[E-rundbrief] Info 708 - Peace-Boats arrive Gaza

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 708 - Free Gaza: Free Gaza boats arrive in Gaza; 
Kampagne "Gaza muss leben": Blockade des Gazastreifen durchbrochen.

Bad Ischl, 24.8.2008

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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FREE GAZA BOATS ARRIVE IN GAZA
(www.freegaza.org)

For More Information, please contact:

(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, tel. +972 599 130 426

(Gaza) Jeff Halper, tel. +972 542 002 642

(Cyprus) Osama Qashoo, tel. +357 99 793 595 / osamaqashoo [at] gmail.com

(Jerusalem) Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, tel. +972 547 366 393 /
angela [at] ichad.org

GAZA (23 August 2008) - Two small boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS
Liberty, successfully landed in Gaza early this evening, breaking the
Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The boats were crewed by a determined group of international human
rights workers from the Free Gaza Movement. They had spent two years
organizing the effort, raising money by giving small presentations at
churches, mosques, synagogues, and in the homes of family, friends, and
supporters.

They left Cyprus on Thursday morning, sailing over 350 kilometers
through choppy seas. They made the journey despite threats that the
Israeli government would use force to stop them. They continued sailing
although they lost almost all communications and navigation systems due
to outside jamming by some unknown party. They arrived in Gaza to the
cheers and joyful tears of hundreds of Palestinians who came out to the
beaches to welcome them.

Two small boats, 42 determined human rights workers, one simple message:
"The world has not forgotten the people of this land. Today, we are all
from Gaza."

Tonight, the cheering will be heard as far away as Tel Aviv and
Washington D.C.

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QUOTES FOR PUBLICATION

"We recognize that we're two, humble boats, but what we've accomplished
is to show that average people from around the world can mobilize to
create change. We do not have to stay silent in the face of injustice.
Reaching Gaza today, there is such a sense of hope, and hope is what
mobilizes people everywhere."

--Huwaida Arraf.

Huwaida is Palestinian-American, and also a citizen of Israel. She's a
human rights activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity
Movement. In 2007 she received her Juris Doctor from American University
in Washington D.C. Currently she teaches Human Rights and Humanitarian
Law at Al Quds University in Jerusalem. Huwaida sailed to Gaza aboard
the SS Liberty.

"We're the first ones in 41 years to enter Gaza freely - but we won't be
the last. We welcome the world to join us and see what we're seeing."

--Paul Larudee, Ph.D.

Paul is a cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement and a San Francisco Bay
Area activist on the issue of justice in Palestine. He sailed to Gaza
aboard the SS Liberty.

"What we've done shows that people can do what governments should have
done. If people stand up against injustice, we can truly be the
conscience of the world."

--Jeff Halper, Ph.D.

Jeff is an Israeli professor of anthropology and coordinator of the
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a non-violent
Israeli peace and human rights organization that resists the Israeli
occupation on the ground. In 2006, the American Friends Service
Committee nominated Jeff to receive the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with
Palestinian intellectual and activist Ghassan Andoni. Jeff sailed to
Gaza aboard the SS Free Gaza.

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BLOCKADE DES GAZASTREIFENS DURCHBROCHEN

Kampagne "Gaza muss leben"

Newsletter, 24. August 2008

Liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,

nach der Sommerpause meldet sich die Kampagne "Gaza muss leben" mit zwei
erfreulichen Neuigkeiten zurück. Wie wir gestern erfahren haben, ist es
den beiden Schiffen der "Free Gaza-Bewegung" gelungen, die israelische
Blockade des Gazastreifens zu durchbrechen und im Hafen von Gaza-City
anzulegen.

Die beiden Schiffe bringen Medikamente und Lebensmittel nach Gaza. Doch
ebenso wichtig wie ihre Ladung ist die Botschaft dieser Schiffe: Die
Blockade des Gazastreifens kann und muss durchbrochen werden!


Die zweite freudige Botschaft ist in eigener Sache: Die Kampagne "Gaza
muss leben" hat inzwischen mehr als tausend Unterschriften gesammelt.
Tausend Menschen haben den Appell an die österreichische Bundesregierung
und die EU unterzeichnet, sich für ein Ende der Blockade des
Gazastreifens einzusetzen. Wir danken herzlich für Ihre Unterstützung!
Gleichzeitig bitten wir Sie, weiterhin mitzumachen, die Kampagne zu
unterstützen und weitere Unterschriften zu sammeln. Die Blockade des
Gazastreifens wurde durchbrochen, aber sie ist nicht aufgehoben und die
Menschen in Gaza brauchen weiterhin unsere Unterstützung! Wie Sie
wissen, ist es auch möglich, online zu unterschreiben:

http://www.gazamussleben.at/de/node/add/unterschrift

Herzlichen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung!

Ihr Komitee "Gaza muss leben"

-- 

Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
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