Scritto da Free Gaza team | 27 Luglio 2010
Posted in News

di ROGER COHEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/opinion/27iht-edcohen.html?_r=1&ref=global&pagewanted=print

TROY, New York — I Dogans erano una tranquilla famiglia poco nota dai loro vicini qui nella zona a nord di New York. Ahmet Dogan era arrivato dalla Turchia per studiare ragioneria presso il Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Era uno studente serio; i Dogans conducevano una vita pochi intrattenimenti. Quando nacque il loro ultimo figlio, Furkan, nel 1991, la famiglia ha dato una festa e un vicino ricorda un brindisi al "primo cittadino U.S. nella loro famiglia". 

Furkan Dogan visse solo due anni a Troy, poi ritornò in Turchia con la sua famiglia nel 1993. Ma era orgoglioso del suo passaporto Americxano e sognava di ritornare dopo aver finito gli studi di medicina. Cinque proiettili Israeliani - di cui almeno due in testa - hanno posto fine a quel sogno il 31 maggio. Dogan aveva 19 anni. 

Il giovano Americano, che aveva appena terminato le scuole superiori con voti eccellenti presso la cittadina turca di Kayseri, aveva visto un'inserzione online che chiedeva volontari per portare aiuti a Gaza. L'inserzione, proveniente da un'ente umanitario Turco di nome  Humanitarian Relief Foundation, o I.H.H, diceva che lo scopo del viaggio era dimostrare che "l'embargo/blocco Israeliano potesse essere legalmente interrotto."

Poco interessato alla politica, ma con una preoccupazione per le sofferenze dei Palestinesi, tipico di un aspirante dottore,  Dogan scelse di andare come una vincita alla lotteria.

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Scritto da Greta Berlin | 26 Luglio 2010
Posted in Press releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London, July 26, 2010, Six weeks after the Freedom Flotilla ships were forcibly boarded in international waters, their passengers illegally jailed and the cargo impounded by the Israeli authorities, the office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO) has promised to deliver the full humanitarian aid cargo to UN. agencies in Gaza.

“The cargo finally being processed for delivery this week consists of supplies prevented by Israel from entering Gaza for the last three years. On the MV Rachel Corrie, the cargo ship of the Free Gaza Movement, we were carrying 20 tons of paper, plus pens & books for schools & universities, over 50 tons of medical supplies & 550 tons of cement for Al Shifa Hospital.  Instead of docking in Gaza & distributing the supplies to the intended recipients, Israel impounded cargo, searched, then handed over to an overburdened UN, who can give no guarantees that it will get to the intended schools or NGO's."  said Niamh Moloughney, coordinator of the Free Gaza Movement – Ireland.

The Rebuilding Alliance, one of the U.S. organizations to place humanitarian cargo on the Rachel Corrie is none-the-less hopeful that the backpacks, sports equipment, and building materials donated by hundreds of Americans will be delivered to the designated Gaza non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) .

“When we first learned of the Freedom Flotilla, we asked our partner NGO’s in Gaza what we could send that would matter most to them, given the 3 year-long blockade,” said Donna Baranski-Walker, Executive Director of the Rebuidling Alliance, a San Mateo CA-based nonprofit. “They asked Americans to send messages to children, along with backpacks, sports equipment, and cement to build a kindergarten.”

Added Ms. Moloughney, “Israel has insisted that cargo be brought into Ashdod for delivery, but this ignores the overall illegitimacy of Israel's closure policy. It also means that once more Israel profits from its illegal acts.  The 'easing' of the blockade means nothing to families whose homes and businesses are still in ruins and allows them only to be consumers of Israeli goods."

The Free Gaza Movement repeats that only a complete end to Israel's punitive closure policy will suffice in starting to repair the economy of this decimated slice of the Mediterranean, the only territory in the world that does not have access to its own sea.

“We ask people throughout the world to press their governments to open Gaza, not just for aid but for movement and trade as well, to truly end the collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population,” said Huwaida Arraf, chair of the Free Gaza Movement. “That’s why we will continue to send ships to Gaza loaded with civilian supplies Israel refuses to allow into Gaza – and on return, fill our ships with goods from Gaza for export.  We look forward to international cooperation in developing a sea route certification system to assure aid, fair trade and the safety of all.”

