"Free Gaza" boats arrive in Gaza in protest against Israeli siege

[zqt3344 21]

Right! What blockade or siege? More spin from PLO lovers. Makes me wanna puke, nothing but a bunch of terrorists, killing innocents or robbing and stealing from their own kind and making their own people suffer due to their own selfish interests.

Original thread was here in OT with just the link posted in MENA, but for some reason the original thread was merged with the link and banished to MENA. See it here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=146567

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Right! What blockade or siege? More spin from PLO lovers. Makes me wanna puke, nothing but a bunch of terrorists, killing innocents or robbing and stealing from their own kind and making their own people suffer due to their own selfish interests.

The activists are terrorists, killing innocents, robbing, stealing etc. ??????? Wow you better get on the hotline to Tel Aviv right away, because according to the IDF:

None of the activists was known to be involved in terrorist activity.

and

there is no intelligence indicating that the activists plan to smuggle wanted terrorists out of the Strip.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1014938.html

They are going to leave with 2 additional passengers, though -- the 2 remaining Fulbright scholar winners to whom Israel refused to issue travel permits. The Israeli government is well aware of this, and even admits in the article that there is no reason to stop them.

In fact, the official consensus of the Israeli government is: since attempts failed to bully or threaten the activists into abandoning their mission, that this incident should be studiously ignored in the hopes that it won't get much attention in the U.S., so that Israel may avoid further embarrassing media attention.

In fact, simply by bumping this thread, you're doing exactly what the Zionist cause urgently wishes their supporters *not* do. For that, I thank you !

P.S. -- I have to simply LOL @ "what blockade or siege"

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

* scholarship winners

[IAMX 3,055]

Right! What blockade or siege? More spin from PLO lovers. Makes me wanna puke, nothing but a bunch of terrorists, killing innocents or robbing and stealing from their own kind and making their own people suffer due to their own selfish interests.

The activists are terrorists, killing innocents, robbing, stealing etc. ??????? Wow you better get on the hotline to Tel Aviv right away, because according to the IDF:

None of the activists was known to be involved in terrorist activity.

and

there is no intelligence indicating that the activists plan to smuggle wanted terrorists out of the Strip.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1014938.html

They are going to leave with 2 additional passengers, though -- the 2 remaining Fulbright scholar winners to whom Israel refused to issue travel permits. The Israeli government is well aware of this, and even admits in the article that there is no reason to stop them.

In fact, the official consensus of the Israeli government is: since attempts failed to bully or threaten the activists into abandoning their mission, that this incident should be studiously ignored in the hopes that it won't get much attention in the U.S., so that Israel may avoid further embarrassing media attention.

In fact, simply by bumping this thread, you're doing exactly what the Zionist cause urgently wishes their supporters *not* do. For that, I thank you !

P.S. -- I have to simply LOL @ "what blockade or siege"

You'd think they'd be embarrassed spouting off this nonsense against activists, but they must be from the Reagan era where conservatives started making activists and terrorists of the same ilk, catering to uneducated nationalist and xenophobic views.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

BOAT UPDATES

Greta's Report on Monday's Fishing

(Monday, August 25) I sat at the front of the fishing boat, one of six

that went out this morning. They are old wooden boats, outfitted with

bits and pieces of mechanical parts, rope twisted together and fishing

nets. Israel has refused to let Palestinians fish in their own waters

for the past 15 months. Even before that, they restricted Palestinian

fishermen to around 6 miles. Now, they shoot holes in the boats and in

the fishermen if they are caught farther out than about a kilometer.

So today, 19 of us were going along to break a different kind of

siege... the denial of Palestinian rights to fish, something every

other country bordering the Mediterranean has. Only Palestinians are

told they can't fish for their livelihood, provide for their families

and contribute to their own economy. We decided that, since we sailed

into Gaza (one fisherman told us we were the first boats to come into

the port in 35 years; they have been forced to buy everything from

Israel, who charges them exorbitant fees to buy their own fish back).

Twenty of us arrived at the port about 4:30, sleepy and stumbling

about amid the dozens of security men standing there guarding us. We

were told we'd have to wait, because the fishermen were afraid to go

out to sea with us, uncertain whether they would be shot at or worse.

Finally, four hours later, six boats showed up, and we boarded, two or

three to a boat. The port is small but perfectly adequate for these

boats plus our own two that were on the dock front to back. The media

climbed into one of them, escorting us out.

All the Palestinians said they wanted to go our past the six mile

limit. They were as eager as we were to test the noose hanging around

their necks. At 8 miles, three Israeli patrol boats showed up, buzzing

up and down in front of us, a man on a machine gun at the back of each

one. The boat I was accompanying was owned by six cousins, the

youngest 15, and they were, at first, nervous when the patrol boats

showed up. I'm sure the Israelis were having a coronary wondering what

to do with us, but they left us alone. I'm sure their media will now

say they 'escorted us' out to sea, but that would be a lie.

Six hours later, the men had caught more fish in their nets than they

had in four years. They were ecstatic, and I got to watch them haul

the tons of fish up and over the back of the boat, sort them, water

them down, they pick out the best 8 inch shrimp to cook for my friend,

Moussa, and me. By the time we pulled back into port twelve hours

later, my skin was bright pink from the sun, they were overjoyed with

their catch, and the boats that went out would provide an income for

over 16 families for a month.

"Will you come tomorrow? Will you come and fish again?" And, of

course, we can't. They had challenged Israel's horrible siege on them,

and, today, they won. But without us, will the Israeli come back

tomorrow and get even?

We can hope that these men will be able to go out once more and do

what generations of men have done... go fishing.

Greta Berlin