GAZA STRIP: Siege-busting boats setting sail

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A showdown is brewing in the Mediterranean waters off the Gaza Strip.

Early Friday morning, a pair of boats carrying an international array of activists will set sail from Cyprus with the intention of landing in the Gaza Strip. Their cargo isn’t much: a load of hearing aids and several thousand balloons to pass out to children.

But organizers say the symbolic importance could set a precedent that shakes up the current status quo in Gaza.

‘The idea is to go and break the siege,’ said participant Jeff Halper, in a phone interview from Cyprus. ‘Israel claims there’s no occupation anymore. If that’s the case then there should be no problem with us going to Gaza. And if they do prevent us, then it proves that there’s still an occupation.’

Plans for the flotilla to Gaza have been in the works for more than two years. Organizers raised more than $300,000 to buy and refurbish the two boats named Free Gaza and Liberty -- the latter, according to organizers, is a tribute to the USS Liberty, the US Naval ship that was attacked by Israeli planes in 1967.

Halper, an Israeli citizen, said the primary goal is to publicly put Israel in a legal bind.
‘I don’t think they really know what to do with us. What can they arrest us for,’ he said. ‘If they continue to say they’re not an occupying power, then they have no authority to stop us -- other than security concerns and they’re free to inspect our boats.’

Organizers still aren’t sure just what to expect from the Israelis when they reach Gazan waters. Just in case, they’ve timed to departure to make sure they arrive in the middle of the day Saturday.

‘In the daytime, we’re much more protected. At night, the Israelis could jump us,’ Halper said.

So far, the Israelis haven’t tipped their hand as to whether they’ll prevent the boats from landing in Gaza. A letter from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the flotilla’s organizers offered to transport whatever humanitarian goods they wanted to deliver through official Israeli channels and border crossings.

‘If your intentions are good, please choose this way,’ the letter stated. ‘If you do not intend to deliver the humanitarian aid via Israel, this proves that your goal is political and constitutes the legitimization of a terrorist organization.’

-- Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem

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