ΚΑΛΟ ΤΑΞΙΔΙ ΑΡΙΩΝΑ! 2

Wednesday, 14 January 2009 00:06 Written by FREE GAZA MOVEMENT

For Immediate Release

January 14, 2009

Contact:

(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa, +357 97 625 828 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(Cyprus) Mary Hughes, +357 99 081 767 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

[Larnaca, Cyprus] The Free Gaza Movement vessel, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, will resume its emergency mission to the besieged Gaza Strip at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. The ship will carry desperately needed doctors, journalists, human rights workers, and members of parliaments as well as medical supplies donated by the people of Greece and the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza.

After departure on January 12 at 3 pm from Larnaca Port the boat encountered problems with one of its two generators that was compounded by rough weather. For the safety of the passengers, the captain decided to return to port and the boat docked in Larnaca at about 9 pm on January 12. Thanks to the generosity and support of the people of Cyprus, the problem has been quickly repaired and the boat ready to depart.

Israeli authorities have threatened to use "any means" to keep the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY from reaching Gaza. Despite this threat and a previous attack by an Israeli war ship on our motor vessel DIGNITY, the Free Gaza Movement is determined to continue nonviolently challenging Israel's aggression and break the siege on the 1.5 million Palestinians being terrorized and slaughtered by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Free Gaza Movement organizer Huwaida Arraf said, "We will not let Israel's threats deter us. The Israeli authorities have been put on notice again of our mission; any attack by Israel on the boat will be considered a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians engaged in a humanitarian action."

The medical supplies being taken in include essential parts for ventilators, which will allow the only burn center in the Gaza Strip, at Shifa Hospital, to double its capacity, as well as medicines and basic medical supplies requested by area hospitals in Gaza.

SPIRIT OF HUMANITY OUR SOULS ARE SAILING WITH YOU

PASSENGERS & CREW OF THE SPIRIT OF HUMANITY

Abufalah, Othman Mohammad, Journalist with Al Jazeera Television (Jordan)

Ahidar, Fouad, Member of Parliament (Belgium)

Arraf, Huwaida, human rights lawyer and Delegation Leader (Palestine/USA)

Bitsanis, Konstantinos, human rights worker and crew (Greece)

Bolos, Nikolas, human rights worker and crew (Greece)

Bowden, David, Journalist with SKY TV (UK)

Caruso, Francesco, former Member of Parliament (Italy)

Dabbagh, Ali, Doctor (UK)

Dritsas, Theodoros, Member of Parliament (Greece)

Gentile, Alessandro, Journalist with CNN (Italy)

Gezelius, Mats, Journalist (Sweden/Finland)

Giannopolis, Nikolaos, human rights worker (Greece)

Jacquier, Gilles, Journalist with France Channel 2 (France)

Kampani, Chalent, Orthopedic Surgeon (Greece)

Kanellakis, Yiannis, Journalist with Greek Mega TV (Greece)

Karatzias, Petros, Journalist with the Associated Press (Cyprus)

Kawkuby, Jasir, Doctor and Pediatric Intensive Care specialist (Germany)

Klontzas, George, Ship's Captain (Greece)

Muncie, Andrew, human rights worker and crew (Scotland)

McLuckie, Garwen, Journalist with SKY TV (UK)

Mourad, Maimouni (Belgium)

Muir, Alistair, Journalist with the BBC (UK)

Nuet, Joan Josef, Member of Parliament (Spain)

Papachristopoulos, Athanasios, Surgeon (Greece)

Pissias, Vangelis, Univeristy Professor (Greece)

Pratt, David, Journalist with the Sunday Herald (UK)

Prieto, Monica, Journalist with El Mundo (Spain)

Rahali, Hassan, Journalist (Belgium)

Robbins, Sonia, Surgeon (UK)

Sakorafa, Sofia, Member of Parliament (Greece)

Shakir, Thair, Journalist with Al Jazeera television (Iraq)

Synodynou, Melina, Journalist with Ethnos (Greece)

Tsatsis, Angelos, Journalist with MEGA TV (Greece)

Vinci, Alessio, Journalist with CNN (Italy)

Yvon, Xavier, Journalist with RTL Radio (France)

Zdoukos, Theodoros, Doctor (Greece)



Shortly before the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY left Cyprus today, the Cypriot
authorities informed the Free Gaza Movement that the Israeli government
had officially contacted their embassy in Tel Aviv, and warned them that
they felt “justified” in using “any means available” to forcibly prevent
the mercy ship from arriving in Gaza. At the request of the ship’s
organizers, the Cypriot authorities searched the ship prior to its
departure to certify that it only carried medical supplies.

ΕΛΠΙΖΩ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΕΧΟΥΜΕ ΠΑΛΙ ΠΑΡΑΤΡΑΓΟΥΔΑ ΜΕ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΕΙΡΑΤΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΙΣΡΑΗΛ

SPIRIT OF HUMANITY

www.FreeGaza.org

For More Information, Please Contact:
(Cyprus) Huwaida Arraf, +357 96 723 999 or +357 99 081 767 huwaida.arraf@gmail.com
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 freelance@mailworks.org
(Egypt) Caoimhe Butterly, +20 121 027 072 sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
(U.S.) Ramzi Kysia, +1 703 994 5422 rrkysia@yahoo.com

(Cyprus, 11 January 2009) - The Free Gaza Movement ship, "SPIRIT OF HUMANITY," will leave Larnaca Port at 12:00 noon, Monday, 12 January, on an emergency mission to besieged Gaza. The ship will carry desperately needed doctors, journalists, human rights workers, and members of several European parliaments as well as medical supplies. This voyage marks Free Gaza's second attempt to break through the blockade since Israel began attacking the Gaza Strip on 27 December. Between August and December 2008, the Free Gaza Movement successfully challenged the Israeli blockade five times, landing the first international ships in the port of Gaza since 1967.

