[E-rundbrief] Info 758 - US Activist supporting Gaza in Israel jail

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 758 - Amy Goodman (USA): US Activist Detained in 
Israeli Jail Condemns Blockade of Gaza. Interview with Darlene Wallach 
from inside the Masiyahu Prison near Tel Aviv (21.11.2008).

Bad Ischl, 25.11.2008

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US Activist Detained in Israeli Jail Condemns Blockade of Gaza

On Monday, the Israeli navy seized fifteen Palestinian fishermen and
three international activists off the coast of Gaza. The fishermen were
released, but the activists remain in an Israeli jail. We speak to
Darlene Wallach from inside the Masiyahu Prison near Tel Aviv.

Democracy Now! -- Broadcast November 21, 2008

AMY GOODMAN: Israel's tightened blockade of a million and a half
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is now entering its third week. Tel Aviv
rebuffed calls Thursday from United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon to reopen the crossings into Gaza for humanitarian aid. Israeli
government officials cited continuing Palestinian rocket fire as the
reason for closing the crossings.

Residents of Gaza are running out of essentials, like food, medicines
and fuel, as a result of the almost continuous blockade imposed November
4th.

Meanwhile, the fifteen Palestinian fishermen seized by the Israeli navy
off the coast of Gaza were released on Wednesday. The three
international volunteers accompanying the fishermen, however, remain in
a prison near Tel Aviv.

American Darlene Wallach, Italian Vittorio Arrigoni, and Scottish Andrew
Muncie had arrived by boat into Gaza in late August as part of the first
Free Gaza delegation. They remained in Gaza working with the
International Solidarity Movement alongside Palestinian fishermen,
documenting any harassment by the Israeli navy.

The three internationals are reportedly beginning a hunger strike today
to protest their detention. They are also demanding the Israeli navy
release the Palestinian fishing boats they confiscated this week.

US citizen in detention, Darlene Wallach, joins me now from a phone
inside the prison near Tel Aviv. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Darlene.


DARLENE WALLACH: Thank you very much. Thanks for calling me.


AMY GOODMAN: Where exactly are you being held?


DARLENE WALLACH: I'm in a---it's in a men's prison, but inside the men's
prison there's a compound for women. And the compound is for people who
are illegally in Israel because their visa, work visas ran out. So my
question is, why am I here? I was kidnapped at gunpoint by the fourth
largest military in the world, and I was on a Palestinian fishing boat
in Palestinian fishing waters. So it doesn't make any sense why I'm
here, why I'm being held.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain exactly what you were doing and the scene when you
were arrested.

DARLENE WALLACH: I was on a Palestinian fishing boat that I've been on
numerous times. And we accompany the Palestinian fishing boats in their
waters, where they have the international right to fish, so that the
Israeli navy won't shoot and kill or arrest the Palestinian fishermen.

So what made it different this time is, it seemed to me they were
specifically targeting the internationals, because they released the
Palestinian fishermen to their homes. And they also confiscated the
fishing boats. And the way that they arrested us was very different than
how they normally arrest the fishermen. So, normally, they force the
fishermen to strip to their underwear, jump in the water and swim to the
Israeli navy boats. And this time they brought Zodiac boats, and the
frogmen boarded each Palestinian fishing boat. And the first person
taken was Andrew. I saw him being taken. And then they took the
fishermen off of that boat. Then they came to the boat I was on and took
me off the boat.

And so, I don't know---I didn't know what happened to the fishermen. I 
was very concerned about their safety and what Israel might do to them. 
And I'm very, very concerned about the fishing boats, because in the 
past what Israel does is they sink the boats or they damage the boats, 
like taking the engines off, or steal all the equipment. So I'm very
concerned about what's going to happen to the fishing boats. That's
their livelihood. I mean, they said fifteen fishermen. Well, there's
more than just those fifteen that work on each boat. So the livelihood
of all those people now has been destroyed. That's how many families
now? And the families tend to be large. How many families now have no
income, and there's no employment, because they have no fishing boats to
go out on? It's really just disgusting, despicable, deplorable. And I
want the world to speak out and tell Israel to stop.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, those fifteen fishermen have been released. Why
haven't you been released?

DARLENE WALLACH: I guess the plans are to deport us. And my
understanding is, when they deport you, they deport you to where you
came from. Since I came from Gaza, I want to be released to Gaza. It
sounds like they have no plans on doing that. I don't know why they're
holding me. It seems like they violated international law in many
different ways. And so, I don't know. I can't answer that. But then, if
you try to talk to Israel, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to
get the truth from them.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you get into Gaza, Darlene Wallach?

DARLENE WALLACH: How did I get to Gaza?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes.

