Israelis intercept Gaza aid ship

The ship left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday
Israeli forces have boarded a ship trying to carry aid and pro-Palestinian
activists to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's blockade of the territory.

The 20 passengers include former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel
Prize winner Mairead Maguire.

The activists also include some Britons, campaigners said.

Ms McKinney described it as "an outrageous violation of international law", as
the boat was on a humanitarian mission and was not in Israeli waters.

The Israeli military said the boat was trying to enter Gaza illegally.

The US-based Free Gaza Movement has breached the blockade five times since
August 2008.

Two other attempts by the activist group were stopped by Israeli warships during
Israel's three-week military offensive in Gaza in December and January.

Israel keeps a tight hold on Gaza, which is ruled by the militant Palestinian
group Hamas.

The Israeli military said the passengers and crew of the Greek-registered ship
Arion would be handed over to immigration authorities in Ashdod, and its
humanitarian aid cargo would be taken to Gaza by road after a security check.

"An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded and took control of the cargo boat
Arion... as it was illegally attempting to enter the Gaza Strip," a military
spokesman said.

Reconstruction

The British Foreign Office said on Tuesday it was aware of the situation and was
trying to clarify the facts.

"We would be concerned if the stories of the Israeli Navy boarding the boat in
international waters were true," a spokesman said.

"We have made it clear to Israel that we are very concerned for the safety of
British nationals."

The mission is the latest by the Free Gaza Movement, which has renamed the ferry
Spirit of Humanity.

"This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was
not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,"
said Ms McKinney in a statement.

"President [Barack] Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and
reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking
the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey."

On Monday, a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross described
the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza as people "trapped in despair",
unable to rebuild their lives after Israel's offensive.

Donors have pledged $4.5 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation in Gaza
following the 22-day offensive which left more than 50,000 homes, 800 industrial
properties and 200 schools damaged or destroyed, as well as 39 mosques and two
churches.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8127145.stm

Free Gaza Movement: http://www.freegaza.org/

This letter was originally broadcast on WBAIX on July 3rd

Letter from an Israeli Jail

By Cynthia McKinney

This is Cynthia McKinney and I'm speaking from an Israeli prison cellblock in
Ramle. [I am one of] the Free Gaza 21, human rights activists currently
imprisoned for trying to take medical supplies to Gaza, building supplies - and
even crayons for children, I had a suitcase full of crayons for children. While
we were on our way to Gaza the Israelis threatened to fire on our boat, but we
did not turn around. The Israelis high-jacked and arrested us because we wanted
to give crayons to the children in Gaza. We have been detained, and we want the
people of the world to see how we have been treated just because we wanted to
deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.

At the outbreak of Israel's Operation `Cast Lead' [in December 2008], I boarded
a Free Gaza boat with one day's notice and tried, as the US representative in a
multi-national delegation, to deliver 3 tons of medical supplies to an already
besieged and ravaged Gaza.

During Operation Cast Lead, U.S.-supplied F-16's rained hellfire on a trapped
people. Ethnic cleansing became full scale outright genocide. U.S.-supplied
white phosphorus, depleted uranium, robotic technology, DIME weapons, and
cluster bombs - new weapons creating injuries never treated before by Jordanian
and Norwegian doctors. I was later told by doctors who were there in Gaza during
Israel's onslaught that Gaza had become Israel's veritable weapons testing
laboratory, people used to test and improve the kill ratio of their weapons.

The world saw Israel's despicable violence thanks to al-Jazeera Arabic and Press
TV that broadcast in English. I saw those broadcasts live and around the clock,
not from the USA but from Lebanon, where my first attempt to get into Gaza had
ended because the Israeli military rammed the boat I was on in international
water ... It's a miracle that I'm even here to write about my second encounter
with the Israeli military, again a humanitarian mission aborted by the Israeli
military.

The Israeli authorities have tried to get us to confess that we committed a
crime ... I am now known as Israeli prisoner number 88794. How can I be in
prison for collecting crayons to kids?

Zionism has surely run out of its last legitimacy if this is what it does to
people who believe so deeply in human rights for all that they put their own
lives on the line for someone else's children. Israel is the fullest expression
of Zionism, but if Israel fears for its security because Gaza's children have
crayons then not only has Israel lost its last shred of legitimacy, but Israel
must be declared a failed state.

I am facing deportation from the state that brought me here at gunpoint after
commandeering our boat. I was brought to Israel against my will. I am being held
in this prison because I had a dream that Gaza's children could color & paint,
that Gaza's wounded could be healed, and that Gaza's bombed-out houses could be
rebuilt.

But I've learned an interesting thing by being inside this prison. First of all,
it's incredibly black: populated mostly by Ethiopians who also had a dream ...
like my cellmates, one who is pregnant. They are all are in their twenties. They
thought they were coming to the Holy Land. They had a dream that their lives
would be better ... The once proud, never colonized Ethiopia [has been thrown
into] the back pocket of the United States, and become a place of torture,
rendition, and occupation. Ethiopians must free their country because superpower
politics [have] become more important than human rights and self-determination.

My cellmates came to the Holy Land so they could be free from the exigencies of
superpower politics. They committed no crime except to have a dream. They came
to Israel because they thought that Israel held promise for them. Their journey
to Israel through Sudan and Egypt was arduous. I can only imagine what it must
have been like for them. And it wasn't cheap. Many of them represent their
family's best collective efforts for self-fulfilment. They made their way to the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees. They got their yellow paper of
identification. They got their certificate for police protection. They are
refugees from tragedy, and they made it to Israel only after they arrived Israel
told them "there is no UN in Israel."

The police here have license to pick them up & suck them into the black hole of
a farce for a justice system. These beautiful, industrious and proud women
represent the hopes of entire families. The idea of Israel tricked them and the
rest of us. In a widely propagandized slick marketing campaign, Israel
represented itself as a place of refuge and safety for the world's first Jews
and Christian. I too believed that marketing and failed to look deeper.

The truth is that Israel lied to the world. Israel lied to the families of these
young women. Israel lied to the women themselves who are now trapped in Ramle's
detention facility. And what are we to do? One of my cellmates cried today. She
has been here for 6 months. As an American, crying with them is not enough. The
policy of the United States must be better, and while we watch President Obama
give 12.8 trillion dollars to the financial elite of the United States it ought
now be clear that hope, change, and `yes we can' were powerfully presented
images of dignity and self-fulfilment, individually and nationally, that
besieged people everywhere truly believed in.

It was a slick marketing campaign as slickly put to the world and to the voters
of America as was Israel's marketing to the world. It tricked all of us but,
more tragically, these young women.

We must cast an informed vote about better candidates seeking to represent us. I
have read and re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's letter from a Birmingham
jail. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined that I too would one
day have to do so. It is clear that taxpayers in Europe and the U.S. have a lot
to atone for, for what they've done to others around the world.

What an irony! My son begins his law school program without me because I am in
prison, in my own way trying to do my best, again, for other people's children.
Forgive me, my son. I guess I'm experiencing the harsh reality which is why
people need dreams. [But] I'm lucky. I will leave this place. Has Israel become
the place where dreams die?

Ask the people of Palestine. Ask the stream of black and Asian men whom I see
being processed at Ramle. Ask the women on my cellblock. [Ask yourself:] what
are you willing to do?

Let's change the world together & reclaim what we all need as human beings:
Dignity. I appeal to the United Nations to get these women of Ramle, who have
done nothing wrong other than to believe in Israel as the guardian of the Holy
Land, resettled in safe homes. I appeal to the United State's Department of
State to include the plight of detained UNHCR-certified refugees in the Israel
country report in its annual human rights report. I appeal once again to
President Obama to go to Gaza: send your special envoy, George Mitchell there,
and to engage Hamas as the elected choice of the Palestinian people.

