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International News
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Written by Samuel Sokol
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Thursday, 22 April 2010 11:25 |
 The Coalition to Break the Blockade on Gaza has announced its support of terrorism against the State of Israel. According to a manifesto posted on the website of the Greek branch of the Ship to Gaza organization, which is a coalition member, the coalition supports “Palestinian resistance in all its forms,†a euphemism frequently used by Arabs to indicate armed violence.
“According to international law, people who are occupied have the right to resist and even [use] violent resistance,†said Dror Feiler, spokesman for Ship to Gaza of Sweden, when asked by the Five Towns Jewish Times about the phrasing on the Greek website.
The coalition comprises Turkish, Greek, and Swedish organizations, in conjunction with the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza and the Free Gaza Movement. The Free Gaza Movement is closely aligned with the International Solidarity Movement, whose members have served as human shields for terrorists in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
The coalition is planning to arrive with a convoy of eight boats in mid-May. There will be four cargo ships and four ships carrying passengers. The activists’ goal is to break through the “Israeli blockade†of Gaza, which has been described by a coalition spokesman as an “act of piracy.†Two further flotillas are scheduled to arrive in June.
Feiler expressed his opposition to missile fire against targets in the western Negev, saying that it is “not moral†and that it is “not good for the resistance.†However, he did endorse violence against Israelis beyond the Green Line, saying that he has “nothing against resistance against the illegal occupation and the illegal settlements [and] developments in the West Bank.â€
Israel withdrew all Israeli residents and soldiers from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The Israel-born activist has a history of making inflammatory statements. In 2004, Feiler produced the art installation “Snow White and the Madness of Truth,†which glorified Hanadi Jaradat, a suicide bomber who murdered 21 people in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. After the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, caused a diplomatic incident by pulling the plug powering the piece’s lighting and music, Feiler told him that Israel was an “apartheid country.â€
The Greek branch of Ship to Gaza expressed a similar opinion to that of Feiler regarding resistance. “Some forms of resistance should not be used,†said spokesman Vangelis Pissias, “but it’s not up to me to tell them how they will resist.â€
Pissias accused Israel of killing 1,500 people, primarily women and children, during the IDF’s 2009 counter-terror incursion into Gaza, and he compared Palestinian terrorism to resistance against the Nazis during the Second World War.
Another staffer of the Greek branch of Ship to Gaza concurred, saying that they “see the Palestinian people being attacked by a war machine that is very, very brutal and hard and I am guessing that they must have a way to resist.â€
Pissias also minimized the importance of weekly Israeli shipments to the Gaza Strip. During the week of April 12, Israeli authorities transferred nearly 12,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as well as almost 200,000 gallons of diesel. Israel also allowed three truckloads of carnations to be exported to Europe.
Links With Hamas And Turkish Group
According to Feiler, his movement has “nothing to do with the authorities of Gaza, nothing to do with the people who rule Gaza.†However, according to the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Malam), the members of the coalition “have associated themselves with the Hamas administration,†which “is involved in organizing the flotilla.†One of the primary planners of the previous aid flotilla was Muhammad Sawalha, the senior Hamas operative in Britain.
The flotilla’s plans for avoiding the Israeli navy were recently announced by Jamal al-Khudari, a Hamas operative who heads the Popular Committee Against the Siege. The ships are to leave from different locations and will only rendezvous outside Gaza, where they will attempt to enter together. One hundred local boats, some carrying children, will be on hand to accompany the foreign ships into the strip.
The flotilla, which Hamas has termed “the ship intifada,†will be bringing “financial assistance for the Hamas administration†as well as such dual-use materials as cement and iron, Malam claims.
Hamas hopes that Turkish participation in the flotilla will further damage already strained relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.
Representatives of the Turkish Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) organization, a member of the Coalition to Break the Blockade on Gaza, have previously met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismaiil Haniyeh and have donated supplies and motor vehicles directly to the terror group. IHH’s president, Bulent Yildirim, has previously visited Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus.
A spokesperson for the IHH told the Five Towns Jewish Times that the current situation in Gaza is a “silent genocide.†The IHH stressed that if the “siege would be on Jews, we would [also] try our best to end the siege.â€
However, this is questionable, as the spokesperson admitted that IHH is in touch with Sawalha, who is a former commander of Hamas’s terrorist operative infrastructure in Judea and Samaria and is wanted by Israeli authorities. He has also been accused of funneling money from Europe to Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades.
Israeli Response
The Israeli Foreign Ministry had harsh words for the organizers of the flotilla. “These people are not supporting the Palestinians and they are not even supporting humanitarian causes,†said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “They are engaged in only one thing, and that is to create provocations and to collaborate with Hamas propaganda.â€
“When they were apprehended [previously] it turned out that their boats were not carrying any sort of humanitarian assistance to Gaza,†he charged, calling Hamas “the illegal occupier of the Gaza Strip.â€
Many Israelis maintain that control of Gaza’s coast is necessary in order to stop shipments of Iranian weapons, including missiles, from reaching Hamas. Islamic terrorist groups have been attacking Jewish targets by missile and rocket for almost a decade. In February, three barrels laden with explosives were found floating just off Israeli beaches. The IDF believes that they were launched from fishing boats from Gaza.
The Foreign Ministry did not disclose its plans regarding the ships or what actions, if any, it would take regarding foreign-government representatives attempting to enter Gaza by sea. Feiler claims that five Swedish MPs will be accompanying the flotilla. He also indicated that several other Israeli citizens are planning on joining the flotilla. “If Israeli citizens are found to be on the boats after all is over and done with, they will be dealt with according to Israeli law,†Palmor stated.
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