Community | May 21, 2010 | 7 comments

"FREEDOM FLOTILLA" drawing towards showdown with Israeli Defense Forces

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grassroutes
A senior Israeli official has warned activists planning to break a naval blockade of Gaza later this month that their flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats will be stopped.

An international coalition of pro-Palestinian activists aim to send eight vessels carrying 5,000 tonnes of reconstruction materials, school supplies and medical equipment to Gaza. One cargo ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, named after a US human rights activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer, set sail from Ireland last week.

Greta Berlin, one of the flotilla's organisers, told Al Jazeera that despite being "brutally attacked" for attempting to enter Gaza in the past, the movement was optimistic about the latest attempt.

"The last three trips we have gone on we were brutally attacked," she said.

"We're going into the waters of Gaza, not Israel, so they have no right to stop us."

Representatives from six organisations, including the European Campaign to End the Siege in Gaza (EGESG), said on Monday that they were determined to enter the area regardless of pressure from Israel.

Hundreds of activists protesting against Israel's siege on Gaza will also be aboard the vessels. Israel says the blockade aims to prevent Hamas, the political movement that controls Gaza, from acquiring weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes.

For the majority of Gaza's population of 1.5 million people, the result has been impoverished living conditions, while Hamas' grip on power since 2007 shows little sign of weakening.

"Israel should not be under any illusion whatsoever that their threats or intimidation will stop us or even that their violence against us will stop us," Huwaida Arraf, from the Free Gaza Movement, said.

A statement from Israel's foreign ministry said it had "no intention of allowing the flotilla into Gaza" but has not elaborated on what measures could be used to stop them.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/05/2010517155117976235.html
http://savegaza.eu/eng/
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7 comments // "FREEDOM FLOTILLA" drawing towards showdown with Israeli Defense Forces

  • freecrack
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • they do have aright to stop as does the egyptian navy aswell. being as gazas govt cant be bothered to build a navy (homemade terrorist devices are cheaper) it is israels and egypts area of control. if iran wasnt sending katusha rockets in frieght ships maybe the situation wouldnt be that israel needs to patrol gazas shores. but sadly that is the situation

    • 2 years ago
  • grassroutes
    • +1
      grassroutes  
    • freecrack:

      you've gotta be kidding bro.
      how much is the Israeli foreign ministry paying you? this is a humanitarian effort aimed at helping one of the worlds most impoverished and oppressed regions. I understand a lot of people on this site don't like arabs and muslims but don't be donkey about it. In one breath you say Israel has an unstoppable military (thanks to US tax dollars i might add) but you're afraid of Hamas shooting bottle rockets into settlements specifically in place to push the Palestinians further out of their homeland.

      Lets turn the tables a bit.

      How about if Israel wasn't using high-tech AMERICAN MADE weapons to bomb defenseless Palestinians in Gaza in an effort to ethnically cleanse the area of Arabs, we wouldn't have a terrorism problem.

      Did you ever think of that freecrack? or are you hitting on a peelo over there?

      This effort by Westerners to help Gaza is just what the world needs to see.

    • 2 years ago
  • Suri
    • 0
      Suri  
    • grassroutes:

      Yes, the people of Gaza need help. The biggest help they could get would be the terrorists moving out of the area.

      "How about if Israel wasn't using high-tech AMERICAN MADE weapons to bomb defenseless Palestinians in Gaza in an effort to ethnically cleanse the area of Arabs, we wouldn't have a terrorism problem."
      Well, how about if the terrorists didn't send out rockets from civilian areas, shoot at Israelis and then hide behind innocent children??

      How would you feel if a group in Canada was sending rockets over the border and hitting our people? I would expect our country to protect us!

      I feel terrible for the innocent civilians caught in the middle of all of this, but I place the majority of the blame squarely on groups like Hamas who are PURPOSEFULLY USING the civilians for shields, and when that doesn't stop a retaliation they cry to the rest of the world about the big-bad Israelis. They are the ones who are responsible for the suffering of the people there.