I dedicate this message to those who struggle to achieve a free Palestine, and
to the women I've met at Ramle. This is Cynthia McKinney, July 2nd 2009, also
known as Ramle prisoner number 88794.
---

Cynthia McKinney is a former U.S. Congresswoman,  Green Party presidential
candidate, and an outspoken advocate for human rights and social justice. The
first African-American woman to represent the state of Georgia, McKinney served
six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1993-2003, and from
2005-2007. She was arrested and forcibly abducted to Israel while attempting to
take humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to Gaza on June 30th. For more
information, please see http://www.FreeGaza.org

U.S. Department of State Middle East Digest
<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/mideastdigest/125541.htm> 01 Jul 2009 briefing on
the kidnapped passengers (with the U.S. State Department). The sheer stupidity
of the answer boggles your mind.


QUESTION: Erin Connors from Press TV. Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and
members of the Free Gaza Movement were intercepted by the Israeli army when they
were on a humanitarian mission over there. What's being done about that? Are
they on their way home? Will they be deported? What's the next step there, and
will their supplies ever get to where they're going?
IAN KELLY: On that last question, I don't know the answer, actually. I think I
have to refer you to the Government of Israel. We can confirm that the Israeli
navy did arrest those on board this - the ship which is known as Spirit. We
can't comment on any of the individuals or the number of individual American
citizens on board because of Privacy Act concern.


Can you *imagine* what would happen if Iran  intercepted a vessel and/or
incarcerated a former congressperson and Nobel Prize winner?



--
Greta Berlin
Free Gaza Movement
357 99 284 102
www.freegaza.org
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

Egypt mourns 'headscarf martyr'

The body of a Muslim woman, killed in a German courtroom by a man convicted of
insulting her religion, has been taken back to her native Egypt for burial.

Marwa Sherbini, 31, was stabbed 18 times by Axel W, who is now under arrest in
Dresden for suspected murder.

Husband Elwi Okaz is also in a critical condition in hospital, after being
injured as he tried to save his wife.

Ms Sherbini had sued her killer after he called her a "terrorist" because of her
headscarf.

The case has attracted much attention in Egypt and the Muslim world.

German prosecutors have said the 28-year-old attacker, identified only as Axel
W, was driven by a deep hatred of foreigners and Muslims.

'Martyr'

Medics were unable to save Ms Sherbini who was three months pregnant with her
second child. Her three-year-old son was with the family in court when she was
killed.

Axel W and Ms Sherbini and family were in court for his appeal against a fine of
750 euros ($1,050) for insulting her in 2008, apparently because she was wearing
the Muslim headscarf or Hijab.

Newspapers in Egypt have expressed outrage at the case, asking how it was
allowed to happen and dubbing Ms Sherbini "the martyr of the Hijab".

Senior Egyptian officials and German diplomatic staff attended the funeral in
Alexandria along with hundreds of mourners.

Media reports say Mr Okaz was injured both by the attacker and when a policeman
opened fire in the courtroom.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/8136500.stm

Published: 2009/07/06 13:16:31 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Action alert for Jenny and Natalie – "You will never leave Gaza"
Jenny and Natalie, both British passport holders, and both long term human
rights workers in the Gaza strip, are being prevented from leaving Gaza via the
Rafah Crossing. Please take action on their behalf.

Jenny Linnell is a co-founder of the ISM Rafah group, and an original crew
member of one of the "Free Gaza" boats. For the last year she has been
accompanying Palestinians and documenting events in the Gaza strip, both before,
during and after the war. You can see footage of her work with fishermen and
farmers under fire at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDD8ANFgwtA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTUYivihoTE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffishingu...

