Report from Syria: on the Road to Damascus

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Report from Syria: on the Road to Damascus dignity of the Syrian population. They torture and kill those who refuse to join them. They have strange reli- Report from Syria gious beliefs which make them feel comfortable even perpetrating the cruelest acts, like the killing and tortur- ing of their opponents. It is well-documented that many of those terrorists On the Road are permanently under stimulants like Captagon. The general lack of security unleashes the terrible phenom- To Damascus enon of abduction for ransom or for political pressure. Thousands of innocents are missing, among them the by Antonio S.C. Rosa two Bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, and many priests and Imams. Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa is the editor of the Peace UN and EU economic sanctions, as well as a severe Journalism website, TRANSCEND Media Service, and embargo, are pushing Syria to the edge of social col- the Eurolatina Convener for the TRANSCEND Net- lapse. Unfortunately, the international media network is work for Peace, Development and Environment. His ignoring those realities, and is bent on demonizing, report, excerpted here, is dated May 22, 2013. lying, and destabilizing the country, and fueling more violence and contradiction. I participated, May 1-11, 2013, in the Mussalaha Inter- In summary: The war in Syria is not as depicted, a national Peace Delegation to Lebanon-Syria alongside civil war, but a proxy war with serious breaches of in- fellow TRANSCEND member Nobel Peace Laureate ternational laws and the humanitarian international Mairead Maguire, from laws. The protection of the foreign fighters by some for- Ireland, and 15 others eign countries among the most powerful gives them a from eight countries. kind of an unaccountability that pushes them with im- Keenly aware of my re- punity to all kind of cruel deeds against innocent civil- sponsibility, especially ians. Even war conventions are not respected, resulting to my newly made in many war crimes and, even, crimes against Human- Syrian and Lebanese ity. friends left behind, I shall try to report, de- Conclusion scribe, make sense of . .We witnessed that the Syrian people have suf- what I saw, heard, and fered very deeply and continue to do so. The entire pop- experienced; also offer ulation of 23 million people are under tremendous views and insights based threat of continued infiltration by foreign terrorists. on interviews. Many are still stunned by the horrors and suddenness of First impressions all this violence and worried that their country will be first: the people, the civil Antonio S.C. Rosa: “Bashar al-Assad is not the sole attacked and divided by outside forces, and are all too society, women, men, culprit. He is a well-liked aware that geopolitical forces are at work to destabilize the youth, elderly, chil- leader all over, which is evident Syria for political control, oil, and other resources. One dren, workers, the Arab in different cities, in talks with Druze leader said, “If Westerners want our oil—both street, as it is called. differing kinds of persons, and by their attitudes and actions.” Lebanon and Syria have oil reserves—let us negotiate After some time I no- for it, but do not destroy our country to take it.” ticed a striking absence In Syria memories of next door Iraq’s destruction by of anger or negative excitement in the air; people going US/UK/NATO forces are fresh in people’s minds, in- about their daily business as if nothing was happening, cluding in the minds of the one and a half million Iraqis as if life were normal. who fled Iraq’s conflict, including many Christians, and . .Nonetheless, the country has been as if divided were given refuge in Syria by the Syrian Govern- by checkpoints in every strategic entrance and exit. To ment. give an idea, our Damascus hotel was surrounded by June 7, 2013 EIR International 47 six different checkpoints strategically located around it. Israel, . by the autocratic dictatorships of the GCC- Armed personnel and soldiers on the streets are a Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bah- common sight that adds to a sense of security. rain, Kuwait, Oman, UAE (mostly Sunni Muslims) in Mairead [Maguire] and Mother Agnès-Maryam partnership with Turkey (secular), and by Al Qaeda, Soeur (our leaders) met privately with Syrian armed plus a diversity of mercenary jihadists (by definition fighters, and we were introduced to some persons vic- terrorist groups), each with its own agenda, recruited timized by their atrocities. Audiences included: Syrian from 29 countries and paid by GCC/CIA. Syrians are Prime Minister Mr. Wael Al Halki, Deputy PM and Min- also assailed by UN sanctions and an embargo, and by ister of Economic Affairs Mr. Qadri Jameel (opposi- a foreign press bent