why we will not stop sending boats

These seven photos from the BBC clearly show why the Free Gaza movement will continue to send boats. The Palestinians of Gaza do not want handouts from the world. They want their freedom and they want the right to rebuild their shattered economy, shattered because Israel bombed them into the 18th century with the help of American money and support.

This "Silence of Shame" from the Americans, all of us, constitutes a willingness to participate in Israeli war crimes. It is up to us to contact our representatives, the President of the U.S., and our media to express our outrage over the slow-motion genocide of 1.5 million civilians in Gaza, enabled because we pay for it.

The world is beginning to see what Israel does. Supporting our voyages means that Palestinians in Gaza will have a route to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel or by their proxy, Egypt. It means they don't have to pay Israel or Egypt for supplies coming in, and they can export strawberries and flowers the way they once did, before Israel cruelly took everything away from them.

Sixty-one years of being refugees; forty-one years of depending on the international community... when will we say NO MORE to Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8154275.stm

1 comments

Another story of a prisoner

Ahlam Mazen At-Tamimi

You killed the Palestinian children
West Bank

Pictures of Palestinian woman Spread on the walls of the streets of Ramallah, the woman smile full of challenge and confidence, she is Ahlam At-Tamimi, the first female member in Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

Her short biography became source of great pride to her family, to her movement and to its people.

Ahlam colleagues at the University of Bir Zeit were not expecting this girl to be a courage one and to be a secret member of Palestinian military organization especially the most secret and organized, Al Qassam Brigades.

Background:

She was born on October 20th, 1980, in Az-Zarqa in Jordan. Her roots back to the village of An Naabi Saleh near Ramallah. She finished her primary, preparatory & secondary school in the city of Az-Zarqa inm Jordan, and then she joined to the Press and Information Department at Bir Zeit University,

She was on her way to graduate when Al Aqsa Intifada brooked out, Ahlam saw the Zionist criminality, and the Zionist army killed thousands of the Palestinian civilians over the West Bank & Gaza strip.

Media as a mean of resistance:

Ahlam tried to fight the occupation by her own way, she focused in the program she was introducing it in a local television in the city of Ramallah, to monitor the practices of the occupation.

And through its work, Ahlam faced a tragic stories caused by the occupation, so she decided to go a step further, in the meantime, her colleague in the Faculty of Information and the Press, saw her as a suitable person to a member in Al Qassam Brigades.

Wa;el Douglas consulted his leadership in the Brigades, his direct leader Abdullah Al Barghouti agreed to join her to the Brigades.

The first step in the al-Qassam Brigades:

Ahlam return from exile full of sufficient intelligence, enthusiasm and feelings of national, she has great dreams in the life and a journey of success.

Al Qassam leadership ordered Douglas to recruit her; she became the first female member in the Brigades.

On July 27th, 2001, Ahlam assisted the Brigades in executing an operation in Jerusalem as a response to Zionist assassinations. On August 9th, 2001, she also assisted the Brigades in executing an operation in Jerusalem as a response to Zionist assassinations for two Hamas leaders in the West Bank.

Stability and challenge in the face of the occupiers:

When she was arrested, the Zionist investigators subjected her to severe torture, the Zionist military court sentenced to life imprisonment 16 times & 1584 years with a recommendation not to release her in any possible exchange of prisoners.

Ahlam faced the Zionist judges with a smile and said "I do not recognize the legitimacy of this court, and I do not want to introduce myself to you by mentioning my name or age, I introduce myself with my actions that you well, I see you in this court, angry, and it is the same anger that in my heart and the hearts of the Palestinian people, and if you said that I had no heart or sense, where were your hearts when you kill children in Rafah, Jenin and Ramallah, Where is the sense??."

http://www.qassam.ps/prisoner-96-Ahlam_Mazen_At_Tamimi.html

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A story of a prisoner

Malak Ziyad AL-Hanfa

They destroyed my home
Ramallah city

“Occupation forces destroyed my house and arrest my husband and daughter in the eve of the Eid,” said Um Tariq, Malak’s mother.

One story of tens hidden stories

In Palestine, people sometimes prepare for the occasional event of happiness; but more often than not they are faced with sadness during that event. People see and opportunity of calm and quiet on the horizon but are shocked with brutality and destruction at that time. This is the story of Malak and her family as they awaited the Eid (festival and holiday). But on the eve of the Eid, their house was destroyed and their family torn apart by the arrest of the father and his daughter Malak.

