Free Gaza Movement ship arrives in Gaza Port today

(GAZA, 9 December 2008) - The Free Gaza Movement ship “Dignity” successfully broke through the Israeli blockade for the fourth time since August, arriving in Gaza Port at 2:45pm, Tuesday 9 December. The ship carried one ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula, in addition to a delegation of international academics, humanitarian and human rights workers. Three earlier missions made landfall in Gaza in August, October, and November through the power of non-violent direct action and civil resistance. The Free Gaza ships are the first international ships to reach the Gaza Strip in over 41 years.

Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer, journalist, and solidarity worker, pointed out that, “Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day, and it's high time the world turned its rhetoric on human rights into reality. We mounted this mission to give our solidarity to the people of Palestine and to highlight the strangulating conditions Israel causes in besieged Gaza. The inhumane effects of this siege threaten to stunt an entire generation - both in terms of physical and mental growth due to malnutrition, terrorization by bomb attacks, incursions and the use of sonic booms - but also in terms of the generation of students which have won places at academic institutions around the world but cannot fulfill them, and those undermined on the ground in Gaza by a lack of food, medicine, electricity, materials, and the peace and space to make use of them in.”

For over two years, Israel has imposed an increasingly severe blockade on Gaza, dramatically increasing poverty and malnutrition rates among the 1.5 million human people who live in this tiny, costal region. The World Bank recently warned that the entire banking system in Gaza may soon collapse resulting in “serious humanitarian implications.” Already, over eighty percent of Gazan families are dependent on international food aid in order to feed their children.

Lubna Masarwa, another Free Gaza organizer and the current delegation’s leader, pointed out that, “The Palestinians of Gaza don't need charity. What they need is effective political action that changes their lives and ends the Occupation. We can't bring electricity to Gaza on our boats. We can't import freedom of movement or safety. But we can get into Gaza and we are intent to keep coming. We will come again and again and again until the world breaks its silence and we shatter this siege once and for all.”

Some figures

Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1994, Gaza's fishermen were permitted to go 20 nautical miles out to sea. Following the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising, or Intifadah, in 2000, the capture of an Israeli soldier and the takeover of the territory by the Islamic resistance organisation Hamas, Israel limited this to six nautical miles on grounds of security.
...

The UN estimates that a distance of 12-15 nautical miles off Gaza is the minimum required to access the larger shoals of fish for maximum economic benefit.

Due to over-fishing in shallow waters, the stocks of smaller fish closer to shore have almost been depleted without having the chance to reproduce. The more lucrative shoals of tuna are also found further out.

The cost of one fishing trip can vary between 125 and 625 dollars, depending on the size of the vessel, nets and crew, and many fishermen cannot cover their costs from the resulting catch. They have no option but to remain on shore.

Collectively, Palestinian fishermen saw their monthly catch drop from 823 tonnes in June 2000 to as low as 50 tonnes in late 2006, according to the UN.

At the end of the nineties, Gaza's fishing industry was worth about 10 million dollars annually, and represented four percent of the Palestinian gross domestic product. Some of the fish was exported, while the rest sustained the local market.

Between 2001 and 2006 this income was almost halved. Today, impoverished and unemployed Gazans, suffering malnutrition and without access to adequate medical supplies, are forced to import fish from Israel.

extracted from an article by Mel Frykberg for IPS

Out fishing in Gaza! : Laila El-Haddad's blog

The article was posted by Laila El-Haddad on her blog on 26.08.2008. At the time, the Free Gaza movement had just made it to Gaza and had decided to accompany fishers out to sea. They intended to go with the fishers at least 7 to 8 miles off the Gaza coast in a show of support for their struggle to keep the fishing industry productive. That day fishers made it! and had a successful catch! For once a happy ending.

....
After a long and hard trip to Gaza, international activists who sailed there from Cyprus plan to return, taking with them a few stranded Palestinian Fulbright scholars. In Gaza, they delivered hearing aids to a charity-Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children (one which I absolutely love for their handicrafts, made by deaf men and women which you can purchase online).