on demonizing, lying, destabilizing tion), Minister of Health Dr. Saed Anayef, Minister of the country (not merely the regime). Social Affairs Ms. Kinda Al-Shammat (a pleasant and We visited and talked with a chief of family of refu- intelligent young lady), Minister of Justice Dr. Najem gees in Lebanon, and saw 20 people living in a space Hamad Al-Ahmad, Minister of Information Mr. Omran roughly 6x6 without ventilation, a room inside a ware- Ahed Al-Zouabi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Walid house, for which they pay the equivalent of $400/ Muallem, the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Mr. Ali month. One filthy kitchen, one bathroom. And that is Abd Karim Ali, the Iranian AmbassadorOB to Lebanon, that. They are on their own to find work and everything and General Michael Aoun, an influential Lebanese else. Some resort to stealing and committing petty party leader (who is rumored to discriminate against crimes to survive. This is typical, not an exception. Palestinian refugees). In one of the refugee camps we visited in Lebanon We visited the People’s Council of Syria (parlia- (more aptly called a concentration camp) we talked ment), hospitals, refugee camps, were briefed by senior with a couple from Homs—he being a pharmacist and field coordinator Maeve Murphy at the UNHCR [UN engineer—who had their house and business blown up High Commissioner for Refugees] intake center in due to terrorist activities. Now they live by charity in Zahleh-Lebanon, and met with a representative of the the Bekaa Valley-Lebanon, under a tent and with noth- Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and with ambulance drivers ing but the clothes over their bodies. They are not al- and health workers. We were also welcomed by some lowed to work, own property, have a dignified life. ten leaders from various religions, sects, and faiths, There is no sanitation, and there are checkpoints with were greeted in churches and mosques. armed soldiers at the gates. Multiply this by about 1.5 million and you will have an approximate dimension of Actors and Parties to the Conflict the human tragedy. .Of one thing you may rest assured: Bashar al- This is how it works, according to Prime Minister Assad is not the sole culprit, THE bad guy in this saga. Wael Al Halki himself, with whom we spent 2.5 hours: He is a well-liked leader all over, which is evident in . .Jihadists take a village by assault, kill public offi- different cities, in talks with differing kinds of persons, cials, take over private houses in which to hide, burn and by their attitudes and actions. Body languages, eye plantations, spread terror and devastation. Their aim is contacts, non-verbal messages work wonders in bring- simple: to render the country as ungovernable as they ing hidden messages to the surface. Billboards with his possibly can, disrupt normal life, destroy institutions, picture are spread throughout the land and they are livestock, people. They occupy hospitals forcing medi- clean, well-preserved. One does not see graffiti over cal personnel to look only after foreign fighters, not al- them, obscenities or anything like that. lowing wounded locals or government soldiers to be In addition, as much as I tried, no one leader could treated. This has created a wave of refugees from a total or would answer my two basic questions: What is the population of 21.9 million. Internal displacement is cal- source of this conflict? What are the solutions?. But I culated at 1.5 million people. And 600,000 external ref- got a generalized reply based and around a single ugees according to the Minister of Social Affairs, Ms theme: “The violence must stop!”. Kinda Al-Shammat (estimate). Refugees Government Retaliation The Syrian state and its population are being indi- Syrian authorities, on the other hand, reacted to the rectly attacked by US/EU/NATO/UN; and directly by rampant and aggressive terrorism through a policy 48 International EIR June 7, 2013 from the neighborhood, but that others were strangers.” Conclusion A positive note: we were gifted with a VIP visit to the famous Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Damascus, fourth-holiest [Islamic] place after Mecca, where is located the tomb and shrine of St. John the Baptist right at the center of the huge 4,000 year-old con- struction that had previously been a temple of Jupiter in Roman times and the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist. This mosque is at the end of the famous Road to Damascus, of St. Paul’s conver- sion, which we walked by foot seeing the exact spot of the event. Upon exiting the mosque complex, one could see an- Wikimedia Commons other building erected by Saladin (1174- The Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Damascus is emblematic of the religious 1193), also buried in Umayyad. tolerance that existed in Syria before the war.
