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Israeli War Criminals Intercept Boat Seeking to Break Gaza Blockade

June 29, 2015 

 

Pro-Palestinian peace activists, including former Tunisian President Marzouki (second from left), on board of Mrieanne Freedom Flotilla 3 boat, before being hijacked by Israeli occupation navy forces, taking them to Isdood, which the Israelis call Ashdod, on June 29, 2015.		Pro-Palestinian activists set sail on June 26, 2015 from the port of Elounda, northeastern Crete island, as part of a flotilla of yachts and boats seeking to break Israel's blockade of Gaza

 

Israel once again commits an act of state piracy in the Mediterranean

 Freedom Flotilla 29 June 2015 

At 02:06AM today (Gaza time) the “Marianne” contacted Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and informed us that three boats of the Israeli navy had surrounded her in international waters, while sailing approximately 100NM from Gaza coast. After that we lost contact with the “Marianne” and at 05:11AM (Gaza time) the IDF announced that they had “visited and searched” Marianne. They had captured the boat and detained all on board “in international waters” as they admitted themselves. The only positive content in the IDF announcement was that they still recognize that there is a naval blockade of Gaza, despite Netanyahu’s government recent denial that one exists.

We have no reason to believe that Marianne’s capture was “uneventful”, because the last time the IDF said something like that, in 2012, the people on board the “Estelle” were badly tasered and beaten with clubs. Back in 2010, ten passengers of Mavi Marmara were murdered by the IDF during a similar operation in international waters.

It is disappointing that the Israeli government chose to continue the absolutely fruitless policy of “no tolerance”, meaning it will continue to enforce an inhumane and illegal collective punishment against 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's repeated acts of state piracy in international waters are worrying signs that the occupation and blockade policy extends to the entire eastern Mediterranean. We demand that the Israeli government cease and desist the illegal detainment of peaceful civilians travelling in international waters in support of humanitarian aid. We call on our governments to ensure that all passengers and crew from the “Marianne” are safe, and to strongly protest against the violation of international maritime law by the Israeli state. We call on all civil society organizations to condemn the actions of Israel. People all over the world will continue to respond and react to this injustice, as will we, until the port of Gaza is open and the siege and occupation is ended.

Press release from StG Sweden: 2015-06-29 02:30

At 22.57 (UTC) we had our last contact with Ship to Gaza’s trawler Marianne of Gothenburg. We were informed that the three military vessels who identified themselves as Israeli navy, has now moved even closer. The distance was estimated to 500 meters. The position was located to 31° 43' North, 32° 33' East​, about 105 nautical miles from the destination Gaza city.

https://freedomflotilla.org/news/25-israel-once-again-commits-an-act-of-state-piracy-in-the-mediterranean

 

ECESG: Freedom Flotilla 3 to continue to sail

June 29, 2015, GAZA, (PIC)--

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) stated that Freedom Flotilla 3 will continue to sail towards Gaza shores despite the Israeli act of piracy against Marianne boat that leads the flotilla.

Member of the ECESG Rami Abdo said in a press conference on Monday that the three additional ships will set sail within 48 hours.

Abdo called on the Arab countries and the international community to take firm positions against the Israeli act of piracy in the Mediterranean.

For his part, head of the campaign Mazen Kahil said that the Freedom Flotilla will continue to sail till breaking the siege on Gaza.

Israeli hijacking of Marianne reveals Israel’s ugly image and its crime against humanity and peaceful activists, he added.

The international coalition to support the Freedom Flotilla sent appeals to the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to protect the former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki who is among 18 other activists aboard Marianne which was intercepted by Israeli navy forces at dawn Monday.

In his turn, head of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza and founding member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition Zaher Birawi affirmed in a press release on Monday that three boats of the Israeli navy had surrounded Marianne in international waters, while sailing approximately 100 nautical miles from Gaza coast.

After that we lost contact with the Marianne and at 05:11 AM (Gaza time) the Israeli authorities announced that they had “visited and searched” Marianne, Birawi said, adding that they captured the boat and detained all on board “in international waters” as they admitted themselves.

