to deliver … hearing aids to a Palestinian charity for children and hand out … 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”. The full JPost report of this “tough threat” can be read here .
Now that Aviv Shir-On is confidently iissuing “threats” against the Free Gaza expedition on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, perhaps Foreign Minister Livni might wish to examine his remarks a bit more closely.
It is not in keeping with the tone, however stern, used a few days ago by another Israeli Foreign Ministry official — Noam Katz (Director, Public Relations Department) — in a letter to the Free Gaza group on 18 August, in which he stated 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” …
OK, maybe this is just a a calibration — a stern tone first, then a “threat”. Good cop, Bad cop.
Or, maybe some people just prefer to threaten. But “threats” are not becoming, especially when coming from Foreign Ministry officials.
UPDATE: an Associated Press story published on Haaretz has reported that Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Merkel said on Saturday that “We are following the development and if they are looking for a provocation, we will know how to avoid it” — a softer tone than that used the day before by Aviv Shir-On. The AP also reported that “Israel’s army would not comment on Saturday”. This AP report can be seen on the Haaretz website here .
[NOTE: Aviv Shiron is the former Israeli Ambassador to Berne, Switzerland — where he impressed Swiss pro-peace activists as a belligerent right-winger. About a year ago, he returned to the Foreign Ministry as “Deputy Director General for Media & Public Affairs”. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has been without a spokesperson since Mark Regev was transferred to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office earlier this year (just before the Bush visit in mid-January, actually). Aryeh Mekel, a former journalist, has been acting as interim spokesperson — it was not immediatly clear if he was just away on vacation at the moment, or whether Shir-on might have been under consideration as the permanent replacement. Mekel is not always enormously helpful, but it is good to see him back now … Shir-On made his first public appearance as “Foreign Ministry Spokesperson” at the press conference Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave at the invitation of the Foreign Pres Association in Israel last Thursday. The Foreign Ministry had already been made aware that the BBC was going to raise a question in the press conference about the IDF shutting down of three radio stations in Hebron the day before — one of which re-transmitted some programmes of the BBC Arabic Service in London. When the question was asked, by the BBC’s Tim Franks, Livni asked a man who was not clearly identified to reply. This man, who had a prepared answer, said that the Israeli Ministry of Communications had established that the three radio stations were interfering with communications to and from the control tower at Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport (near Tel Aviv). This is the same cover story that was raised when the now-defunct RAM-FM studio in Jerusalem was raided, all staff members present were arrested and held for 24 hours before being hauled into Jerusalem District Court in chains, and arraigned on criminal charges that are still pending — despite the abrupt closure of the station in its Ramallah headquarters two weeks ago by its South African owner without much explanation except poor advertising revenues, which was forecast well in advance. The RAM-FM state-of-the art equipment was pulled roughly out of the walls and taken away — and has not been returned despite a court order. But, Aviv Shir-On was not troubled by the flimsiness of his cover story, and repeated it confidently. He added to this journalist after the Livni press conference that it was a “matter of saving lives”. He also focussed — as did the BBC — though, unfortunately, the concern apparently only applies to the one Hebron radio station that re-broadcast some BBC Arabic material. For that station, the British Consulate and/or Embassy, and the Foreign Office in London, as well as the BBC in London have contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry. But nobody has apparently contacted anybody about the closure of the other two radio stations, or the seizure of their equipment, or the detention of the staff members present at the time of the raids … So much for planted press questions, or those asked after prior notification — a practice that is normally considered unprofessional — and so much for prepared official answers, especially after a prior warning!]
