Gaza at last! A word from Mary in Gaza

I woke up this morning wondering if it was all a dream. And then I looked through the window and saw the harbor, and the fishing boats, and our two proud little boats, the FREE GAZA and the LIBERTY, bobbing gently in the Gaza breeze and I could finally believe we are here!

There are not enough words to describe the feelings we all had as we saw the shores of Gaza appear on our horizon, and then as we got closer and closer we were welcomed by the first of dozens of fishing boats, all crowded with cheering, waving Gazans who had waited since early morning for our arrival. Dozens of them jumped into the water and climbed aboard our boats, cheering and waving and hugging everybody, smiling and telling us “you are welcome.” I don’t know how so many members of our welcoming committee managed to crowd onto the two piers…. women, men, children, a band playing for us, police trying to control them as more of them jumped into the water to reach us.

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“Free Gaza” boats arrive in Gaza in protest against Israeli siege
People’s Daily Online – 24 August 2008

Thousands of Palestinians started whistling and screaming on Saturday afternoon when two “Free Gaza” boats with peace activists arrived at Gaza City’s fishermen harbor in protest against Israeli siege.

Flags of different countries, including Turkey, Germany, France, Cyprus, Britain, Lebanon and Greece, were seen fluttering on the two boats, which set off Friday from Cyprus. Slogan “Freedom for Gaza” and “We are coming” are written on one of the boats.

While approaching Gaza beach, the two boats released 5,000 balloons of four colors of black, red, green and white, which are the colors of the Palestinian flag.

Each of the balloons bears the slogan of “Free Palestine” and a drawing of the pigeon of peace, while several Palestinian flags fluttered on the two boats.

Several peace activists, a Holocaust survival and the sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair are on board. The two boats also carry medical hearing aids for deaf Palestinian children.

[Read the article]

Update – hat tip:

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Peace protest boats arrive in Gaza – The Guardian
Israel allows blockade busting boats enter Gaza – Ha’aretz
On a mission to free Gaza – The Scotsman
Boats reach Gaza despite blockade – Al Jazeera
Activist boats reach Gaza Strip – BBC

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Two boats from Cyprus carrying 44 pro-Palestinian activists docked in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after Israel allowed them through its tight blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

The boats set sail on Friday from the east Mediterranean island carrying activists from 17 countries, including Israel, determined to highlight the blockade of Gaza where the Islamist Hamas movement has ruled since June 2007.

The boats sailed through choppy grey seas and into Gaza City’s main port, where they were greeted by thousands of people waving Palestinian flags, many of them motoring around the harbour in boats.

Crowds lining the shore chanted “God is great!” and “No, no, to the siege!” as dozens of young men dived into the murky waters of the harbour and swam towards the flag-decked boats.

[Read the article]

MoveOn.org is giving away these stickers today:

BarackObama.com is directing visitors to its donation page but is not offering free stickers and is not promoting the sale of one. The store has no new items. The site is featuring a photo of Obama with his new running mate Joe Biden.

Does the release of this sticker by MoveOn mean the campaign intends to market the new ticket using the same shades of red and blue? Huge mistake. The idea may have been inspired for the primary but would lose them massive votes in the general.

Update:
I was mistaken about Obama’s camp not offering a new item, this is it, free for a $15 donation.

This one’s sold by a store that’s advertising on DailyKos and is the only item using a traditional style.

The page provides many visual lessons on how to lose elections.

For Immediate Release Date : 08-22-2008
A STATEMENT TO THE PRESS FROM THE FREE GAZA MOVEMENT
For more information, please contact:

JERUSALEM: Angela Godfrey-Goldstein
Tel. +972 547 366 393
angela@icahd.org

CYPRUS: Osama Qashoo
Tel. +44 78 333 81660 / +44 79 779 3595
osamaqashoo@gmail.com

Forty-six international human rights workers are now sailing to Gaza through international waters with one overriding goal: to break the Israeli siege that Israel has imposed on the civilian population of Gaza. Any action designed to harm civilians constitutes collective punishment (in the Palestinians’ case, for voting the “wrong” way) and is both illegal under international law and profoundly immoral. Our mission is to expose the illegality of Israel’s actions, and to break through the siege in order to express our solidarity with the suffering people of Gaza (and of the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole) and to create a free and regular channel between Gaza and the outside world.

Continue reading →

Dion Nissenbaum, Checkpoint Jerusalem, 14 August 2008

Four months after an Israeli tank opened fire on a Reuters crew in Gaza stationed a mile away from the tank’s position, the Israeli military has cleared itself of any wrongdoing in the chilling incident in which Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana captured his own impending death on film.

In a letter to Reuters, Israeli Brig. Gen.l Avihai Mendelblit said that the tank crew reached the “reasonable” conclusion that Shana and his soundman were “hostile” and that the camera mounted on a tripod for several minutes was “most likely” a weapon of some sort.

The contorted Israeli military conclusion drew sharp retorts from Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Foreign Press Association in Israel.

“Reuters is deeply disturbed by a conclusion that would severely curtail the freedom of the media to cover the conflict by effectively giving soldiers a free hand to kill without being sure that they were not firing on journalists,” the company said in its response to the Israeli decision to close the case without taking any action against the tank crew.

Read the report | hat tip