Free Gaza movement announces new expedition to Gaza despite Israel's formal naval blocade
Marian Houk
January 12, 2009
On its last attempt to reach Gaza (30th December), the sixth expedition of the Free Gaza movement which sailed about the SS Dignity from the Cypriot Port of Laranca, was intercepted, interdicted, rammed and damaged by Israeli naval vessels. The Free Gaza movement says this happened in international waters.
Since then, Israel has formally announced a naval blockade of Gaza's territorial waters (as delimited by the Oslo Accords) -- see our previous story, here.
This proclamation which provides legal justification for a number of measures, including interception and interdiction. It has not been challenged.
Haaretz journalist Yaakov Katz -- who has good sources in Israel's Ministry of Defense, was a guest on board an Israeli naval vessel last week, and he reported some interesting details on Israel's naval operations against Gaza, quoting a Maj. Tzur as saying: "We are guarding Israel's coastal borderline, including Gaza fishing areas, in order to prevent a terrorist infiltration into Israel". (As shown in our previous post, the name given in the Oslo Accords map of Gaza's Territorial waters first called the zone a "Fishing Zone". This term was later changed (after the announcement of the discovery of potentially exploitable undersea gas deposits) to an "Economic Activity Zone".
Katz also reported in his Haaretz story that "The navy is tasked, among other things, with imposing the sea blockade on the Strip, preventing weapons smuggling to Gaza via the Mediterranean and thwarting terror attacks. The navy has a significant force and maintains a constant presence near the Gaza coast. Several other Israeli naval vessels sail in the area, including Sa'ar 4.5s, hunting Hamas terror cells and backing up ground operations ... Palestinian police boats have also been hit during naval operations, and according to the officer, Hamas naval forces have been dealt a severe blow. The officer said that there had been attempts to fire at Israeli naval ships, mostly with light arms and anti-tank missiles ... 10 Hamas terror operatives were killed by naval forces ... 'All the time, there are attempts to approach us they are dying to hurt us', said the officer. 'There is now a naval blockade so anyone who is in the sea is considered suspicious'."
Undaunted, the Free Gaza movement has just announced that they intend to set sail on a 7th expedition from Cyprus to Gaza at noon on Monday, with expected arrival on Tuesday. Today's announcement said that "Israel has been notified that we are coming. A copy of the notification to the Israeli Authorities is attached [see below].
They will have to go in a new boat -- the Spirit of Humanity, which sails under a Greek flag -- as the Dignity (which was registered in Gibralter and sailed under a British flag) is still under repair in a Lebanese port.
Last Wednesday, the Free Gaza movement announced that it was "sending another emergency boat to Gaza. We will announce our exact departure date, time and route in the next few days. We will travel from Cypriot waters, into international waters, then directly into Gaza territorial waters, never nearing Israeli waters".
That first announcement, the movement said, "put Israel on notice".
It also said that "The United Nations has failed to protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's massive violations of international humanitarian law ... [But] We are not deterred by the violence of the Israeli military and intend to sail to Gaza again and again ... We are willing to put our bodies on the line to stop Israel's unlawful massacres of the Palestinian people (we have received death threats warning us not to repeat our attempt) and bring the attention of the world to the war crimes happening in Gaza against 1.5 million Palestinians".
In an official notification of their intent to enter Gaza's territorial waters sent to the Israeli Navy and to the Israeli Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, the Free Gaza movement wrote that "We will be carrying urgently needed medical supplies in sealed boxes, cleared by customs at the Larnaca International Airport and the Port of Larnaca. There will be a total of 30 passengers and crew on board, among them members of various European Parliaments and several physicians. Our boat and cargo will also 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 boatīs contents, nor the boat itself constitute any threat to the security of Israel or its armed forces, we do not expect any interference with our voyage by Israelīs authorities".
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council met in emergency session on Friday to consider the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Professor Richard Falk, the HR Council's Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory, told the emergency session that "about 75% of the population lacks access to sanitary water and has no electric power. Such conditions are superimposed on the circumstances of Gazans resulting from the prolonged blockade that had deteriorated the physical and mental health, and the nutritional status, of the population of Gaza as a whole, leaving some 45% of children suffering from acute anemia. Interference in the supply of medicines and health equipment, and border closures, had made it impossible for many Gazans to receive or continue treatment for life-threatening conditions. It was also reliably concluded that up to 80% of Gaza was living under the poverty line, that unemployment totals approached 75%, and that the health system was near collapse from the effects of the blockade. This set of conditions certainly led impartial international observers and civil servants to an uncontested conclusion that the population of Gaza was already experiencing a humanitarian crisis of grave magnitude prior to 27 December ..."