Natalie, from Lebanon (but with a British passport)  also entered Gaza via one
of the Free Gaza boats and has been working as part of the International
Solidarity movement within Gaza since November 2008. You can see her work at
http://gaza08.blogspot.com/
Since the end of May Jenny has been trying to leave and return home via the
border crossing at Rafah into Egypt. She keeps getting turned away, most
recently under pretty extreme circumstances, as outlined below. Natalie also
needs to leave Gaza in order to take up her place at a British University. The
Egyptian Border Guards told both women that they were being refused exit because
of their work with the Free Gaza boats. They were told that they would 'never be
let out'.
Natalie has written an account of their treatment, and their inhuman treatment
of so many Palestinians at the Rafah crossing, in `The Gates of Hell'
http://gaza08.blogspot.com/
(June 30th post)
For the sake of both women and other peace workers it is vital that this
treatment is not allowed to continue unchallenged. Please help us get them back
by ringing the British Foreign office and the Egyptian Embassy in London.

The Egyptian Embassy in London
phone 020 7499 3304/2401
Fax: +44 (0)20 7491 1542
The British Foreign Office
Middle East Desk
Tel: +44 (0)20 70088784
Email: jill.bayl...@... and trish.wi...@...

Or the Consular team: phone the Foreign office on +44 (0)2070081500 and ask to
be put through to the Consular Assistance team, ( who are there to assist
British travellers when abroad).

If you get a chance to mail me to let me know when you rang, and how it went, it
would be great for helping us keep tabs on how effectively the mobilising going.
Many many thanks on behalf of Jenny, Natalie and their friends and family.
Liz Snook. lizthesnook at gmail.com.
(UK support team for Jenny and Natalie)

Sample letter:

Dear sir/ madam

I am concerned about the continued refusal at the Egyptian Border with Gaza to
let British citizens Jenny Linnell and Natalie Abou Chakra leave Gaza for return
via Egypt to the UK. In the past months they have been engaged in humanitarian
work in Gaza and it is important that as British Citizens they must be given
whatever legal protection and entitlement is necessary for their safe return to
the UK.

They had been assured that their documentation was in order and yet on the 28th
of June it was deemed to be inadequate despite assurances made to the contrary.
There appears to be a missing link in the coordination between the MFA and the
Egyptian Intelligence Services, or between these offices and the officials
working in the crossing, resulting in Ms Linnell and Ms Abou Chakras continued
refused entry into Egypt.

As a matter of urgency, it is essential that a greater level of assurance is
acquired from the MFA that this situation does not arise again, either through
further coordination or documentation, or by the physical presence of a
representatives to ensure the border guards at the Egyptian crossing implement
what appears to have been agreed by more senior Egyptian officials.

The women have every reason to believe that simple reiterations of documentation
and assurances alone will not be sufficient. They have put their faith in these
mechanisms for over a month now, with no effect. They first approached the
British Embassy in Cairo on the 31st of May. On the 9th of June they were told
that they had the required coordination and paperwork from the MFA, this was
faxed through to the British Embassy in Cairo. They took a copy of this fax to
the Crossing when they attempted to pass. They had been told that it was
acceptable for British nationals to leave before the date of the official
opening of the Crossing so they attempted to cross on the 10th of June. After
several hours and several trips backwards and forwards by the by the Palestinian
official responsible for coordination they were told that the Egyptian
Intelligence office at the Crossing had informed him that we were not allowed to
go through at that time and said things
  would work out once the Crossing opened. Despite several calls to Ms. Hayek
from the MFA, they were refused entry.

