By: Ivonne Cardozo – July 8th 2011
The second Freedom Flotilla, made up by more than one thousand people -including writers, politicians, personalities ad common citizens from Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, The Netherlands, Unites States and Canada- is a symbol of the peace initiative of tens of organizations to break the blockade that Israel maintains on Gaza since 2006. The Israeli and the Unites States governments have done everything in their means to hinder the activists’ work by adding political pressure to countries from the European Union such as Greece and Spain, so that ships containing humanitarian help are not able to sail from their coasts. In spite of facing life threats, sabotage and campaigns to discredit their labor, the second flotilla has been able to stay afloat and bring world solidarity towards more than one and a half million Palestinians that suffer the consequences of the blockade and the military invasion of their territory since 1948.
Last year, on May 31, the first flotilla, headed by the Mavi Mármara vessel, was intercepted in international waters by Israeli troops that open fire against unarmed activists aboard the boat, ultimately killing nine of them. According to forensic reports, many of the bodies had bullet impacts at point-blank range as well as kill shoots. In addition, many of the six hundred passengers reported that they were tortured physically and psychologically while they were held in Tel Aviv. To date, the Israeli government continues denying responsibility for these acts and there are no investigations underway or any sanctions against the soldiers who participated in these human rights violations and other acts that still need to be clarified.
The need to end the blockade drove other organizations to continue with the mission. It was expected that the second freedom flotilla, formed by ten cargo ships, would sail on June 22nd from a Mediterranean port towards the Gaza Strip. The goal of the flotilla was to provide food, school supplies, construction materials and medicines to Gaza. The inhabitants of this territory live in isolation -due to the military blockade- and the majority of its population live under the miseries of poverty.
Sabotages, threats and lies
However, many vessels were sabotaged at the port and were not able to depart due to the serious damage inflicted to their engines and helices, thus delaying the humanitarian mission. In addition, there is a naval blockade to the ships of the flotilla anchored in both: the Kolymvari port in the Island of Crete and the port of Athens. The blockade was started by the Greek government following Israel’s pressures, by arguing the ships cannot sail without the appropriate navigation permission, otherwise passengers would be under serious risk and to disobey these orders would result in arrests of those responsible.
The Guernica ship from Spain as well as the Audacity of Hope from the U.S. and the French Dignité were not able to transit by the Greek coastguard and they were forced to return to the port. Many of the passengers from the Guernica went to the embassy of Spain in Athens to request in a peaceful way to be allowed to continue their crossing, but have yet to receive an answer.
The captain of the Audacity of Hope, John Klusmire, was detained and is waiting to be prosecuted after trying to break the enclosure from the Perama port near Pireo in the Greek south coast. In turn, the Secretary of State of USA, Hillary Clinton, manifested that the flotilla would not really help the people of Gaza, since Israel already has a commitment to provide construction materials for housing in this area. However, a few days ago the Israeli government denied the entry of a group of members of the Basque parliament into the Gaza Strip. The purpose of their visit to Gaza was to verify that the funds destined to improve the quality of life of Palestinians were being invested in the right way.
Additionally, on June 8th 2010, senator John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee of the United States, introduced a bill to “condemn the violent attack and the provocation by extremists aboard the Mavi Mármara”, as well as “any future attempt to break the Israeli blockade against Gaza”. Moreover, the influential Texas politician, during an interview with ABC news, noted that the death of one American citizen during the attack to the first flotilla was
justified after acting in self-defense against the “provocation of an alleged pacifist group that was trying to break the blockade”. His statements have generated an outpouring of support from members of the Tea party in favor of a future Israeli attack against activists trying to bring help into Gaza and classifying them as terrorists.
In this regard, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamín Netanyahu, insists that humanitarian help is arriving in Gaza according to the agreement with the United Nations, and that lifting the naval and
terrestrial blockade is risky because it could reactivate arms trafficking to Hamas, which will increase the attacks against their territory, this according to official propaganda. Meanwhile, the Palestinians survive in misery without potable water or food, suffering a health crisis that worsens every day since the occupation of Israeli troops.
However, the activists of the second flotilla insist in arriving into Gaza regardless of the consequences. One of their decisions was to arrive flights to Tel Aviv in order to reach the territories suffering from the blockade and to advocate to their respective governments to add pressure in Athens so that they can sail. The government of Netanyahu has responded by giving a list of “undesirables” to the airlines to prevent them from boarding a flight and announcing that they will double the coastguard. The next few days are without a doubt very decisive in this matter.
Humanitarian crisis in Gaza
Since the creation of Israel in 1948, Palestine has suffered a violent occupation and militarization of their territory by Israeli troops, in spite of the many efforts made by both, the international community to assure the borders recognized by the United Nations, and the global pressure to construct a Palestinian state.
However, the situation worsened in 2006 after the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas’s triumphed after the parliamentary elections in Gaza and siege control of the local government, thus debilitating the Palestinian National Authority government and creating great political instability for the construction of a new state, now divided between Hamas –classified as terrorist by Israel, the U.S. and the E.U.– and Fatah, discredited as a result of corruption scandals which involved some of their members.
Likewise, for more than five years, the war against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip has intensified: indiscriminate bombings and large military operations have caused thousands of civilian deaths, disappearances, mutilations, arbitrary arrests and torture, on top of the destruction of the little infrastructure that is used by the general population to face their precarious situation, forcing them to depend on international assistance: up to 80% of their economic needs.
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Note: Diana Parra made the translation for this article.
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