But before doing so, they accompanied Palestinian fisherman yesterday morning to help them break the maritime siege on their fishing boats. The Oslo Accords were supposed to "grant them" (a natural right, but they decided it should be bestowed nonetheless) the right to fish 20 nautical miles into see. In reality, this has translated to no more than 12 in the best of times, 4 at the height of the second Intifada based on my interviewees with fishermen; and 6 in the past few years.

Their fishing vessels are frequently shot at by the israeli navy, the fishermen themselves harassed, thrown into the water, beaten, detained, and in many cases killed, rendering their once bustling profession and mainstay of the Gazan economy one of its most dangerous jobs.

The hope was that accompanied by international activists and a swarm of media alongside them, the Israeli naval boats would lay off; and despite circling them from afar with their enormous guns pointing towards them, they did.

My father accompanied one of the fishing vessels to aid in translation and protection. Initially, the fisherman were afraid to leave for fear of being shot at by the Israelis, as they frequently are. Slowly , they decided to attempt to surpass the nautical mile limit imposed on them by the Israelis.

And they did.

The fishermen told him it was their most successful catch in four years!

Israeli gunboats kidnap Gaza fisherman, peaceworkers

The article is by Eva Bartlett for the Electronic Intifada. Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer, currently based in Gaza. The article was published on Nov, 21st.

Free Gaza Initiative Boats land in Gaza

From the free gaza initiative website

GAZA (23 August 2008) - Two small boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, successfully landed in Gaza early this evening, breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The boats were crewed by a determined group of international human rights workers from the Free Gaza Movement. They had spent two years organizing the effort, raising money by giving small presentations at churches, mosques, synagogues, and in the homes of family, friends, and supporters.

They left Cyprus on Thursday morning, sailing over 350 kilometers through choppy seas. They made the journey despite threats that the Israeli government would use force to stop them. They continued sailing although they lost almost all communications and navigation systems due to outside jamming by some unknown party. They arrived in Gaza to the cheers and joyful tears of hundreds of Palestinians who came out to the beaches to welcome them.

Two small boats, 42 determined human rights workers, one simple message: “The world has not forgotten the people of this land. Today, we are all from Gaza.”

learn more about the Free Gaza Initiative: http://www.freegaza.org/

Free Gaza boats sail into Gaza port!!!

seen in Leila El Haddad's blog: "Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother"

"The boats both arrived safely earlier today! My parents called to update me earlier today. My mom said she greeted the activists with labaneh sandwiches, cucumbers, and warm mint tea, which they much appreciated. My father accidental fell into the harbor after trying to prevent my mother from doing the same aboard a life raft! They were met by hundreds of thousands of Gazans. They plan on holding a press conference tomorrow morning."

Gaza siege causing $70000 in daily losses for fishermen

"...the daily losses of the fishing industry in the Gaza Strip is estimated by $70000 and that additional losses of $30000 are caused to the fishermen as they are unable to export their fish out of the Gaza Strip..."

Rafah Fishermen's Syndicate

article by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

"I've been a fisherman for thirty six years, ever since I was fifteen years old. Myoriginal village, Il Jura, was famous for its fishermen. When my father migrated toGaza in 1948, he came here by boat."

Jamal Mohammed Bassalla is the spokesman of the Rafah Fisherman's Syndicate inthe southern Gaza Strip. The syndicate represents around 450 local fishermen, and itsheadquarters are on the beach just outside Rafah. This morning, however, Jamal andhis crew are sitting under tarpaulin on the beach, drinking tea round a small driftwoodfire. Conditions at sea are treacherous, and they're waiting for the weather toimprove.

"It takes two or three hours to prepare the boats, but we are on stand-by every day"says Jamal. "We check the nets, the diesel for the boat, batteries, our food supplies,the GPS (Global Positioning System), everything we need in order to work. When theweather improves we're ready almost immediately." In summer Jamal has a crew ofeighteen men, and they stay out at sea for up to twenty four hours at a time. But inwinter the crew is just six or seven in total. The crews work together for years, andunderstand each other intimately.

