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Solidarity Voyage to Gaza

By Paul Larudee, November 2007

On 25 October, a Palestinian patient died at Erez crossing while awaiting being allowed to cross to Israeli hospital. A week ago, a woman died in Gaza hospital with her newly born baby, while awaiting permit to be transferred to Israel for medical treatment.

So begins the latest report of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza. It goes on to tell of operating rooms closed due to lack of anesthesia, the prohibition against any goods leaving Gaza and all but 12 basic commodities from entering, and Israeli preparations to cut electricity, fuel and financial services. Painful but ironic comparisons can be increasingly drawn with Nazi Germany’s measures against Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto in World War II, and for much the same reason: because Palestinians constitute an unwanted ethnic group.

As reported in the last issue, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals—Jews, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists—are determined to resist the siege and collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians, more than half of them children. Our plan is to defy the Israeli blockade of Gaza and enter by sea in order to establish open passage for Gaza’s besieged population. We intend to test Israel’s claim that Gaza is no longer occupied, and since we will not pass through Israeli territory, we will not seek Israeli permission.

Several developments have taken place since the last issue of the newsletter. First, our voyage had to be postponed to May/June 2008, in order to allow more time for fundraising and to avoid the unpredictable winter seas. Second, we now have a total of five official invitations—four from Palestinian NGOs in Gaza and one from the Minister of Youth and Sport of the Hamas-run government. These assure that we are welcome not only by civil society, but also by the functional Palestinian power in Gaza. (ISM and the Free Gaza Movement do not support any political parties.)

The third development is that the Free Gaza Movement now has 501(c)(3) status and can receive tax-exempt donations in its own name. As described elsewhere in this issue, ISM-Northern California also gained such status in a joint procedure as two projects of the same nonprofit. This will hopefully open the door to improved fundraising.

The final development is the creation of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza described at the beginning of this report. The Campaign was conceived by Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme as a six-month effort to break the siege of Gaza, beginning with an international symposium in Gaza in November 2007 and culminating with the voyages of the Free Gaza Movement in May/June 2008. The aim of this nonviolent campaign is to put international pressure on the Israeli government to abide by humanitarian law. For more information, click here

What can you do to help? Here are some suggestions:

1. Get organizational endorsements. If you know a group that ought to be supporting this effort, help get them on board (not just figuratively, in this case).

2. Invite speakers to your home or group, anywhere in the U.S. or in some places overseas as well. We have a compelling audiovisual presentation.

3. Recruit passengers. Everyone is welcome, but we especially want high profile figures who will attract attention.

4. Donate time and/or money. We need volunteers with or without special skills, and of course the funds to make this effort possible. As of the time of writing, we have raised over $50,000. However, we will need to raise at least twice that, and preferably more.

For more information, go to www.freegaza.org or call 510-236-5338.

Paul Larudee first went to Palestine in 1965 and began volunteering with the ISM in March, 2002.