update from Free Gaza boats....

>
> Date: Thursday, 25 September, 2008, 10:33 PM
> Dear all,
> please find the lastest update from Greta in Cyprus.
>
> As with last time, the human rights workers and peace
> activists continue to
> recieve threats for carrying out non-violent peace
> resistance to the
> occupation. This time it has come in the form of bomb
> threat.
>
> However, despite this and many other threats they have been
> forced to
> endure, they are not detered in their mission or their
> belief that
> Palestinians have the same human rights as every other
> person on this planet
> and that the siege of Gaza must be broken.
>
> The Free Gaza Movement needs your support.
>
> Please consider raising awareness abou their work in your
> community, with
> your church, your school, university, work place and local
> media. Please
> also consider whether or not you can make a donation to the
> Free Gaza
> Movement, so they can keep up this inspiring and essential
> campaign.
>
> For more information on how you can support Free Gaza,
> please visit their
> website at www.freegaza.org
>
> in solidarity, Kim
>
> There is a bomb on the boat
> Greta Berlin from Cyprus
>
>
> I was sitting in the hotel lobby talking to some of the new
> passengers who
> are leaving for Gaza sometime in the next few days, when my
> Cyprus phone
> rang. "There is a bomb on the boat." The caller
> said. "There are two bombs
> on the boat, and the boat will blow up when you
> leave." Then he started to
> laugh. If I'd had the presence of mind to answer, I
> would have asked him how
> he knew which boat we were taking since WE don't know,
> but, like most
> obscene phone calls, the caller catches you off-guard, and
> the only answers
> seen to be after the fact.
> We are getting ready to leave again for the second trip to
> Gaza. This time,
> we have two Palestinian parliamentarians on board and four
> physicians who
> are going to assess the state of the healthcare system in
> Gaza. As the first
> trip, there are glitches and stumbles and promises that
> have been broken
> unintentially. We are, after all, not seasoned boat buyers,
> boat passengers
> or even boat attorneys. But, we have learned much over the
> past few months.
>
> We have become seasoned bargainers, looking at boats with a
> careful eye to
> how much they cost and how much the fuel will cost and how
> much the crew
> will cost. We knew none of that six months ago. One of us
> has become a
> better attorney than many attorneys,as she travels the
> complex maza of
> maritime law. Several of us now know the difference between
> fore and aft,
> between port and starboard, but many still got seasick. We
> have learned that
> we have succeeded in spite of ourselves sometimes,and
> because of ourselves
> as well.
>
> The naysayers said it couldn't be done, but we paid
> little attention,
> because we were determined. This trip, carrying 22 people
> to Gaza is filled
> with Palestinians who want to go back to Palestine. They
> are doctors and
> lawyers and members of parliament and businessmen. And, of
> course, that is
> one of the primary objectives to breaking the back of the
> blockade.
> Palestinians should have the right to go home, to visit
> their relatives, to
> enjoy the same courtesy that is given to most of us.
>
> The 35-mile coast of Gaza is the only piece of the
> Mediterranean under
> occupation by a foreign military force except for the
> Northern coast of
> Cyrpus, which has been occupied by Turkey since 1974.
> It's why the Cypriots
> are so helpful for this project, and it could never have
> been accommplished
> without them. They understand military occupation. On a
> hillside overlooking
> Nicosia is a huge sign that says, "Isn't it great
> to be a Turk!" You can see
> the sign for miles, larger than the Hollywood sign.
>
> Like the sickening sign on the checkpoint outside Bethlehem
> that says,
> "Peace be with you" in three languages, these
> signs are finger-in-your-eye
> jeers from an occupier. And so, like any occupier, the
> thugs that follow
> them decide to threaten the people who challenge. The phone
> call today will
> be one of many. We got them the last time, threatening to
> kill us, telling
> us that mines were planted outside of Gaza, saying that the
> boats would be
> sabotaged.
>
> But, like the last tiem, we will still go. And we will put
> Israel on notice
> that any harm that comes to the 22 people who are on this
> boat, the boat
> itself, or the people waiting for us will be because Israel
> doesn't know how
> to confront peaceful protest with anything except
> intimidation.
>
> --
> Greta Berlin
> Media Team
> Free Gaza Movement
> 357 99 08 17 67
> www.freegaza.org
> www.anis-online.de/office/events/FreeGazaSong.htm
> www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/
>
>
>
>
> --
> There will be a day for the oppressor when he will be
> crushed like garlic -
> Palestinian proverb.
>
> Some came and took our land, forced us to leave, forced us
> to live in camps.
> I think this is terrorism. Using means to resist this
> terrorism and stop its
> effects - this is called struggle." — Leila Khaled
>
> Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and
> everywhere... and
> remember also that there is a cause to which many people
> have committed
> themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles
> notwithstanding. Why?
> Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest
> for equality and
> human rights - Edward Said
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> To reply to everyone on this listserve, email:
> iwps-volunteers@...
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>