There are around 3,500 professional fishermen working along the forty kilometrecoastline of the Gaza Strip. Between them, they economically support almost 40,000people, including mechanics, fishmongers and thousands of local fishing families. Butthe Gaza fishing industry has been decimated, especially over the last five years,because of increasingly punitive Israeli restrictions on how far out to sea thefishermen can sail without being shot or harassed. The Interim Arrangements on theGaza Strip and West Bank signed between Israel and the PLO in 1994/5 did notconform to international human rights standards, as they restricted the movement ofPalestinian civilians, including the right of Gazan fishermen to fish off their owncoastline. However, the Interim Arrangements did stipulate that Palestinian fishermenare permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles from the Gaza coastline.

But Jamal and his colleagues claim that now they cannot fish more than 2.5kilometres offshore without risking being shot. "If we sail any further out to sea, theIsraelis can open fire, destroy our nets and boats, or force us back to shore," he says."We've suffered these restrictions since 2003, and recently they have started usingrockets and helicopters against us as well." The Rafah Syndicate fishermen say theIsraeli gunboats are at sea 24 hours a day 7 days a week, so they have no chance ofventuring any further offshore.

Israel claims the fishing restrictions are part of an overall security strategy to combatPalestinian gun-smuggling and suicide-bombing. But Khalil Shahin, Director of theEconomic and Social Rights Unit at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)points out that Israel has never honoured the Interim Arrangements. "Israel has neverpermitted Gazan fishermen to fish 20 nautical miles from the shore" he says. "Thefurthest they have allowed them to fish is 12 nautical miles offshore. That was back inthe mid 1990's, when Gazan fishermen were hauling approximately 3,000 tons of fisha year. But productivity has plummeted since 2002, because of the increasingrestrictions. Now the fishermen are hauling less than 500 tons of fish a year. This is aninevitable consequence of Israel continually violating the Interim Arrangements"As well as having their boats, nets and other fishing equipment damaged or destroyed,more than 70 Gazan fishermen were arrested by the Israelis last year. Jamal Bassallaand his colleagues are angry and frustrated they can no longer earn a sustainableliving from fishing without risking their lives. Another syndicate member, Abdullah,says he does take risks. "I take my boat 4 or 5 kilometres from the shore - what choicedo I have! Sometimes we manage, but other times we are actually hauling our catchwhen they start firing and force us back. Then we have to abandon the whole haul."

The Rafah fishermen say these restrictions have also affected the type of fish theycatch, making them increasingly reliant on shallow-water fish like sardines. Manyhave resorted to using smaller nets, catching smaller and younger fish in order toincrease their haul. Jamal claims they have no choice because of the Israeli blockade,but the fishermen have been criticised for severely over-fishing remaining localstocks. Ironically, the number of fishermen in Gaza has increased since the midnineties, because some of the thousands of men who used to work in Israel haveturned to professional fishing in order to survive.

The sea is Gaza's greatest natural resource, and for the men at the Rafah Syndicate,the solution to their crisis is radically simple: they will settle for their rights as statedin the Interim Arrangements. "We need open seas" says Jamal. "I am an educatedfisherman: I have a geography degree from Beirut University, but I returned to fishingbecause I love the sea." He has two brothers and six sons. All of them are fishermen."We have nets and our boats" he says. "We are ready to work."

"The market is hungry for fish but the amount of fish caught is not enough to feed the people"

The title is extracted from an article published on January 31st by MEL FRYKBERG for the Middle East Times. The article is a good recapitulation of the fisheries situation in the Strip of Gaza.

Key points are:

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, Gazan fishermen were permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles from the coast. That limit was reduced to 12 miles in 2002 during the second intifada. In October 2006, Israel imposed a further six nautical mile restriction on fishing following the capture of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit by Hamas fighters on the Gaza border.

