History Freely Streaming from on Board the SS LIBERTY and FREE GAZA
VTR
Eileen fleming
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the
only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead
Within the next few days, history will be freely streaming from aboard the FREE GAZA and SS
LIBERTY as a few committed global citizens focus the world's attention onto the 1.4 million
open air prisoners of Gaza who have been collectively punished by Israel's ongoing occupation.
On board are Internationals, Israelis, Palestinians, a Catholic Nun, Child of The Holocaust,
Journalists, Human Rights Activists, Fathers and Mothers, Civil Engineers and Coordinators of
Children's Programs in Gaza, Professors, Film Makers, Writers, Non-Violence Trainers and
Activists, former Marine and Legislative Representative, Musicians and More [1] who have been
led by the desire to stand up for the voiceless who have endured under siege conditions before
and after the 'disengagement' in 2005, for Israel has always maintained complete control of
air, land and sea borders.
"We have been invited by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society of Gaza to go to Gaza. The people
of Gaza expect us and will come out in their boats to meet us. We will fish together," Greta
Berlin, Co-Founder of the Free Gaza Movement announced at the closing of the 27th annual
ADC/Arab-American Anti-Discrimination conference in Washington, D.C. June 10, 2007, which
preceded a March on D.C. by over 5,000 dissenting American's Against the Israeli Occupation of
Palestine. The MSM was MIA at both events, but the March was well attended by USA Security Forces.
In 2007, the plan had been to sail ten boats through international waters to bring food, water,
medicine directly to the people of Gaza. It has been said that you don't make war with the army
you wish you had, but the army you have; the army out to change the world consists of two
boats- the FREE GAZA and SS LIBERTY and streaming video.
Co-visionary and Co-Founder of Free Gaza, Dr. Paul Larudee, a former Fulbright-Hayes lecturer
and piano tuner had scheduled twenty piano tuning appointments throughout the West Bank during
the summer of 2006, but instead, spent two weeks in a Ben Gurion jail cell before being
deported for his NON-VIOLENT activism against the route of The Wall and U.S.A. Tax Dollars that
Support the Israeli Military Occupation of Palestine.
Larudee explained in 2007, "We are going through international waters; we are not going through
Israel. Israel claims Gaza is unoccupied and so, we are going to unoccupied territory…We will
embark in Cypress and disembark in Gaza. This can play out in many ways; we may get blown out
of the water, we may get towed away, but we will remain nonviolent and exercise the sovereignty
of international waters, for we are not going through Israel. We will not allow the Coast Guard
to enter onto our boats; we will demonstrate nonviolently our solidarity with the residents of
Gaza who invited us. We are taking food, water, medicine, but the issue is solidarity with the
people of Gaza. If our rights are denied, we will remain nonviolent."
Also on board is American Israeli Professor Jeff Halper, Founder of Israeli Committee against
House Demolitions and famous for his explanation of Israeli democracy, "Israel is not a
democracy, but is an Ethnocracy, meaning a country run and controlled by a national group with
some democratic elements but set up with Jews in control and structured to keep them in
control…Missing from Israel's security framing is the very fact of occupation, which Israel
both denies exists...and that 'security' requires Israel control over the entire
country...rendering impossible a just peace based on human rights, international law,
reconciliation."
Sara Roy, is a senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard
University and political economist who has worked in Gaza since 1985. She had just returned
from there and spoke prior to Greta and Paul at the 2007 ADC Conference:
"There is nothing new in Gaza, just more acute and the internal breakdown due to restrictions
and 527 physical barriers and cantonizations make it impossible for Palestinian businessmen to
move their goods and they have been forced to hire Israelis as middle men who are able to
transport Palestinian goods over the 535 miles of roads that Palestinians have been denied
access to. The few Palestinians who are able to access these roads have become a privileged
class…This new class is also dependent on international donors who are not building new
structures to challenge the occupation and this has resulted in the humanitarization of
Palestine; donors and Israelis are not treating them as human beings with political rights.
"This has caused fragmentation, isolation, cantonization which will soon become worse. The
physical impediments, roadblocks and required permits have caused most of the people to give
up, for their efforts to move their goods increases their costs so much and since there is no
guarantee that their efforts will result in them being able to transport their wares, many have
given up.
"There is a great sense that the people are robbed of their space and time and this has
resulted in a de-development of the human being…The issue is no longer occupation but sovereign
control...All vestiges of Palestinian presence is being destroyed by Israel."
The FREE GAZA and SSS LIBERTY are scheduled to set sail for Gaza from Cypress by the middle of
August 2008. When the international crew alerted the people of Gaza of some most recent delays,
the resilient patient reply was, "Don't worry. We know you are coming. And we are waiting."
The Free Gaza Movement is endorsed by an impressive array of international groups and
personalities including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Former Prime
Minister of Lebanon Dr. Salim Al-Hoss.[2]
On two small boats, 40 global citizens from 16 countries, [the oldest will celebrate her 84th
birthday on board and the youngest is a 22-year-old student from Denmark] on their way to Gaza,
will be freely streaming reality video with hope to nonviolently defeat the Israeli Navy and
begin the End of the Occupation.
The SS LIBERTY learned their lessons to have documentation on the go, from its namesake the USS
LIBERTY, which was attacked while in international waters not far from Gaza by the Israeli Navy
and Air Force on June 8, 1967:
"Israel got away with cold blooded murder! Forty years ago the CIA and the NSA all threatened
the survivors not to talk! They scared me so much; I didn't for twenty years… Israel wanted the
world to believe that Egypt [committed the crime]…Thirty-four were killed and 172 were wounded
out of a crew of 294…The Israeli planes marked out the Star of David so we wouldn't know who
was attacking us… Our keel was broken, we should have sunk but God kept us alive "- Phillip
Tourney, USS LIBERTY Survivor, October 13, 2007.
"It is time to speak openly and honestly about Israel. But, in American politics, that is still
forbidden…Pity that we cannot seem to shed our fear of Israel. We are afraid to speak out on
Capitol Hill, for fear of losing the next election. They are more like trained poodles jumping
through hoops than leaders! Why this fear? How did we get here?
"Forty years ago to this day, June 8, 1967 the change occurred, the floodgates opened and money
poured into Israel as never before. When President Johnson heard about the U.S.S. Liberty being
attacked by Israel he ordered the rescue fighter planes to return to the deck. The rescue
mission was aborted and the survivors have said they heard LBJ's voice tell Admiral Giess, 'Get
those planes back on deck. I don't care if the ship sinks, I will not embarrass Israel.'
"LBJ also threatened to court martial anyone who reported what had happened. Johnson accepted
Israel's false claim of "mistaken identity" and he knew it was a lie. That is when the change
began and Israel learned they could get away with murdering U.S.A. soldiers."-Congressman Paul
Findley, June 8, 2007, 27th annual American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Washington, D.C.
"In the long run, there is no JUSTICE without FREEDOM. There can be no human rights without
LIBERTY. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore
your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for liberty, we stand with
you."-President George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address
May God keep the SS LIBERTY and FREE GAZA afloat and freely streaming video of the fearless
crew who just maybe harbingers of new 'birth-pangs' of a New Middle East;
One based on Justice which is the only way to Peace.
Get on Board:
http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?language=EN&module=join_in
1. http://www.freegaza.org/uploads/august2008/participant_bios_2.pdf
2. http://www.freegaza.org
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August 12, 2008 By Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/ Author
Keep Hope Alive and Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory,
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu." Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or
web media if this credit is attached and the title remains unchanged. Only in Solidarity do "we
have it in our power to begin the world again."-Tom Paine
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