Recommended publications
  • What's Really Happening in Syria: Who Started
    What’s Really Happening in Syria: Who Started the War, Who Can You Trust to Tell the Truth? A Consumer Fraud Lawyer’s Mini-Primer By Robert Roth Region: Middle East & North Africa Global Research, September 19, 2018 Theme: Media Disinformation, US NATO New Cold War 2 January 2017 War Agenda In-depth Report: SYRIA This article, first published on GR in January 2017, provides an understanding of the history of the war on Syria, from the outset in mid-March 2011. The U.S./NATO line If you try to follow events in the mainstream media (MSM), you may have noticed that they routinely refer to Syrian president Bashar al Assad as a “brutal dictator”. Assad is supposed to have responded to peaceful protests with repressive violence and by “killing his own people”. The U.S., UK, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar continue to maintain that “Assad must go”. I disagree with all of that, as I’ll explain in this article. I spent 25 years prosecuting lies in commerce for the attorneys general of New York and Oregon. I prepared this primer to help you cut through the lies and get at the truth about Syria. Much of this article is a string of excerpts from the excellent work of authors I’ve come to trust and citations or links to sources for further information and analysis. International law, morality, and the sovereignty of the people Since Syria has not threatened the United States in any way, let alone attacked us, our government has no right to try to overthrow the Syrian government.
    [Show full text]
  • Lunch at the Muqata''a—
    Lunch at the Muqata’’a— Part One ON THE THIRD AND FINAL DAY of the Fall 2003 International Solidarity Movement (ISM) non-violence training in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, news suddenly came over the radio that someone had blown themselves up in a restaurant in Haifa, inside the Green Line. It was October 4, two days before Yom Kippur. The broadcasts were in Hebrew and Arabic and had to be translated by the ISM facilitators into English for the majority of us—the Internationals attending the training. But even before the facilitators explained anything we could tell by their intense concentration as they sat huddled around the radio switching back and forth between stations, and making hushed phone calls, that the news was not good. I don’t recall anyone turning on a tv. Beit Sahour in October, 2003, was like a ghost town. Full of empty hotels and restaurants usually catering to tourists going to nearby Bethlehem, but no one was going to Bethlehem. The year before, in 2002, the siege of the 27 Church of the Nativity had made international headlines as the Israeli military laid siege not only to the Church, and those seeking refuge in it, but to Nablus, Jenin and other cities on the West Bank. This created the ground work for the newly spawned multiple checkpoints and the ever expanding “Security Fence,” or “Separation Barrier,” or “Apartheid Wall,” depending on whom one was talking to. So while Beit Sahour was almost empty, except for the people who actually lived there, the very air seemed charged with the news—the hotel staff visibly distracted; the training organizers speaking worriedly among themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • BRICUP Newsletter 8
    BRICUP NEWSLETTER Number 8 September, 2007 www.bricup.org.uk bricup@bricup.org.uk Jeff Halper has provided the following Israel's control of Gaza. When we finally arrived reflections on the breaking of the Gaza siege by in Gaza after a day and a half sail, the welcome the Free Gaza Movement’s two small boats. Jeff we received from 40,000 joyous Gazans was is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against overwhelming and moving. House Demolitions (ICAHD) and he was one of those who sailed to Gaza aboard the SS Free People sought me out in particular, eager it Gaza. on August 23rd,2008. seemed to speak Hebrew with an Israeli after years of closure. The message I received by End of an Odyssey people of all factions during my three days there was the same: How do we ("we" in the sense of Now, a few days after my release from jail in the all of us living in their country, not just wake of my trip to Gaza, I'm posting a few notes Palestinians or Israelis) get out of this mess? to sum things up. First, the mission of the Free Where are WE going? The discourse was not even Gaza Movement to break the Israeli siege proved political: what is the solution; one-state, two-state, a success beyond all expectations. Our reaching etc etc. It was just common sense and Gaza and leaving has created a free and regular straightforward, based on the assumption that we channel between Gaza and the outside world.