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • grassroutes:

      http://israel.at

      well the standard of living while is no where near where it should be it is higher than say,afganastan,qatar,yemen,and most of east africa. so the claim of most impoverished isnt true they are poor but most not by a mile. alot of other nations are in need of this aide than gazans.
      as for oppressed, from north korea,to genocidal nations, gaza is oppressed to a degree that is unimaginable.

      btw it is through humanitarian efforts that katusha rockets find thier way into terrorists hands. i sencerely doubt that this ship knowlingly has or has at all any weaponry what so ever, but it is still a possibility as well as a frequent occurance.

      we spend more money propping up pakistan, and suadi arabia, than we do israel.at least we have an economy with israel instead of a welfare state.isaels greatest financial strenght is global zionist support, not americas visa card. americas israeli investments gave us,predator drones,cell phones, and pentium three chips. in the big scheme of things i think we can all agree that was money well spent.

      im not afraid of hamas launching bottle rockets, its the people of sderot and ashdod that are afraid of jihadist launching qassam rockets, not the bottle kind designed for less damage, but the qassam variety that evaporates whom ever is under them.

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • grassroutes:

      http://them.is

      as for your table flipping ideas
      israel doesnt use american made weapons. israel purchases some materials from the us, but if you look at the six day war as an example (amongst a shitload of others) while egypt,syria,and jordans military strength was completely provided by the ussr, and the west, israel found weapons made outside of israel to be unusable as desert climates cripple them.israel has the greatest military by not relying on other countries technology but developing thier own.

      the assertion that israel is ethnicaly cleansing is bleeding heart line that causes emotions to eusurp reality.one quarter of israels population has been and still is arab/muslum.i dont know how you can charge a country with ethnic cleansing while the ethnicity is thriving and growing.in 1948 the "palastinian" region had a population of thousands, and today it is millions. how can israel be both so powerfull as to "steal" all this land but cant successfully decrease a population in 62 yrs, i mean hitler knocked of 6 million in in just over five yrs, stalin killed 20 million in the same time. how does 62 yrs of steady population growth make ethnic cleansing charge remotely possible?

      palastinians launched over seven thousand rockets targeting only civilians (defenseless as you described) from 2005-2008. why is this crime acceptable and not worthy of mention, but its response inexcusable.
      it is terrible that terrorist embed themselves into the civilian population as oppossed to fighting on a battlefield, but just as we experienced in iraq,afganastan, and here when they do this civilian casualties are unavoidable. when there is a method of rooting out terrorist within the civilian population ill be the first person screaming at israel for not doing it but as it stands no one knows how to fight jihadist without killing the human shields they hide behind.

      as to the claim that terrorism is caused by the israeli/palastinian issue is beyond insane.not to mention osama is mad at us, and the saudis, for allowing infadels to step on sacred (mecca) soil to launch our wars on muslums.also they bomb those who dont support israel like spain who is always first in line to call for un human rights violations on behalf of gazans, the soviets who have the same relationship with iran as we do saudi arabia. despite russia being anti israel they bomb them too.and england who issued arrest warrents for israeli gov officials on behalf of the gazans.
      in fact the west supports gaza more often then it doesnt. western support for the gazans is a great thing, like outfitting schools, and providing children with laptops wich got no press what so ever but will be the first chance these people have ever had at free speech. humanitarian aide is already provided for by a coalition of countries that at the end of the day end up in gaza.this boat show is just an attempt to keep the story in the headlines, and dictating its perspective.
      wanna guess how many times these people petitioned the egyptian govt to allow them to bring in this aide from egypts border? zero. cuz that doesnt grab headlines, israelis monitering thier coast just as the coast guard would will.
      if anything i would bet the follow up story will be a cell phone video showing israelis forces being aggressive as these people will press them to do as always.
      just like screaming dont taze me bro while evading capture.

    • 2 years ago
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