In any case, the American radio program Democracy Now interviewed by phone last night some of those on board the two Free Gaza ships last night, and here are some selected excerpts from the discussion:
HUWAIDA ARRAF – a human rights activist, co-founder of International Solidarity Movement, who teaches human rights law at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, in the Mediterranean Sea on board the SS Liberty:
“…we have tried to be vigilant about security, because we’ve learned from previous experiences, and specifically in 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization tried to organize a similar boat to Palestine, and that boat was—that boat was actually attacked, it was exploded. So we’ve had people on twenty-four-hour watch. And before leaving each boat—before leaving each port, we’ve done dive checks. We’ve done our own dive checks in Cyprus. The Cypriot authorities volunteered to do that for us, so they checked out the bottom of our boats. And we were very adamant about wanting them to also give our boats a clean bill of health, so that Israel cannot say that they’re preventing us from going in because of any kind of security reason. So they checked our boats. They’ve checked all of our belongings, everything we have on board, and have said that there are no weapons or there aren’t any other contraband. And hopefully, if the bottom of the boat check was clear, then these vessels are good to go. And we’re going to keep sailing until we reach Gaza or until, you know, Israel decides to—what they’ve said is that they’re going to forcefully block us. If they do blockade us, we are prepared to stay out at sea for as long as our water and our food holds out. If we start to run low, we will go back to Cyprus, we will restock, and we will come back out, insisting that we have a right to go through. As long as there isn’t any kind of security concern, Israel cannot completely isolate the Palestinian people, the Gazan people, and cut them off from the rest of the world. Now, the other possibility is that they could decide to fire at us, they could decide to shoot at us, or they can decide to forcefully board our boats and arrest us. Again, this will be illegal. We constitute no security threat. And actually, we invite—you know, we’re leading the way right now. Any other vessel, anyone that has a boat that wants to come join us, we invite them to” …
************************
LAUREN BOOTH – journalist and broadcaster (who seems to be unaware that the Free Gaza website posts the coordinates of the expedition at periodic intervals, and provides links to a Google Map). who is also sister-in-law of the former Prime Minister [now Quartet Envoy] Tony Blair: “I’m on the Mediterranean Sea between Cyprus and Gaza—I don’t want to say exactly where—because we are—the Free Gaza movement, whom I am joining to report on, is trying to break the blockade of Gaza that has been going on since 2006 by Israel …
QUESTION: I’m sure that the former prime minister, your brother-in-law, has his own opinions of your actions.
LAUREN BOOTH: It’s his duty as Middle East envoy to be aware of movements like this who want to help the people that he’s supposed to be partially representing. And unfortunately, Tony Blair has not been to Gaza in his role as Middle East envoy. So it’s unclear how he can represent the Middle East, when this important question of people being besieged in this almost-Medieval-style way is not addressed.
AMY GOODMAN: Is he supporting you in your effort to call attention, to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza?
LAUREN BOOTH: Can you say again? I missed that.
AMY GOODMAN: Is Tony Blair, your brother-in-law, supporting you in your effort to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza?
LAUREN BOOTH: Well, you’d think that Tony Blair would support the Free Gaza movement in its peaceful mission. Well, likely, I can’t say that there’s been any direct contact. What we do know is that Israel has been using a lot of diplomatic pressure to stop the mission from leaving Cyprus, from starting out in the Greek waters. But the Greek and the Cypriot governments and their local authorities were brilliant and very supportive …
LAUREN BOOTH: There have been some very strange situations in the last few days. Yes, my family have called at home and told, oh, that the boats would slightly be blown up when they reached Gaza. Other people who have Palestinian families have been under a great deal of pressure not to take part. And we’ve had some of our machinery interfered with and sabotaged. And just this morning, the port authority told us that there were Mossad agents operating in their ports, that they were very unhappy with, and that is why the Cypriot authorities escorted us out. We had a police escort follow us out of Cypriot waters. So, there is interference already going on”…
************************
Free Gaza on-board photo: Jeff Halper on left, lawyer Tom Nelson on right
JEFF HALPER – Israeli professor of anthropology, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions: “I’m the only Israeli Jew onboard this mission. You spoke to Huwaida, I guess, who’s also Israeli, but is actually Palestinian. She just has Israeli passport. So I think it’s very important that there be an Israeli presence, because, after all, we’re the occupying power, and we have to take responsibility. And so, in a sense, symbolically, my presence here is a taking of responsibility by Israelis for the occupation and for the siege and the oppression for which we put the Palestinians under … we have to begin to take responsibility. We can’t always present ourselves as the victims. We’re not the weak party. And we have to take responsibility for what we’re doing. And that’s, I think, our central message to our own people”.
Halper was asked in the interview about 84-year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, who planned to take part in the expedition, but at the last minute could not because of medical problems. Four years ago, at the age of 80, this Holocaust survivor was not only strip-searched but also forced to undergo a complete body cavity search in Israel, during the height of the worst period in Israel’s treatment of solidarity types as well as of Palestinian-Israelis and Palestinian-Americans and others at Ben Gurion airport.
Halper said this, in last night’s interview: “Her name is Hedy Epstein. She, actually, the last—she didn’t join the ship. She fainted a couple days ago. She’s eighty-four years old, and there was some concern about her health. But she’s been with us for the last three weeks and fully intended to come, again, as a kind of a moral witness, you know, of a Jew, of a Jewish person who’s gone through the Holocaust, who feels a sense of responsibility towards, you know, what we’re doing to the Palestinians”.
These interviews can be read in a full transcript of this radio program on the Democracy Now website here .
