Israel Campaigns against Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla II Planned for May

Tuesday, 22 March 2011 11:10 Tania Kepler for the Alternative Information Center (AIC)

Israel launched a public campaign Tuesday (22 March) against the international organizations planning the Freedom Flotilla II aid convoy, set to sail to Gaza in May of this year.

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Mavi Marmara, part of the original Freedom Flotilla to the Gaza Strip in May 2010

 

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon plans to meet with foreign ambassadors at the ministry on Tuesday to seek their help in stopping this year’s flotilla, reported the Israeli news daily Haaretz.

The Foreign Ministry has also been asking foreign governments, including Spain, Britain, Ireland and Sweden, to publish travel advisories warning their citizens against sailing to Gaza. Britain and Ireland have in fact done so, according to Haaretz.

The Freedom Flotilla II will sail for Gaza sometime between May 15, in commemoration of the “Nakba” (“catastrophe”), and May 31, the first anniversary of the deadly 2010 flotilla mission, which left nine activists dead.

Activist groups from more than 10 countries have said they are sending at least 15 vessels to join the Freedom Flotilla II: Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, and Turkey.

The International Coalition of the Freedom Flotilla II met in Madrid, Spain from the 4-6th of February to discuss the upcoming journey. The meeting, organized by the host delegation Rumbo a Gaza, was attended by delegates from organizations in Algeria, Canada, Scotland, Spain, France, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

“We have at least 15 different groups right now at one or two boats each,” said Huwaida Arraf, chairperson of the Free Gaza Movement, one of the leading nongovernmental organizations in the effort. “Every meeting we have, we get one or two new country-based networks or coalitions that want to join.”

Israeli Special Forces attacked the Freedom Flotilla convoy in 2010, boarded the Turkish ship the Mavi Marama, and killed 9 Turkish citizens and injured dozens more.

Israel’s Military Intelligence has established a new unit responsible for tracking groups abroad, and in the West Bank and Gaza which are aimed at “delegitimizing the State of Israel”.The push to create such a unit apparently came in response to the Israeli military’s deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy to Gaza in May 2010.

The research division of the country’s Military Intelligence also created a department several months ago dedicated to monitoring left-wing groups and will work closely with government ministries. The head of the new unit has been taking part in discussions in the Prime Minister’s Office about how to prepare for the possible arrival of a Gaza-bound flotilla in May, Haaretz reported.

The situation in Gaza, which has been dire for some time due to the Israeli military blockade, significantly worsened following Israel’s military attack Operation Cast Lead. The 22-day military strike reduced much of Gaza’s infrastructure and homes to rubble, and killed some 1,400 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians. The population is still reeling and in desperate need of supplies.

According to the UNHRC’s “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories”, published in January, Rapporteur Richard Falk notes: “the situation of the civilian population in Gaza continues to be of critical concern. In 2010, Israeli uses of force resulted in 58 Palestinians killed in Gaza (including 22 civilians) plus 233 Palestinians injured (including 208 civilians).”

“Israel has declared a buffer zone that extends for 1,500 metres into Gaza from the border fence (comprising 17 per cent of Gaza), and Israeli military personnel fire at farmers and children who are pursuing normal peaceful activities close to the border,” the report continues. “These characteristics of the ongoing Israeli relationship to Gaza are strongly confirmatory of the legal and factual assessment that Gaza remains an occupied territory.”

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