The Israeli military violently attacked an earlier attempt by the Free Gaza Movement to send an emergency boat filled with doctors and medical supplies to Gaza. In the early hours of Tuesday, 30 December, the Israeli navy deliberately, repeatedly, and without warning rammed the unarmed ship, the DIGNITY, causing significant structural damage and endangering the lives of its passengers and crew. The ship found safe harbor in Lebanon, and is currently awaiting repairs.

Fouad Ahidar, a member of the Belgian Parliament sailing to Gaza aboard the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, responded to concerns that Israel may attack the unarmed mercy ship by saying, "I have five children that are very worried about me, but I told them, you can sit on your couch and watch these atrocities on the television, or you can choose to take action to make them stop."

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have injured thousands of civilians and killed over 800 people, including scores of women and children. This ongoing Israeli massacre severely and massively violates international humanitarian law defined by the Geneva Conventions, especially the obligations of an Occupying Power and the requirements of the laws of war.

The United Nations has failed to protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's massive violations of international humanitarian law. Israel has closed off Gaza from the international community and demanded that all foreigners leave. But Huwaida Arraf, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movements, stated that, "We cannot just sit by and wait for Israel to decide to stop the killing and open the borders for relief workers to pick up the pieces. We are coming in. There is an urgent need for this mission as Palestinian civilians in Gaza are being terrorized and slaughtered by Israel, and access to humanitarian relief denied to them. When states and the international bodies responsible for taking action to stop such atrocities chose to be impotent, then we--the citizens of the world--must act. Our common humanity demands nothing less."



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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Take Action! CALL the Israeli Government and let them know that the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY is coming to Gaza. DEMAND that Israel immediately STOP slaughtering civilians in Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

CALL
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy:
+ 972 5 781 86248

Official Notification of Intent to Enter
January 11, 2009

To: The Israeli Ministry of Defense, Fax: 972-3-697-6717
To: The Israeli Navy
To: The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fax 972-2-5303367

From: The Free Gaza Movement

This letter serves as a formal notification to you as the Occupying Power and belligerent force in the Gaza Strip that on Monday, January 12 we are navigating the motor vessel, Spirit of Humanity, from the Port of Larnaca to the port of Gaza City. Our vessel will be flying the Greek flag, and, as such, falls under the jurisdiction Greece.

We will be sailing from Cypriot waters into international waters, then directly into the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip without entering or nearing Israeli territorial waters. We expect to arrive at the Gaza Port on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

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 boat's 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 Israel's authorities.

On Tuesday, December 30, an Israeli Navy vessel violently, and without warning, attacked our motor vessel Dignity, disabling the vessel and endangering the lives of the 16 civilians on board. This notice serves as clear notification to you of our approach. Any attack on the motor vessel, Spirit of Humanity, will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the 30 civilians on board will be considered the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.

The Steering Committee of the Free Gaza Movement
Contact: Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement, 357 96 723 999

ΤΟ DIGNITY ΣΤΟ ΛΙΒΑΝΟ

(Lebanon, Tuesday 30 December) - Today the Free Gaza ship "Dignity" carefully made its way to safe harbor in Tyre, Lebanon's southern-most port city, after receiving serious structural damage when Israeli warships rammed its bow and the port side. Waiting to greet the passengers and crew were thousands of Lebanese who came out to show their solidarity ith this
attempt to deliver volunteer doctors and desperately needed medical supplies to war-ravaged Gaza. The Lebanese government has pledged to provide a forensic analysis of what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives.


The Dignity, on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, was attacked by the Israeli Navy at approximately 6am (UST) in international waters, roughly 90 miles off the coast of Gaza. Several Israeli warships surrounded the small, human rights boat, firing live ammunition around it, then intentionally ramming it three times. According to ship's captain Denis Healy, the Israeli attack came, ""without any warning, or any provocation."

Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement, stated that, "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the life boats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."

Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, was traveling to Gaza aboard the Dignity in order to assess the impact of Israel's military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. According to McKinney, "Israeli patrol boats...tracked us for about 30 minutes...and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side...the Israelis indicated that [they felt] we were involved in terrorist activities."

The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29 December with a cargo of over 3 tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated to Gaza by the people of Cyprus. Three surgeons were also aboard, traveling to Gaza to volunteer in overwhelmed hospitals and clinics. The ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to departure, and its passenger list was made public.

Israel's deplorable attack on the unarmed Dignity is a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful
purposes."

Delivering doctors and urgently needed medical supplies to civilians is a just such a "peaceful purpose." Deliberately ramming a mercy ship and endangering its passengers is an act of terrorism.

CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking the civilian population of Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.


Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy at:
+ 972 5 781 86248

The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness
the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.

http://www.FreeGaza.org