On Saturday 27th June, 2009, the first day of the officially announced three-day
opening of the Rafah Crossing, 4 British citizens including Ms Linnell and Ms
Abou Chakra passed through six phases of checkpoints, before finally being
allowed onto a bus waiting before the gates to the Egyptian side of the
Crossing. This meant that they were still on the Palestinian side, in a bus in a
queue of around seven buses and dozens of ambulances, stranded waiting for the
Egyptians to open the entry gate to the Egyptian terminal. At 7.30pm local time,
the Egyptians called the Palestinians to return back. The Egyptians then allowed
some ambulances through, although 20 ambulances and the buses were left stranded
again until 11pm, when all were returned back to Gaza.
The following day, Sunday 28th June, the four British nationals headed to the
crossing in the early morning. At 2pm they were asked to get on a bus heading to
the Egyptian gate. At 3pm, the four British nationals had gained entry to the
Egyptian terminal. At 7.30pm, the other two British nationals were allowed into
Egypt, however Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were told their passports were
being checked and were then questioned by the border officials regarding the
purpose of their stay in Gaza, their arrival, and marital status. An hour later,
Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra's names were called as part of the list of those
to be "returned back" to Gaza. The afore-mentioned protested against this,
thinking that there must have been a misunderstanding, reiterated that they had
"tanseeq", or coordination from the MFA based on the request of the British
Embassy and repeatedly showed the document from the MFA.

They were told by a uniformed officer that the faxed document was in fact a
letter from the British Embassy and what they actually needed was a letter from
the Egyptian Government, despite the fact that the document was written on
letter-headed notepaper from the MFA emblazoned with a governmental emblem and
that it bore a governmental stamp below the text. They were also told that they
weren't being allowed to pass because the British Embassy hadn't approved of
their departure from Gaza.

The officers and Intelligence personnel threw the faxed document on the ground.
Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra attempted to refuse to leave the Crossing,
demanding to know why the permission they had previously been granted was not
now being honoured. No answer was given although an Intelligence officer there,
Mr. Saeid, insisted that they needed "tassdeeq" which constitutes a call by the
MFA to their office at the Crossing. He said the document from the MFA meant
nothing. Ms. Dina Hayek from the MFA had previously explained to Ms. Linnell
that it would have been impossible for her to have sent the fax to the British
Embassy without the approval of the Intelligence Services.

After approaching other Intelligence officers, they were denied entry to the
Government Security office that they'd been recommended. At around twelve
midnight, when one of the women was speaking to the media about the situation at
the Crossing, Mr. Saeid approached her saying "I will make sure you will not
leave Gaza," and assured her "We are untouchable" (literally, meen hayhasibna).
During these hours, Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were speaking on the
telephone with family members who contacted the British Embassy in Cairo. "We
are working on it," was a repetitive answer.. Hours later, they received a
'phone call from Caroline, the Duty Officer at the Embassy saying, "I've seen
this happen before," "Wait till tomorrow when we can sort things out," and "You
have everything you need to cross, the problem is from them [Egyptian
Intelligence Services]."

The two British women informed the Embassy that they would remain in the
crossing until an explanation was given as to why they had been denied entry
based on unjustifiable and potentially false grounds. The Egyptian officials at
the border asked how they entered Gaza, and on explaining that they arrived on
the Free Gaza Movement Boats they were told, "So, you don't need us to answer.
You already know why you're not being allowed out."

This would seem to suggest that they were detained as a form of unofficial
punishment for their humanitarian work in Gaza. This is extremely alarming.
Officers then forcibly removed them from the departure hall to where there was a
bus waiting outside. Moments later, Ms. Abou Chakra was also assaulted and lost
sight of Ms. Linnell. Officers again threatened Ms. Abou Chakra with her
continued detention in Gaza saying saying "We will make sure you will never get
out," and, "You are lucky you are not in Jordan. Our boots would be in your
mouths by now."

The treatment Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were subjected to was abusive and
unnecessary. The Egyptian authorities at the Crossing have failed to acknowledge
their right of passage. As is evident from the verbal exchange mentioned above,
this is a ...

As is evident from the verbal exchange mentioned above, this is a direct
challenge from the Egyptian authorities to the democratic rights of any person
who has been working aiding the desperate situation in Gaza.

I would be grateful if you would fully investigate this matter further and urge
you to act on this information to secure an efficient and safe passage from Gaza
for these two humanitarian workers, which they have so far been unjustly denied.
I would appreciate you keeping me informed of the results of your enquiries.
--Yours sincerely


www.FreeGaza.org