Israel continues to hold all of the vessels that it illegally commandeered, including the seven ships of the Freedom Flotilla, as well as the Spirit of Humanity, which Israel hijacked in June 2009.

Contact: Niamh Moloughney, +353 857 747 257

Donna Baranski-Walker, +650 325-4663 Rebuilding Alliance

Huwaida Arraf, +972-548-817-046 or +970-598-336-215

 

Scritto da Free Gaza Team | 21 Luglio 2010
Posted in News

July 21, 2010

A group calling itself U.S. Boat to Gaza is seeking $370,000 in the next month to send an aid ship to the Gaza Strip that would be named after President Obama's best-selling book "The Audacity of Hope."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/20/AR2010072006108.html

Rashid Khalidi, a friend of Obama who is active in Palestinian causes, has signed the appeal, part of a broader effort to thwart the Israeli blockade of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave.

(A second longer article with video is here at the New York Times http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/american-activists-plan-gaza-flotilla-ship-named-for-obama-book/ )

Khalidi, a Columbia University professor, briefly became the subject of controversy during the 2008 presidential campaign when Sen. John McCain's camp tried to make an issue of what it called Obama's suspect friendships. The news of Khalidi's involvement in the boat appeal has led the National Review to call for a Justice Department probe of the academic on grounds he may have provided material support to a terrorist group.

The White House declined to comment. Khalidi said he was not aware the boat would be named after Obama's book when he agreed to add his name to the list of sponsors.

"But if the name is a problem for the administration, it can simply insist publicly that Israel lift the siege: end of problem, end of embarrassment," he wrote in an e-mail.

 

-- Glenn Kessler

Scritto da Free Gaza team | 16 Luglio 2010
Posted in News

by Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH - Israel has received international praise for its decision to ease its crippling blockade on Gaza following the country's deadly assault on a humanitarian flotilla trying to bring desperately needed humanitarian aid to the coastal territory. But according to the UN and human rights organizations, the easing of the blockade is insufficient in meeting Gaza's needs.

"Even if the blockade is eased it remains illegal under international law as it is a collective form of punishment on a civilian population," Chris Gunness from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) told IPS.

"Eighty percent of Gaza's population is aid-dependent. Allowing more aid in is perpetuating this dependency and not addressing the issue of self- sufficiency or the root causes of the crisis," added Gunness.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/15-6

Scritto da Free Gaza Team | 14 Luglio 2010
Posted in News

(Istanbul,Tuesday, July 13th, 2010). It has been 43 days since the bloody raid carried out by the Israeli army in international waters. During this raid on the Mavi Marmara nine people, including one journalist, were killed. We are here today as survivors of that attack, and as journalists who were not silenced by Israeli bullets. There were about sixty press members from Turkey and all over the world on those ships, which departed to carry humanitarian aid to the civlians of Gaza, who are imprisoned under an illegal Israeli blockade.

The raid at dawn targeted both journalists and regular civilians. The press members were confronted with death like everyone else on the ship.
The soldiers who illegally boarded the ship and opened fire, by order from the Israeli Ministry of Defence, also prevented us from doing our job. In fact, they ultimately punished us for doing our job. This is in clear violation of international law. According to the “International Instrument for Citizenship and Civil Rights” which has been accepted by the United Nations since 1966, and the “First Principles Declaration Regarding the Mass Circulation of Media” which has been prepared by UNESCO.

This enshrines “the freedom to give information, by journalists” and forbids “preventing them from collecting information”. Rights which Israel has clearly violated.

http://solidariosengaza.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/manifiesto-del-grupo-flotilla-free-media-reunido-hoy-en-estambul/

We were faced with an inhumane intervention that was against international law and in violation of the most basic of human rights. One of our fellow journalists, Cevdet Kılıçlar, was ruthlessly executed with a bullet to his forehead while fulfilling his duties as a journalist.

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