Malak’s mother, Um Tariq describes what happened to them saying, “Our story began on 19 January 2005 as we were preparing Eid Al-Adha. But in a blink of an eye, things changed from happiness to sadness and destruction. Tens of soldiers spread in the streets of the village and the loudspeakers shouted on civilians to leave their homes and gather in certain places.”

“We went out of the house with our neighbors. The troops took us all to Ibn Al-Haytham school. They forced the women of the village to set in a classroom and the men in another. Then, they began to interrogate us,” continues Um Tariq.

“Occupation forces were afraid from everything around them. We could see it in the eyes and behavior of the soldiers. They interrogated everyone in the area, even the children. Although they failed in capturing the wanted member of Al-Qassam brigades, the soldiers terrorized everything that moved," she added.

“Then, we heard a big explosion which devastated our house and shocked the houses around it. The house was our only place of residence. But it is better to lose our house than to lose a Qassam member,” she said.

“The family remained in the open near the destroyed house for two nights. During the second night, occupation forces came and arrested Abu Tariq and his daughter Malak. They claimed that they will interrogate them and that they will return to the family,” said Um Tariq.

“But they haven’t returned since then. They are held in occupation jails and spent more than two months under interrogation and torture. Now Abu Tariq is in Majeddo prison and Malak is in Ramla prison. And I’ve been prevented from visiting them since their arrest,” recounts Um Tariq.

“The occupation forces accuse my husband of giving logistic assistance to Al-Qassam Brigades, accuse my daughter of helping the mujahideen to use computers,” she says.

Some Characteristics

Describing her daughter, Um Tariq says, “Malak is a compassionate Muslima. She in concerned with Muslim affairs. And she always cried about the suffering and torture of our people. She dedicated herself to here sisters and classmates in and outside the university.”

“In the prison, I hear that Malak is the best in helping her sisters and teaching them the Quran. She utilizes every minute in the prison in reading the Quran and studying Islam more thoroughly.”

http://www.qassam.ps/prisoner-7-Malak_Ziyad_AL_Hanfa.html

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spread this video

Video of Israeli Navy threatening and getting ready to board

To all of you on these lists. PLEASE, send this video out to everyone. When you go to the link, there are several paragraphs written about what happened. At the bottom of the page, you will see the video. We are still recovering other video pieces which we will also send out. Ishmahil from RicenPeas and his staff put this one together.

http://www.ricenpeas.com/2009/July/cynthia_mckinney_intvw.html

1 comments

update from my email

Many of you have been asking us what has happened to the kidnapped passengers and our boat, The SPIRIT OF HUMANITY. Here then is our current update.

All 21 passengers have now left. Huwaida and Lubna were freed right away, because they hold Israeli citizenship.

Many passengers did not get all of their belongings back, many computers were stolen, some that were returned had their hard drives completely erased. Many of the pieces of camera equipment were not given back as well, and, of course, none of the tapes of the boarding, roughing up or incarceration of the 21 people who have been returned.

However, all passengers are already in their country or origin or are returning tonight. The London 6 had a press conference last night, the Bahraini 5 had a press conference in Bahrain over the weekend, and the Irish 2 are being feted tonight with a massive rally at Dublin airport. There will be a big reception and press conference there.

The two men from Al Jazeera have both been returned to Jordan through the Allenby bridge.

That leaves the three Americans... Cynthia McKinney, Kathy Sheetz and Adam Shapiro. We hear little from the American media about these three brave passengers, and it will be up to the Americans to express their outrage over their treatment. If they had been kidnapped by the military from Irah or Venezuela, their stories would have been all over the media. Because they were kidnapped by a 'friendly' nation, few in the U.S. have opened their mouths.

As far as Israel is concerned, we will demand that our boat be returned, that our equipment and tapes be returned, and they cease and desist their interference with our human rights trips to Gaza. Because we are going back. Israel can ram our boat, threaten us with bodily harm, shoot at us, board and confiscate the boat, shuttle us off to prison, and we will still return.

The outrage in many countries over what happened is muted by the fact that 11,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, many without benefit of trial, many languishing for years without being able to see their families.

And this fact is something we must all remember. We came from countries around the world. We attempted to break Israel's draconian siege of 1.5 million Palestinians. Even when arrested, the Israelis treated us with kid gloves, afraid of the consequences from governments, activists and human rights organizations. Who will stand up for the Palestinians and do the same thing?