The bans have seriously limited the quantity and quality of catch Gazans can make: i) Gaza's sardines (the main catch) and shrimp seasonally migrate further out to sea and beyond the enforced limit, and ii) the permitted fishing zone is overfished. Furthermore, Israel forbids Gazans to export their catches to higher paying customers abroad. Collectively, Palestinian fishermen saw their monthly catch plummet from 823 tons in 2000 to 50 tons in 2006. Fishing has become so bad that most think it's pointless to go out to sea (too costly if you don't catch anything0.

"The market is hungry for fish but the amount of fish caught is not enough to feed the people," said Finn Ebbesen of the Danish International Development Assistance, which has been working in Gaza for almost a decade.

Gazan fishermen are kept alive by monthly World Food Programme (WFP) food rations of wheat flour, sugar, olive oil and lentils in exchange for maintaining the upkeep of their boats and nets. The Programme supports some 1,470 fishermen households, or 8,820 people affected by the conflict.

[All figures are those of the article]

The Border Breakthrough

On Wednesday 23^rd January, thousands of Gazans made a brief escape to Rafah, Egypt, in order to eat and buy those products they are short of.

The million and a half residents of Gaza still depend almost entirely on importation of goods through crossings which are controlled by Israel. These crossings have been closed for the past eight months leaving Gazans without food.

The border breakthrough was made possible because Hamas militants had mined sections of the barrier separating the Strip from Egypt. In an article written for the weekly Italian magazine, l’Internazionale, of this week (February 1-7), Amira Haas, an Israeli journalist living in the Palestinian territory, reports that the plan was to blow the barrier as a last resort strategy. Following reopening of negotiations with Al Fatah or a request from Cairo to open the Rafah crossing, the Hamas militants would have blown the barrier to show the unsustainability of the Israeli siege and defy Israel. Yet, Amira Haas points out that the reopening of negotiations between Hamas and Al Fatah or a request from Cairo to open the Rafah crossing require other strategies and signs of civilian disobedience than firing rockets. Amira Hamas carries on calling onto governing authority in Ramallah to listen to the voice of Palestinians, and not to the requests from the Unites States, the European Union and Israel to boycott Hamas.

There is currently concern amongst Israeli human rights organizations (http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20080124.asp) that Israel will step up punitive measures against the population in response to the border breakthrough. In the meantime, the temporary border break brought some relief to Gazans.

You've been saying this since...

" ... and hoping that the new year will be good to everybody, and the political situation will calm down, and everything will go back to normal...

- mom you've been saying this since 1975"

I've seen this on Mazen Kerbaj's blog. and thought somehow it could apply to the Palestianian Territory: sadly, it's not getting any better.

Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls on the International Community to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

More on their website

Blogging from gaza

Interesting to read inside stories. Here is the blog of Laila El-Haddad, a journalist and mother, living in between the US and Gaza.

http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Heba's blog, which I found reading that of Laila

http://www.contemplating-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Gaza's 2 billion pounds of natural gas

Twenty miles from the beach of Gaza there is a reserve of 2 billion worth of natural gas, according to estimates. So enough to generate revenues for the Palestinians and not rely on international aid. Yet the plan to develop the gas marine field was blocked by Ariel Sharon during the second Intifada. Ariel Sharon said that there was no way he would allow a project to grow that would earn money for Yasser Arafat. With Sharon in coma, and the intifada sort of ended, there has been a plan for Israel to become the purchaser, in what the journalist sees as a win-win situation (secure source of gas for Israel/secure revenues for Palestine). Yet no agreement is in sight in spite of public statement by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, in support of the project, leaving Palestinians dependent on international aid.

The journalist concludes that: "If Mr Blair is serious about his mission to help develop a sustainable Palestinian economy, he could put his weight behind getting the Gaza gas project off the ground. So far, he has set his sights a bit lower, talking publicly only about redeveloping a sewage plant in Gaza and cautiously dodging attempts to involve him with Gaza Marine."

Tim Butcher in the Dayly Telegraph - British Newspaper - 07/11/2007

Israel Navy harassing and humiliating Gaza fishermen

in the Ha'aretz, Israeli newspaper, on 26 February 2007, so a few months ago, but still an interesting article.

"An Israeli human rights group has charged that the Israel Navy is harassing and humiliating Gaza fishermen, who said they cannot make a living because of restrictions."