Since then, Israel has formally announced a naval blockade of Gaza's territorial waters (as delimited by the Oslo Accords) -- see our previous story, here.
This proclamation which provides legal justification for a number of measures, including interception and interdiction. It has not been challenged.
Haaretz journalist Yaakov Katz -- who has good sources in Israel's Ministry of Defense, was a guest on board an Israeli naval vessel last week, and he reported some interesting details on Israel's naval operations against Gaza, quoting a Maj. Tzur as saying: "We are guarding Israel's coastal borderline, including Gaza fishing areas, in order to prevent a terrorist infiltration into Israel". (As shown in our previous post, the name given in the Oslo Accords map of Gaza's Territorial waters first called the zone a "Fishing Zone". This term was later changed (after the announcement of the discovery of potentially exploitable undersea gas deposits) to an "Economic Activity Zone".
Katz also reported in his Haaretz story that "The navy is tasked, among other things, with imposing the sea blockade on the Strip, preventing weapons smuggling to Gaza via the Mediterranean and thwarting terror attacks. The navy has a significant force and maintains a constant presence near the Gaza coast. Several other Israeli naval vessels sail in the area, including Sa'ar 4.5s, hunting Hamas terror cells and backing up ground operations ... Palestinian police boats have also been hit during naval operations, and according to the officer, Hamas naval forces have been dealt a severe blow. The officer said that there had been attempts to fire at Israeli naval ships, mostly with light arms and anti-tank missiles ... 10 Hamas terror operatives were killed by naval forces ... 'All the time, there are attempts to approach us they are dying to hurt us', said the officer. 'There is now a naval blockade so anyone who is in the sea is considered suspicious'."
Undaunted, the Free Gaza movement has just announced that they intend to set sail on a 7th expedition from Cyprus to Gaza at noon on Monday, with expected arrival on Tuesday. Today's announcement said that "Israel has been notified that we are coming. A copy of the notification to the Israeli Authorities is attached [see below].
They will have to go in a new boat -- the Spirit of Humanity, which sails under a Greek flag -- as the Dignity (which was registered in Gibralter and sailed under a British flag) is still under repair in a Lebanese port.
Last Wednesday, the Free Gaza movement announced that it was "sending another emergency boat to Gaza. We will announce our exact departure date, time and route in the next few days. We will travel from Cypriot waters, into international waters, then directly into Gaza territorial waters, never nearing Israeli waters".
That first announcement, the movement said, "put Israel on notice".
It also said that "The United Nations has failed to protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's massive violations of international humanitarian law ... [But] We are not deterred by the violence of the Israeli military and intend to sail to Gaza again and again ... We are willing to put our bodies on the line to stop Israel's unlawful massacres of the Palestinian people (we have received death threats warning us not to repeat our attempt) and bring the attention of the world to the war crimes happening in Gaza against 1.5 million Palestinians".
In an official notification of their intent to enter Gaza's territorial waters sent to the Israeli Navy and to the Israeli Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, the Free Gaza movement wrote that "We will be carrying urgently needed medical supplies in sealed boxes, cleared by customs at the Larnaca International Airport and the Port of Larnaca. There will be a total of 30 passengers and crew on board, among them members of various European Parliaments and several physicians. Our boat and cargo will also 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 boatīs contents, nor the boat itself constitute any threat to the security of Israel or its armed forces, we do not expect any interference with our voyage by Israelīs authorities".
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council met in emergency session on Friday to consider the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Professor Richard Falk, the HR Council's Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory, told the emergency session that "about 75% of the population lacks access to sanitary water and has no electric power. Such conditions are superimposed on the circumstances of Gazans resulting from the prolonged blockade that had deteriorated the physical and mental health, and the nutritional status, of the population of Gaza as a whole, leaving some 45% of children suffering from acute anemia. Interference in the supply of medicines and health equipment, and border closures, had made it impossible for many Gazans to receive or continue treatment for life-threatening conditions. It was also reliably concluded that up to 80% of Gaza was living under the poverty line, that unemployment totals approached 75%, and that the health system was near collapse from the effects of the blockade. This set of conditions certainly led impartial international observers and civil servants to an uncontested conclusion that the population of Gaza was already experiencing a humanitarian crisis of grave magnitude prior to 27 December ..."
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