GAZA CITY (AFP) — Two days after sailing to the besieged Gaza Strip, activists from 17 countries joined Palestinian fishermen in symbolically defying Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

The group said its SS Free Gaza vessel and six fishermen’s boats went beyond the six nautical mile fishing limit imposed by Israel’s navy.

“The seven vessels went as far as eight miles from the coast, watched by Israeli navy patrol boats which circled around them,” said Jeff Halper, the only Israeli among the 44 activists who made the 370-kilometre (230-mile) voyage from Cyprus to Gaza.

He said Monday’s action “symbolically breaks the naval blockade” as the Israeli navy has in the past opened fire on fishing boats that passed the six-mile limit.

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Disappointingly, MSNBC convention coverage will include hour-long blocks plus sporadic doses of the-smartest-bestest-politician-ever Joe Scarborough who revealed today that he intends to deliver propaganda from the right in his usual mediocre, abusive manner. It’s stupefying that anyone in MSNBC’s prospective audience is thrilled by Joe’s many starry-eyed references to his allegedly glorious political past.

Dullard Joe shrinks whenever guests such as David Shuster appear on the stage and by simply showing up illuminate the irrelevancy of his heydays in DC circa 1990 something persona. It’s unseemly how he summons enforcer Willie Geist to break the kneecaps of those he perceives present a challenge to his flaccid image. Mika Brzezinski appears more often as Joe’s arm candy than as his co-host.

Salon editor and Clinton soldier Joan Walsh remains Joe’s conditional liberal ally. This morning she reinforced the talking points of Rev. Eugene Rivers who acts as if he’s standing-in for Republican strategist/Rev. Joe Watkins. Apparently it is dangerous to even suggest that if Obama loses it may be because a majority of Americans are not quite ready for a black president. Walsh maintains that Clinton was a victim of sexism but racism has not affected Obama’s bid.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date : 08-24-2008

GAZA CITY, GAZA (24 August 2008) – Two days after the SS FREE GAZA and the SS LIBERTY arrived to a jubilant welcome in Gaza, 20 to 25 of the human rights watchers will go to sea with the fishermen in a show of support for their struggle to keep their industry productive.

According to a recent article in The Guardian, “in the 1990s, the Gazan fishing industry produced an annual income of around £5m. That had halved by 2007 and is still shrinking fast. Under the Oslo accords, which in 1993 were supposed to herald the coming of an independent Palestinian state, Gazan fishermen were to be allowed 20 nautical miles out to sea, where they could catch sardine as they migrated from the Nile delta up towards Turkey during the spring.But Israeli naval ships in recent years have imposed their own, much-reduced limits, sometimes fewer than 6 miles out.”

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BubbleShare: Share photos – Create and Share Crafts

Update:

more photos and commentary | hat tip

Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch, 23/4 August 2008

Excerpt:
O’Reilly-haters should be stocking up on loofahs. Only nine days to go. On September 1 you may proceed towards any facility owned by Rupert Murdoch and wave your loofah. As I reminded CounterPunchers last week September 1, 2004 was the night O’Reilly made a lewd phone call to his Fox producer Andrea Mackris, depicting a prospective sexual encounter between the two of them in which the loofah played a significant role. Disclosure of O’Reilly’s reveries led to the public humiiation of this repellent bully and to his payment of an undisclosed sum (anywhere from $2 million to $10 million to ensure Ms Mackris’ silence. CounterPunch has proclaimed September 1 2008 as Loofah Day.

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