"Musalam Abu Shalouf, 32, said he was taken in January after trying to retrieve a fishing net about two kilometers (one mile) from the shore. An Israel Navy boat approached and fired bullets in his direction. He was then told to strip to his underwear and swim toward the boat - but it kept moving away."I swam for about 20 minutes. I was then handcuffed and blindfolded," Abu Shalouf said."

"Before Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out in 2000, fishing accounted for almost 7 percent of agricultural output," said Tarek Saker, director general of fisheries at the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry. "But in 2006, Palestinian fishermen caught half as much as they did in 1999 - largely due to Israeli restrictions on fishing.""It is endangering their life and certainly their health, and it's also very humiliating and threatening," said Sarit Michaeli, a B'Tselem spokeswoman"

28 october: a boat of palestinian refugees breaks into pieces before reaching Italian coast

Seen in Italian news -

"Un barcone carico di palestinesi si spezza davanti a Roccella JonicaSalvi in 110, 25 i feriti. Erano partiti dall'Egitto in 170"

my translation: "A boat of palestinian refugees breaks into pieces before reaching Roccella Jonica (Italy). Out of 135 people, 25 are injured. There were 170 refugees when the boat left from Egypt."

It is the first time I hear this happening in the news. I mean since I started this blog. The news item doesn't say where they originally came from (Gaza, as the boat left from Egypt?) but it clearly shows desparation.

Israeli cabinet to impose sanctions on supplies of electricity, fuel and other basic goods and services to the civilian population of Gaza

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) calls upon the international community to prevent this crime against humanity from being carried out. Indeed, the very legal framework invoked by Israel to carry out this illegal and immoral act – declaring Gaza a “hostile entity” within a “conflict short of war” – has absolutely no standing in international law. The collective punishment of an entire civilian population, by contrast, is explicitly prohibited. http://www.icahd.org/eng/

Gaza 'hostile'

From BBC website (dated September 19 2007)

The Israeli government has declared the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity" in response to the continued rocket attacks by Palestinian militants there.

A spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity".

Correspondents say that by formally declaring Gaza "hostile", Israel could argue that it is no longer bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to its 1.5 million inhabitants.

But the current position is that, under international law, Israel remains legally responsible for the coastal strip, despite withdrawing two years ago, because it still controls Gaza's borders, air space and territorial waters.

Call on International Agencies to Support the Fishers of Gaza

The freegaza group (human rights observers, aid workers, and journalists with experience in Gaza and the West Bank) calls:

• upon Fisheries Research Institutes around the globe to conduct research and promote technological development in the fishery sector of Gaza.
• ask this industry to raise their voice over this issue.
• call on them to join the Free Gaza international initiative as independent researchers when we sail to Gaza in the fall.
• ask them to conduct on-the-ground research to reveal the environmental impact of over fishing that has devastated the people of the Gaza Strip.

Their aim is to publicise the problem amongst Fisheries Institutes b) so that Fisheries Institutes take the decision to conduct research in the Strip.

More information on their site. Their research work is based on two UN documents:
http://overfishing.org/interesting/documents/fisheries_gaza/2007_OCHA_special_report_gaza_fisheries.pdf
http://overfishing.org/interesting/documents/fisheries_gaza/2007_gaza_WFP_food-security.pdf

Gaza Situation Report

Dated June 20, OCHA reports:

Crossing points into Gaza remain largely closed.The re-opening of Karni crossing vital to prevent general food shortages is expected within 2-4 weeks. UNRWA wheat flour reserves 10 days, and WFP food reserves 7 days, unless normal imports are resumed. Seven truckloads of food (WFP) and 3 trucks of medical supplies (ICRC/WHO) entered Gaza through Kerem Shalom on 19 June.

The Gaza Strip has been relatively calm since 15 June. The Ministry of Health reports 135 deceased and 487 injured as a result of fighting. These are official numbers. Independent estimates are higher. There are intermittent reports of extrajudicial killings raising concerns about violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

More in the report.