    [Show full text]
  • Palestine/Israel: Making Monitoring Work: (Re-) Enforcing International Law in Europe
    Palestine/Israel: Making Monitoring Work: (Re-) Enforcing International Law in Europe A CONFERENCE BRINGING TOGETHER PALESTINIAN, ISRAELI, AND EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS NGOS AND LAWYERS. Conference Report HOSTED BY THE CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC LAW & GOVERNANCE, FREE UNIVERSITY BRUSSELS FOREWORD International humanitarian law risks becoming a ‘dead letter’ unless transgression of its principles is met with a response that does justice to the harm suffered by its victims. The idea of this conference, held in September 2008 in Brussels, Belgium, stems from regular meetings between Diakonia and local Israeli and Palestinian Human Rights organisations, whose fieldworkers tirelessly record and document the daily human rights and IHL violations. Our mission thus far had been to support the monitoring process by providing training on documentation methods, and guidance on interviewing, evidence preservation, storage and archiving. However, we were con- stantly asked the question: what is the use? What is the use of gathering all this information and document every aspect of violations if reports only end up gathering dusts in archives and folders? This is not an effective way of increasing the respect for IHL and it triggers the pivotal question - how can we make monitoring work? Effective enforcement of international humanitarian law in the context of Israel/Palestine requires a readiness on part of civil society organisations and public opinion makers to support legal enforcement actions. Civil society organisations also play a vital role in educating the public on both the violations committed, and the need to bring perpetrators from Israel/Palestine, as well as their accomplices in Europe, to national or international justice.
    [Show full text]
  • Targeted Exclusion at Israel's External Border Crossings
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Pomona Senior Theses Pomona Student Scholarship 2016 Banned from the Only Democracy in the Middle East: Targeted Exclusion at Israel’s External Border Crossings Alexandra Goss Pomona College Recommended Citation Goss, Alexandra, "Banned from the Only Democracy in the Middle East: Targeted Exclusion at Israel’s External Border Crossings" (2016). Pomona Senior Theses. Paper 166. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/166 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pomona Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pomona Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact scholarship@cuc.claremont.edu. Goss 1 Banned from the Only Democracy in the Middle East: Targeted Exclusion at Israel’s External Border Crossings Alexandra Goss Readers: Professor Heidi Haddad Professor Zayn Kassam In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in International Relations at Pomona College Pomona College Claremont, CA April 29, 2016 Goss 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements........................................................................................................4 Chapter 1: Introduction...............................................................................................5 I. Israel: State of Inclusion; State of Exclusion................................................5 II. Background of the Phenomenon...................................................................9
    [Show full text]
  • Behind the Boycott
    Promoters of BDS—the movement to boycott, divest from, and bring sanctions against the Jewish state of Israel—are open about their aim of pressuring Israel to relinquish land for a Palestinian state. What they less often share is that a two- state solution—Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace—is not their goal. THE ORIGINS OF THE ISRAEL BOYCOTT ven before the State of Israel was officially declared in 1948, with the endorsement of the EUN and backed by the immediate recognition of U.S. President Harry Truman, Arabs in British Mandatory Palestine and throughout the region declared war against the Jews. They sought to kill as many as possible, drive the rest out of the country, and end the Jewish state. That era of belligerency lasted over 30 years before Israel and its chief antagonist, Egypt, signed a peace accord in 1979. When it became clear that war could not defeat Israel, those seeking to bring Israel to its knees shifted tactics, and the Palestinian Intifada was born. It came in two waves of terror, running from 1987 to 1993 and then from 2000 to 2005. These surges were premised on the idea that Jews were foreign colonizers who, like European imperialists in the Third World, could be driven out by making the cost of staying higher than the colonizers could bear. But the Palestinians learned during their terror campaigns that the threat of physical harm would not end the Jewish state, because the Jews knew that they belonged in Israel. Next came the current stage in the long-running campaign against Israel—the movement to boycott, divest from, and bring sanctions against Israel, or “BDS” for short.
