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Free Gaza Heroes Do What Cowardly Governments Dare Not

By Stuart Littlewood, August 2008

Stuart Littlewood hails the heroes of the Free Gaza movement whose boats, manned by volunteers – ordinary people of various nationalities and backgrounds – and funded by public donations succeeded in breaking through the illegal, medieval Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.

A small band of brave, humanitarian-minded volunteers in a couple of boats have done, in the name of human decency, what the cowardy-custard leaders of the US, Britain and the EU, with their mighty navies, were too spineless to do in the name of justice. I'm delighted the Free Gaza boats got through, and thoroughly ashamed to be ruled by a Western mafia that connives with the Middle East's racial supremacists to blockade and crush the innocent people of Gaza.

People in Gaza City await the arrival of the Free Gaza Ships (photo credit: Free Gaza Movement)

The Little People’s courageous voyage from Cyprus called the Israelis' bluff. To serve its greedy purpose the Zionist entity invented and imposed its own maritime law, which has no basis in international law. So, whether its gunboats intercepted the voyagers or let them through, it would be a public relations disaster for Israel. And it was.

Now the Israeli propaganda machine lashes out to brand the Little People “provocateurs” working for Hamas.

“It’s a Hamas publicity stunt”, claims Israel

The very next day the Israeli News Agency was squealing in panic: "The terror group Hamas tried to stage a media PR event and failed big time."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Arye Mekel told the agency: We knew about this Hamas attempt to create a PR event at sea for weeks... We knew who's on these boats and what they contain, and therefore we decided weeks ago to allow them to come into Gaza. They were not carrying weapons and had only a handful of equipment for the hearing impaired.

So why the Israeli threats and intimidation right up to the last minute?

"One cannot place any responsibility on the Palestinian Authority for these theatrics as the PA has no control of Gaza," said Mekel, apparently eager to protect Ramallah’s collaborators and vilify the democratically elected and perfectly legitimate resistance movement now holed up in Gaza.

The news agency went on to say that the residents of Gaza were disappointed by the total lack of food that was "supposed to have been brought in by the two Palestine boats carrying international leftist activists ... who support Hamas suicide bombers and rocket attacks on Israel towns and cities". According to a ministry spokesperson,they showed "a complete and total disregard for innocent Israel terror victims".

The Foreign Ministry said these foreign supporters of Hamas did not deserve to be referred to as "peace activists" and labelled them a "handful of provocateurs seeking a public relations stunt who initiated a political protest aimed at boosting Hamas's regime of horrors in Gaza".

The Israeli News Agency and its government masters would have us believe that Prof Jeff Halper (a prominent and much-respected Israeli Jew living in Jerusalem), 81-year-old Catholic nun Anne Montgomery, journalist Lauren Booth, Dr Edith Lutz and the 40 other activists who sailed with noble intention on the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty were really doing it all for Hamas.

Government officials emphasized, said the agency, that sincere humanitarian groups could continue to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population. Oh? So how come a van containing 1.5 tons of urgently needed medical supplies donated by the kind folk of Scotland was prevented from entering Gaza for nearly four weeks and had to head back home with its precious cargo still onboard?

The news agency’s report carries a footnote saying it was edited and search-engine optimized by an Israeli communications company that claims on its website "the highest standards of intellect, creativity and integrity".

You have to laugh.

Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk