“Free Gaza” Mission Accomplished—Safely, Successfully
| WRMEA Archives 2006-2010 - 2008 November |
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2008, pages 15, 32
Special Report
“Free Gaza” Mission Accomplished—Safely, Successfully
By Pat McDonnell Twair
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“YOU’LL ALL be killed!”
“You lack the money and sailing experience.”
“It’s insane to defy an Israeli naval blockade with two puny boats.”
Such were the remarks heard by organizers of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) who bucked all odds, anonymous death threats, staggering credit card debts and repair-related delays to sail into the Port of Gaza on Aug. 23.
The idea of breaking Israel’s naval siege of Gaza was hatched in October 2006 by four women—Greta Berlin and Mary Hughes Thompson of Los Angeles, and two Australian activists living in England—and one man, Paul Larudee of the San Francisco Bay area.
As the Israeli juggernaut slowly and inexorably crushed the people of Gaza as punishment for its democratically elected Hamas government, human rights activists chafed at the world’s silence in the face of such collective punishment, which is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
“We looked at our voyage as a means to prove Israel still occupies Gaza,” Berlin explained. “Israel claims the Gazans are free, but 1.5 million Gazans cannot exit their borders, and Israel prevents the free passage of food, industrial goods and basic necessities from entering the area.”
The nucleus of activists networked with other human rights groups. Fund-raisers were launched in England and the U.S. In Northern California, members of the Free Gaza Movement staged a lottery, with prizes ranging from one week in a villa in southern France to dinners at Arab restaurants. A benefit hip-hop performance, car washes, private fund-raisers and ads in the Washington Report mustered enough cash to purchase a 72-foot trawler for 105,000 euros. Berthed in Greece, it was christened the SS Free Gaza.
A Web site was established, at <www.freegaza.org>. Plans were made for a tentative mid-August sailing date from Larnaca, Cyprus. In June, the activists purchased a second boat in Greece. The vintage 60-foot wooden vessel was given the name SS Liberty in honor of the USS Liberty, the U.S. naval intelligence ship deliberately attacked by the Israelis on June 7, 1967, killing 34 American seamen. After extensive repairs were made, the second boat ended up costing nearly 105,000 euros.
Participants from 17 nations began arriving in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, where they lodged in a college dormitory. Temperatures soared to over 100 degrees Farenheit. The passengers were eager to sail, but the two boats needed major repairs before departing for Cyprus from Greece. Ensuring that the captains and crew were fully certified resulted in further postponements.
As the delays stretched into a second week, a few people left the project. The most dedicated FGM movers maxed out their credit cards to pay an additional $60,000 for electrical equipment and a satellite communications system.
The European, Middle Eastern and Asian media were intrigued with the story of two small boats carrying unarmed peace workers challenging the formidable Israeli navy. While the U.S. press ignored the Free Gaza voyage, TV screens and headlines overseas carried breaking reports on the determined human rights activists.
Finally, on Aug. 20, the two boats arrived at the port of Larnaca. Their awaiting passengers were eager to depart, and death threats increased the urgency to sail before the boats were bombed. Cypriot officials examined the cargo and issued formal notification that no arms were aboard. Divers checked the bottoms of the boats to make sure no explosive devices had been planted.
At 10 a.m. on Aug. 22, the boats embarked on a 241-mile voyage flying the flags of 17 nations and carrying 44 passengers who ranged in age from 22 to 81.
“It was hot as Hades on the boat in the daylight,” recalls Hughes-Thompson, 74, “but that night it was terribly cold. We only had lightweight summer clothes, but I crawled into a lifeboat on deck and tried to pretend I was warm.”
The sea was choppy and many passengers became seasick. The $60,000 communications system wasn’t working, and many feared the Israelis were jamming it.