    [Show full text]
  • Free Palestine Movement (FPM)
    The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center April 11, 2011 A UN committee grants accreditation to the anti-Israeli pro-Hamas Free Palestine Movement (FPM). The FPM is headed by Paul Larudee, an active participant in organizing flotillas to the Gaza Strip, including the upgraded one scheduled for May 2011. The letterhead from the UN committee accrediting the FPM. The FPM's new logo, boasting that is it is now an NGO accredited by the UN. קל 70-11 2 Overview 1. In August 2010 the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People granted accreditation to the Free Palestine Movement (FPM), an extreme leftist network based in California which participates in anti- Israeli projects, focusing on sending flotillas to the Gaza Strip. Its objectives are to support the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, isolate Israel, blacken Israel's image in the eyes of the world and increase international pressure on it. 2. The FPM is headed by Dr. Paul Larudee, who in 2009 was given an award by Ismail Haniya, head of the de facto administration in the Gaza Strip, in honor of his support. Paul Larudee applied for and received accreditation from the UN committee as an NGO member of the "network of civil society organizations active on the question of Palestine." 3. Following the receipt of accreditation, the FPM added "A United Nations Accredited NGO" to its letterhead. In our assessment, the FPM regards the accreditation as a kind of UN stamp of approval for itself and its anti-Israeli projects, particularly the flotillas (Wolfgang Grieger, the committee secretary, ended the letter by wishing the FPM "every success in [its] endeavours in support of a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine.") Profile of the FPM and its leader, Paul Larudee 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Dec. 29, 2016, Vol. 58, No. 51
    • GABINETE DE TRUMP • RUSIA NO LO HIZO 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 58, No. 51 Dec. 29, 2016 $1 Campus rape culture & sports 5 U.S. Out of Syria No fake ‘humanitarian’ interventions! By Deirdre Griswold way have been people of color. White supremacy has always played The city of Aleppo in Syria has a big part in “justifying” colonial been liberated from reactionary and imperial expansion. fighters — those supported by the When the U.S. CIA, as early as U.S., Qatar, Saudi Arabia and oth- 1979, first supplied and trained ers — who had taken over the city what would become the Taliban to by deadly violence some four years fight a secular revolutionary gov- ago. ernment in Afghanistan, the excuse Most of the forces the Syri- was anti-communism. The excuses an Army was up against, like the for the costly and destructive wars al-Nusra Front, had been character- the U.S. has waged since then in ized as “terrorist” by the U.S. itself Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Syria have just a couple of years ago. Yet some- varied from needing to eliminate how, the powerful Western media “weapons of mass destruction” to have now managed to convince a lot their leaders being “brutal dicta- of people that the liberation of Alep- tors” whose overthrow would be a po from these forces of extreme re- “humanitarian” intervention. Those action was a terrible thing and that excuses have all been lies. the government of Syria should be The suffering now in Aleppo has hated for it.
    [Show full text]
  • An Anti-Israel Coalition, Some of Whose Members Organized the Mavi Marmara Flotilla, Were Encouraged by Its Results
    The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center September 6, 2010 An anti-Israel coalition, some of whose members organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla, were encouraged by its results. It is currently promoting a new series of projects to embarrass and isolate Israel. They include an upgraded flotilla and a plane to the Gaza Strip. עיקרי המסמך A Facebook invitation to a Free Palestine Movement fundraiser for a series of new anti-Israel projects. The organization is affiliated with the Free Gaza Movement, which played a major role in the Mavi Marmara flotilla in close collaboration with the Turkish IHH, and which is an important factor in new projects planned against Israel. 227-10 2 Overview 1. Accumulated information indicates that the anti-Israel coalition behind the Mavi Marmara flotilla to the Gaza Strip has spent the past three months promoting plans for new projects as part of a general campaign to smear Israel and erode its legitimacy. The projects include sending an upgraded flotilla (with more ships, more activists, more media personnel and more celebrities) and sending a plane to the Gaza Strip. All of the above are meant to raise the action threshold. 2. The anti-Israel coalition is ideologically heterogeneous, united by its hostility to Israel and desire to challenge and embarrass it to promote what it represents as "the rights of the Palestinians." In reality, it often promotes Hamas' political agenda in opposition to the interests of the Palestinian Authority. 3. At the coalition's ideological poles are, on the one hand, radical Islamic organizations and activists.
    [Show full text]
  • Your Help Is Making a Difference in Palestine
    LIVETESTimONIES FROM FROM THE NONVI- OLENT REsisTANCE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITYP MOVEMENTalestine NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPPORT GROUP V OLU M E 3 N O . 2 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 Your Help Is Making a ference between going or not going, or staying an extra month. We are proud to have subsidized four- Difference in Palestine teen volunteers this year alone. The generous contributions that we received By Paul Larudee during the recent speaking tour of Ayed Morrar and Jonathan Pollak were very timely, but we are s I began to write this, four ISM volunteers still $5,000 short of our year-end commitment to were arrested in the With international and A Tel Rumeida district of Israeli support, the people Hebron in the Israeli-occupied of Bil’in hold their 50th Palestinian West Bank. Their demonstration to protest crime? To accompany Palestin- the construction of the Wall ians to school, shopping, work, or which will isolate more than friends’ homes. 60% of the village’s land. ISM volunteers document Photo: Lisa Nessan the harassment of Palestinians, their delays at checkpoints and the denial of access to their own property. They film Israeli settlers who shout insults, throw bottles and other objects, and even beat Palestinians while soldiers stand idly by. The good news is that the presence of volunteers with cam- eras is often enough to reduce these crimes. The bad news is that filming is itself ISM-Palestine. The ISM media office has also asked often considered a crime. us to send a new laptop, video camera and 500 giga- Unfortunately, ISM volunteers are fewer than byte hard drive within the next month.
    [Show full text]
  • Gene St.Onge 4 March 2011 / U.S.A
    SFENDONI WAS A MICROCOSM OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY THAT WE DREAM ABOUT LIVING IN Gene St.Onge 4 March 2011 / U.S.A. Gene St.Onge (1946) is a U.S. citizen, and a con- sulting civil/structural engineer. He is the found- er and principal of St.Onge&Associates, has over forty years experience managing civil and struc- tural engineering projects in the private, public, domestic and international arenas. Also, he is in- volved in a Middle East based international effort to rebuild Gaza. He and his wife, Jan, have been contributing to the rebuilding of houses and schools demolished by the Israelis in Palestine. He was the Free Palestine Movement representa- tive on the Greek ship, the Sfendoni. 314 Witnesses of the Freedom Flotilla Gene St.Onge 315 Why did you join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla? What were your mo- tivations? I have to go back in order to explain my motivations. When I traveled to Lebanon in 1973, I observed the squalor of the refugee camps. The stories of Palestinians there gave me a new perspective on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I developed a real concern for their plight but did nothing about it, until I met Rabbi Lerner of Berkeley, over ten years ago, who is a well-known intellectual and political activist and speaks of the need for justice for the Palestinian people. Rabbi Lerner encouraged us to get involved with our congressional senators and representatives to try to change U.S. policy on the is- sue, from heavily pro-Israel position to a fair and equitable one… Then I, with Paul Larudee who is very active with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), put together a group called Middle East Policy Advisory Committee (MEPAC) which is a coalition of fifteen peace action groups.
    [Show full text]
  • Paul Larudee 16 March 2011 / U.S.A
    MY resıstANCE TO THE ısraelıs ıs A vıctORY FOR nonvıolANT resıstANCE Paul Larudee 16 March 2011 / U.S.A. Dr. Paul Larudee (1946) is an American citizen born in Iran. He has a Ph.D. in linguistics, and spent fourteen years in Arab countries as a student, teacher, Fulbright-Hays lecturer, and U.S. government advisor. He has been to Palestine many times since 1965, and is active with the International Solidarity Movement, a nonviolent resistance group. He is the co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement (FPM) and the Free Gaza Movement (FGM), whose boats broke a 41-year-old Israeli naval blockade of Gaza in August 2008. Also he was a member of the U.S. delegation aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Why did you join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla? What was your mo- tivation? I am one of the co-founders of the project that sent the first two small boats to Gaza in 2008. It is unthinkable that I would not par- ticipate in the Flotilla. Did you foresee an Israeli attack before setting off? As you know, the Israeli authorities state that they warned in advance that they would not allow the Flotilla to go through. All ten voyages to Gaza were threatened by the Israelis, but five were not stopped. So, it was impossible to know whether the threats were empty or not. How did Israel react to your previous attempts to break the na- val blockade? What kind of precautions did the Israeli authorities take to keep you from entering Gaza? Sometimes they used or tried to use cooperation with other gov- ernments to stop us.
    [Show full text]