Please go and watch, if you have not already, our video of our incarceration and the incarceration of Palestinian men, woman and children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ri8jWj_KbY

With grateful thanks from all of us to all of you.

The Free Gaza Team
www.freegaza.org
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

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from my email

Report from the Kidnapped Passengers in Ramle Prison, July 4, 2009

On Monday, June 30, 21 passengers going to challenge the blockade of Gaza on board the Spirit of Humanity were seized by the Israeli Navy and taken to Israel against their will. All their equipment was taken and some of were roughed up. All were thrown into prison to await Israel’s decision on how and when they would be deported.

The majority of the group ended up in Ramle Prison. Those of us who are Free Gaza organizers had been hearing some news from them, statements, interviews and letters since they arrived. From the first night, the Free Gaza 21 have been busy trying to get news out of the prison about the illegality of Israel’s actions in relation to themselves and the other inmates inside Ramle Prison who have no voice.

Report from E: I received a 2am phone call during one of the first sleepless nights from Ramle Prison to let me know that in one of the cells, four of the FG group had been busy writing a press release on an old phone one of their cellmates had loaned them. It had taken them hours to write the press release. but they were just ready to send it out, and ‘could I check my email to see if I had received it?’

Since that first night I have been hearing more increasingly about the plight of the other inmates of the prison; men and women who have not nearly as good an opportunity as our folk for media coverage of their stories and not nearly as good an opportunity as our folk of ever getting out of Ramle Prison.

To Fathi Jaouadi, Adie Mormesh, Ishmael Blagrove, and Captain Denis Healy, the situation of their fellow inmates is something they want to talk about and act upon. Fathi wanted to pass on news of what they have been doing inside Ramle prison; he wanted to let everyone who supports the Free Gaza Movement know that ‘Free Gaza Members are never lost for things to do when it comes to trying to expose Israel’s appalling treatment of not just Palestinians, but all people who come to Palestine and get caught up in Israel’s abuse of justice and the law.’

Fathi Jaouadi has been actively involved in Palestinian rights since he was 15 years old. Now in Ramle prison, he has already managed to organize a meeting with a UN representative and to raise the issue of the other inmates with him. He said that the UN official has agreed to follow up on some of the cases; Fathi has also been in contact with local NGO’s to raise the issue of many of the inmate’s situations. He told me he wants to focus on the fact that none of the inmates have any access to legal advice or help, most of the inmates have not been able to contact family to let them know of their situation and none of the inmates have committed anything that warrants them to be held indefinitely inside Ramle prison.

Fathi is in the process of collecting statements from all the inmates, and he is translating them from Arabic. He says the majority of the inmates in their cell are from Arab countries, and they have not had access to their embassy officials. He will follow up with the UN and other organizations once he is released, contact all the families and give statements and details to the relevant embassies.

Ishmael Blagrove is a well-known documentary filmmaker and has been speaking extensively about the Palestinian struggle for more than twenty years. In Ramle prison, he has been working tirelessly to get contact with refugee councils and organizations in Britain to present to them the case of the refugees inside. He says that many of the men from neighbouring Arab countries just want to go home, they don’t want to stay in Israel and yet they are not being given the opportunity to speak. Ishmael says that many of the inmates are entitled to legal representation, but they do not know this, nor do they have any idea how to contact any refugee organization to advise them. Ishmael is in the process of establishing links between the refugee councils in Britain and the inmates of his cell in Ramle Prison.

Fathi and Ishmael have already established channels to publish these issues in Britain on their release.

When we called Ramle Prison today Fathi said that Adie had just finished his daily English lesson with the inmates. Adie is reportedly very happy with the progress of his students and said this morning they had successfully completed an intense session on Past Participles. Adie Mormesh has also been very active for the rights of Palestinians for many years. He spent two weeks in the West Bank with the Olive Coop (Zeitoun) and Action Palestine in 2007. He worked with and documented the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Campaign and participated in the World Social Forums for Palestine in Porto Alegre and Mumbai in 2003 and 2004. He has now become a teacher of English in Ramle prison.

Captain Denis Healey who has been the Free Gaza Movement’s captain since October 2008 and bravely steered the DIGNITY to safety in December when she was attacked by the Israeli Navy at sea, has also been quite busy; he has been giving in-depth lectures to his fellow inmates about life at sea. Apparently there are many interested parties amongst the inmates; some hope that they may pursue a life on the sea when (and sadly if) they ever get out. They are full of questions as to the procedure of getting qualified to work on and sail boats in the Mediterranean, and Captain Denis is giving them a good run down on what they should do to follow such a dream.