Israeli navy hijacks Gaza-bound "Marianne"

June 29, 2015 GAZA, (PIC)--

The European campaign to end the siege on Gaza said the Israeli navy at dawn Monday intercepted and seized "Marianne of Gothenburg," one of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla boats.

According to a press release by the European campaign, the Swedish boat Marianne was hijacked and then escorted by Israeli gunboats to the port of Ashdod.

The campaign expressed its condemnation of the navy's attack on a vessel attempting to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip and described it as an "act of piracy."

It affirmed that the Freedom Flotilla Coalition would continue its efforts to send boats to Gaza until the Israeli blockade imposed on its population ended.

The Marianne was taken over and boarded by Israeli naval soldiers around 100 nautical miles from the shore of Gaza before it was forced to change its direction to Isdood (which the Israeli invaders call Ashdod), according to activists from the Freedom Flotilla campaign.

In a related context, organizers of the third Freedom Flotilla campaign said that three of their boats were able to sail back to the European ports they had come from in accordance with a plan they had prepared earlier.

 

Greek ports hinder 5th Freedom Flotilla boat

June 29, 2015, ATHENS, (PIC)--

The International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza said that the Greek Port Authority is concocting justifications to prevent launching the fifth Freedom Flotilla boat and that it thoroughly checked the boat's papers on Sunday and postponed its launching.
 
The International Committee said that this is a deliberate act aimed at preventing the boat from reaching the four other boats (small ships) that are waiting in the international waters to head to Gaza.
Head of the International Committee Zaher Birawi said in a press statement that this will not negatively affect Freedom Flotilla; because most of its objectives have already been achieved so far and he affirmed that the fifth boat will reach Gaza as soon as possible.
 
Birawi revealed that political leaders in the ruling party in Greece are trying to remove these fabricated obstacles.
 
In this context, Birawi called for more popular and official pressure to break Israel's unjust blockade on Gaza, and demanded all pro-Palestinian committees and institutions to stage sit-ins in solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla in front of the Israeli embassies all around the world and to increase pressure on Israel by all possible means.
 
The last group of activists, who are waiting for sailing permission, consists of 20 participants including two Jordanian MPs, a Spanish member of the European Parliament, a South African university professor and others.

 

NGO: Humanitarian situation in Gaza going from bad to worse

June 29, 2015GAZA, (PIC)--

The Palestinian NGO Network has warned of the sharp exacerbation in the humanitarian state of affairs in the blockaded Gaza Strip due to last summer’s Israeli offensive and the tough blockade.

Head of the NGO Network, Khalil Abu Shamala, said during a press conference held in Gaza: “The humanitarian state of affairs in the Gaza Strip is going from bad to worse due to the serious repercussions of the latest Israeli offensive and the ongoing blockade imposed on the enclave.”

“The tough Israeli blockade is the main reason behind the crises rocking the Strip, namely poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity, each of which has reached unprecedented levels,” he further warned.

Abu Shamala spoke up against the UN-run reconstruction process, saying it has rather deepened the crisis by imposing a set of conditions and restrictions as regards the access of rebuilding materials.

The NGO Network, comprising 133 member organizations, called on the UN and the international community to assume their ethical and legal responsibilities vis-à-vis the tragedy rocking the besieged coastal enclave.

For her part, Norwegian People's Aid Secretary General Liv Tørres expressed her disappointment over and condemnation of the ongoing Israeli blockade on Gaza, urging the international community to immediately step in and work on lifting the siege at the soonest time possible.

She branded the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”, especially that 80% of Palestinians in the Strip are left at the mercy of foreign aid.

A report conducted earlier this month by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics found out that unemployment rates have gone up as high as 43% while the poverty rate has hit 38.8% in the Gaza Strip.

 

Israel bars peace activist flotilla from reaching Gaza

Mon Jun 29, 2015 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Reuters --

Israel said on Monday it had blocked a boat leading a four-vessel protest flotilla of foreign activists from reaching the Gaza Strip and forced the vessel to sail to an Israeli port.

An Israeli military statement said there was no violence in the incident, in which troops boarded, searched and then forced the boat to sail to an Israeli port.

Activists said the boat had a few dozen Europeans, including politicians, on board and had been headed for Gaza, the blockaded Palestinian territory.

The Israeli statement early on Monday said that "after exhausting all diplomatic channels the Israeli government ordered the Israeli Navy to redirect the vessel in order to prevent breach of the naval blockade" of Gaza.

It said troops searched the vessel in international waters and then escorted it to Israel's southern port of Isdood (which the Israelis call Ashdod).

The four-vessel flotilla was the latest in a series of protest voyages across the Mediterranean against Israel's nine-year blockade of Islamist Hamas-dominated Gaza, a Palestinian territory.

One of those incidents turned deadly in 2010 when 10 Turkish activists were killed aboard a ship commandeered by Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.

An earlier statement by the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement said the flotilla had been led by a converted fishing trawler called the 'Marianne of Gothenburg', with about 50 activists from 17 countries, including an Israeli Arab lawmaker.

The activists said the boats had set sail on June 27 with a cargo of solar panels intended to "help alleviate the serious problem of electricity in Gaza, as well as medical equipment" for the impoverished territory, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement congratulating troops for seizing the ship he said was involved in "a demonstration of hypocrisy" and support for Hamas, and said Israel's actions were in accordance with international law.

(Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

Israel intercepts boat seeking to break Gaza blockade

France 24, 2015-06-29

Israel's navy boarded and took over an activist vessel seeking to break its Gaza blockade and was escorting it to port on Monday in an operation that did not use force, the military said.

A flotilla of four boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists had been seeking to reach Gaza to highlight the Israeli blockade of the territory, with the attempt coming five years after a similar bid ended in a deadly raid.

Three of the boats were said to have turned back while a fourth, the Marianne of Gothenburg, was boarded by the Israeli navy and was being escorted to an Israeli port.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the operation insisting his government was right to take action against Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza.

"In accordance with international law, the Israeli navy advised the vessel several times to change course," the military said in a statement.

"Following their refusal the navy visited and searched the vessel in international waters in order to prevent their intended breach of the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"The forces have reported that use of force was unnecessary, and that the process was uneventful," it added. "The vessel is currently being escorted to Isdood (which the Israelis call Ashdod) port and is expected to arrive within 12-24 hours."

A military spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that the vessel was the Swedish-flagged Marianne of Gothenburg, part of the so-called Freedom Flotilla III.

Among the passengers on the four vessels were Arab-Israeli lawmaker Basel Ghattas, Tunisia's former president Moncef Marzouki and at least one European lawmaker.

'Conscience of humanity'

The other three ships had changed their course and were "heading back to their ports of origin," according to a statement by "Canadian Boat to Gaza," issued by the activists before the Israeli navy commandeered the Marianne.

"We once again call on the government of Israel to finally lift the blockade on Gaza," the statement read. "Our destination remains the conscience of humanity."

Netanyahu dismissed the organiser's goals.

"This flotilla is nothing but a demonstration of hypocrisy and lies that is only assisting the Hamas terrorist organisation and ignores all of the horrors in our region," he said in a statement.

"Preventing entry by sea was done in accordance with international law and even received backing from a committee of the UN secretary general."

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said the flotilla "wasn't humanitarian and didn't seek to help anyone," adding that "the participants were seeking to continue the campaign to delegitimise Israel."

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in 2006 after Hamas captured an Israeli soldier, and tightened it a year later when the Islamist movement consolidated control of the territory.

A number of flotillas had reached Gaza prior to May 2010, when 10 Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara were killed in an Israeli raid on the six-ship flotilla.

Since then, several ships manned by pro-Palestinian activists have tried to reach the shores of Gaza, but they have all been repelled by the Israeli navy.

The latest attempt comes with the Palestinian territory yet to begin the reconstruction of thousands of homes destroyed during last summer's 50-day conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Fingers have been pointed at both Israel and a lack of support from international donors.

(AFP)  

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