DARLENE WALLACH: I was on the Liberty, one of the two boats that---one 
of the first two boats that went to Gaza from Cyprus. And I actually was
with the Liberty on the way to Cyprus. And so, it was a wonderful trip.
It was a wonderful boat. It was an amazing, amazing experience.

The welcome that we got in Gaza, it was just overwhelming. My emotions
come up, because it was thousands of people just so happy to see, at
least token-wise, symbolically, the siege broken. It was the first time
in forty-one years that, from Cyprus, a stamp on a piece of paper said a
boat was leaving Cyprus for Gaza. And it was like an amazing trip. And
it's been amazing to be in Gaza to work in solidarity with the
Palestinians. They're amazing, kind, warm, loving people. And I---for 
me, just being out on the fishing boats and the stress, I don't 
understand how they can go out there day after day with the stress, 
knowing at any time they could be killed, that any time their boats 
could be taken, at any time they could be arrested or shot.

AMY GOODMAN: Darlene Wallach, I wanted to remind our listeners and
viewers about these boats, that the one---one of them you describe, the
Liberty, that's challenging the blockade. We were able to reach people
on the boat in the first trip that was coming over. We spoke to the
former prime minister of Britain's sister-in-law, Tony Blair's
sister-in-law. We spoke to Jeff Halper, the Jewish Israeli who is
challenging housing demolition. Mairead Maguire was on one of the trips;
she is the Nobel Peace Prize-winner from Ireland. These are the boats
that you're describing that---not to be confused with the fishing boats,
but are challenging the blockade.

DARLENE WALLACH: That's correct. That's correct.

So, I want to make sure that people understand, when they talk about the
ceasefire, Israel has violated the ceasefire from day one; before it
even was created, they were violating it. The ceasefire supposedly was
going to lift the blockade and allow goods and services and food and
fuel and that kind of thing, and Israel has never lifted that blockade.

Israel has violated the ceasefire every day by, when the fishermen go
out to fish, Israel navy comes and shoots at the boats. They use
high-pressure water power; they have a water cannon that they shoot at
the boats that damages the boats, injures people. They've cut the
cables. The fishermen have lost their fishing nets.

On a daily basis, the farmers who try to go out and farm their fields
get attacked. So, Israel created this buffer zone, 300- to 500-meters
wide, along the whole length of the Gaza Strip. And that was done around
May 1st. And that was a desert area, that whole area, where they
demolished all kinds of crops, homes, wells. And in the crops, it was
like citrus, dates, olives. Any kind of crop they had, it was all
demolished. And farmers now are trying to go back out and start, you
know, planting their fields and being able to harvest their fields. And
we've been accompanying them.

And even just standing out there in the fields, where it's just farmers,
obviously knowing with any kind of military---no militants, just 
farmers, just people trying to tend their fields---the Israeli military 
comes by in their jeeps and gets out and starts shooting. So we're a 
presence to be witness to that. We're a presence to make sure that 
people aren't killed. And when they start shooting, we're standing out 
in the fields with our florescent vests on, some of us. And we stand 
there until the Israeli military leaves. We don't back off. When they 
start shooting, we stand in the fields and having the bullets, you know, 
come around us, over our heads or by our feet.

AMY GOODMAN: Darlene Wallach, are you beginning a hunger strike today at
the jail?

DARLENE WALLACH: I actually started a hunger strike last night. I didn't
eat dinner. And for me, they had someone talk with me yesterday, and
saying that they are not going to allow me to die. So I don't know what
that means. For me, I'm still in the prison, and I still have my cell
phone. Andrew Muncie was taken into isolation today, and his phone was
taken from him.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you, Darlene Wallach, for joining us,
speaking to us---the name of the prison you're in near Tel Aviv?

DARLENE WALLACH: I always forget the name of it. It starts with an "M."
And it's a new prison. It's a men's prison, but within the men's
compound, they have a compound for women.

And I just want to make sure people know that this blockade on Gaza,
this siege, is really, really horrendous, what it's doing. I mean, the
flour mills are having to shut---the last flour mill shut down, because
there's no fuel. I mean, if people can't buy bread, what are they going
to eat? This is very, very, very serious. There's 500 students with
scholarship that can't get out to go continue their university
education. And there's 3,000 students that are accepted to universities,
that they're losing their administrative entrance into the universities,
because Israel will not allow them out. And 258 people have died,
because Israel refuses to let them out to get medical care. And this is
[inaudible].

AMY GOODMAN: Darlene Wallach, I want to thank you for being with us.
We're going to turn next to the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
who speaks about the blockade of Gaza. Darlene Wallach is speaking to us
from the Masiyahu Prison near Tel Aviv. Again, executives from the
Associated Press, Reuters, New York Times, BBC, CNN and other news
organizations have signed a letter criticizing the Israeli government's
decision to ban journalists from entering Gaza.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21307.htm


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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
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