This is how four of our passengers have been keeping busy during the past week, they wanted to let you all know; they also said they realize the news they are sending out is not new to any of us. We have all been working with these issues of injustice for years. But that doesn’t mean that every new story about the violation of human rights, about the cruelty, brutality and flagrant misuse of justice by Israel should not be published.

Our friends are stuck in Ramle prison, because they tried to visit the war-stricken people of Gaza, and they are furious at what they are seeing. They know they have generated media interest around the world, and that sooner or later, they will leave Ramle Prison, but they also know that the other inmates of the prison have no such privilege, and without our interest in them, they could well be stuck inside Ramle prison for the rest of their lives, or exiled to some foreign country that is not their home, facing a life without family or loved ones to share it with. And so it is for the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners at present inside Israeli jails. Every one of them has a story that ought to be heard.

Statement #1 taken by Fathi Jaouadi.

From Ramle Prison, 3^rd July 2009.

My name is M.

I am 26 years old.

I am a Palestinian born in Al Quds and I hold a birth certificate showing this. My family comes from a village called Sour Bahr.

We have two houses there owned by my grandfather who fled in ’48 to Jordan and left the houses with my Aunt.

When I was 5 years old I went with my family to Jordan to bring back the papers that proved our ownership of these two houses. We stayed in Jordan for 2 years and then, when we had all the papers we came back to Sour Bahr.

I lived all my life in one of the houses and some of my family lived in the other. We always used to make our way between our two houses which were only minutes apart from each other.

However when the Wall was built, it split our two houses apart. It used to take minutes and then it took 4 ½ hours to go from house to house.

The house I lived in was in the West Bank, the other on the side of the Wall that is Al Quds.

When I was 16 I began the process to try and obtain Israeli ID so that I could continue to enter Al Quds and go to our house that was on the other side of the Wall.

Every day my mother would go to the Interior Ministry to try and obtain my ID. She contacted many lawyers about the case but although she worked on this for 8 years, there was no result. During this time I tried often to visit our house on the Al Quds side of the wall and every time I was caught by the Israeli forces and sent back to the West Bank.

When I was 24 years old I had a fight with a friend, I was caught by Israel during the fight and imprisoned for 1 ½ years.

I am a normal Palestinian trying to live a normal life. I am not involved in any political movement and I have no security issues with Israel. I am just trying to live my life, but when I had served my time in prison for fighting with a friend, Israel could not decide where to release me.

My birth certificate said Al Quds but I had no Israeli ID. When Israel started investigating, they discovered that when I was 5 years old I had gone with my family to Jordan for 2 years.

It was then that I was told by an Israeli judge that the Law states:

‘Any Palestinian who spends 2 years outside Israel has no right to return’

I have since seen Judge twice in the past two months. and he has told me that I will be returned to Jordan.

But Jordan has refused to accept me. So now I have been told I will just have to wait in prison.

I am very depressed now and hate my life. I am afraid of how long they will make me wait. It could be years. I am afraid I will be sent to Jordan. I have no one in Jordan. I was there when I was 5 years old! All my family are in Palestine. I know if they send me to Jordan I will never be allowed back into Palestine. I will never be allowed to see my family again. And I have done nothing.

I just want to be allowed to live a simple life with my family and the people I know and love, in my own land.

--
Greta Berlin
Free Gaza Movement

357 99 284 102

www.freegaza.org
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

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About

This is a diary born out of concerns of a never ending misery of Palestinian people trying to survive in conditions where they have no human dignity, no oppertunity to ordinary life, no daily life supplies, things that some of us don't think about much...A diary of 2 friends bonded with freedom, and looking for spreading the truth. [As my friend from Palestine is unavailable to write att the moment, I will try to cover the Palestinian view by copying news and interviewing my other Palestinian friends and asking them to write stories too] A gate to the land of Palestine, where freedom is a dream, and truth is hard to be seen. Help us to spread the truth by spreading this blog. Thank you for your support.

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why we will not stop sending boats

Another story of a prisoner

Ahlam Mazen At-Tamimi

A story of a prisoner

Malak Ziyad AL-Hanfa

spread this video

Video of Israeli Navy threatening and getting ready to board

update from my email

from my email

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