One passenger, Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former Britain Prime Minister and current Mideast peace envoy Tony Blair, angrily picked up the one working satellite phone. Hughes-Thompson described the enraged Booth shouting into the receiver, “This is a crime. We are not sailors. We have sick people aboard. If there is an emergency and we can’t call for help, you are responsible.”
Hughes-Thompson, a former documentary filmmaker, struck up a special relationship with Booth, whose actor father starred in “Til Death Do Us Part,” the British predecessor of “All in the Family.” Hughes-Thompson was the personal assistant to Norman Lear, who created the American TV series.
“It was a black, black night,” Hughes-Thompson continued. ”All of us were sure the Israelis would board our boats and that we might be arrested, assaulted, even killed. I just wanted it to be light so I could see our attackers.”
Stated Huwaida Arraf, who teaches law at al-Quds University in Jerusalem and is co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement: “I’ve had experience with the Israelis; therefore I felt I shouldn’t sleep—nor did I want to. At one point, our boats stopped about 25 miles from Gaza’s shore to wait for a media boat that was to come from the Israeli port of Ashkelon to meet us. The boat never made it.
“We knew it was from this point forward, entering Gaza waters, that the Israeli navy might confront us,” she explained. “The media boat wouldn’t be there to record it if the Israelis attacked us.
”We were running out of daylight hours and our communications were severely limited,” Arraf continued. “We talked among ourselves and decided to push forward. Shortly after, the Ramattan journalist on board received news that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had announced it wasn’t going to stop us.”
Interjected Hughes-Thompson: “We couldn’t believe after two years of planning that we really were seeing the coast of Gaza! We could discern Israel to the north and Egypt to the south. We wept—I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Then there were young boys approaching us in boats. There were 40,000 Gazans on the beach cheering us onward.
“We’d blown up hundreds of balloons in the colors of the Palestinian flag with a dove and the words Free Gaza in the center. We released the (biodegradable) balloons and the boys were diving into the water trying to catch them. Then the fishermen and swimmers swarmed onto our boat and I feared we would sink.”
“If I never do anything else for the rest of my life,” said organizer Greta Berlin, “that moment when we were the first boats to land in Gaza in 41 years will remain with me forever.”
The Gazans described Berlin, 67, as “the blonde Sinbad with more courage than all the Arab leaders.”
“I always thought Israel would back down at the last minute,” she told the Washington Report. “First of all, they had no right to stop us. Second, they were facing a public relations disaster if they harmed us or the boats. Now they are stuck. We set a precedent, and I’m sure they’re scrambling to figure out how to stop us again. And we are going again.”
In the midst of all the celebrations, Capt. John Klusmire, who skippered the S.S. Free Gaza, pushed back his cap, scratched his head and commented: “I never saw a boat in such a beat-up condition. This old tub wasn’t designed to carry so many people or sail in rough seas so far off shore, but no one complained.”
On Monday, Aug. 25, the SS Free Gaza accompanied six Gaza fishing boats eight miles off the coast of Gaza, where, despite harassment by Israeli military vessels, they were able to bring in a good catch. Israeli forces regularly have restricted Gaza fishermen to as little as three miles offshore, drastically hampering the local fishing industry.
Three days later the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty set sail from Gaza for their return voyage to Cyprus. Accompanying the activists were seven Palestinian civilians who had been denied exit visas by Israel: Saed Mosleh, 10, who lost his leg after being hit by an Israeli tank shell, his father, and Maha Darwish and her four children, aged 5 to 18, who were looking forward to reuniting with their relatives in Cyprus.
Several of the international activists, including Booth, remained in Gaza to provide humanitarian assistance. Prevented from exiting by Israel and Egypt via either the Erez crossing or Rafah border respectively, they await the return of the two small boats on which they came. If all goes according to plan, it won’t be too long before the boats appear on the Gaza horizon, bringing mail, medical supplies, and the knowledge that the world has not forgotten the imprisoned men, women and children of Gaza.
Pat McDonnell Twair is a free-lance writer based in Los Angeles.
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