SCRATCH THAT! more than 300,000!

That's around 5% of the total population.

More than 160,000 marching in Tel-Aviv alone!

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/tens-of-thousands-march-in-tel-aviv-jerusalem-to-protest-high-cost-of-living-in-israel-1.377295

The protesters and the organizers have bent over backwards to stress that they are not taking a position on the occupation.  The settlers and their ilk, however, know a serious challenge when they see one.  It is not about the occupation, indeed!  It is strictly about the distribution of resources.  While 90% of Israeli citizens are underfunded and are rapidly becoming the working poor, the settlers enjoy a portion of the budget that is more than double of their population ratio.  Besmirching is already at high gear!

stay tuned!

But this one is too clever not to share (by way of slogans):

"If you work for a living, you don't have the time to make money!"  

What do ‘Flotilla Folk’ do and why?

07/31/2011 23:52

Published in the Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=231837

What do ‘Flotilla Folk’ do and why?

By ANN WRIGHT AND HAGIT BORER

In response to a Jerusalem Post piece on July 25, “What do "Flotilla Folk’ do?" by Roz Rothstein and Roberta Seid (http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=230957)

Being, so to speak, of the “flotilla folk” ourselves, we read with some interest Rothstein and Seid’s idle speculations on who our shipmates might have been, for idle speculations they certainly are, the writers having never contacted any of us. In fact, at least when it comes to the American-flagged boat, The Audacity of Hope, we are not nearly as much of a mystery as one might imagine. Our biographies are all publicly posted at www.ustogaza.org,.

A perusal of our stories would reveal, among other things, that 58 percent of us are women and that our median age is 60.

Similar demographic patterns existed on other boats as well. Many are retired people; most with modest means. We are people willing to spend our savings to fly to Athens and stay there for weeks, doubled or tripled up in hotel rooms, waiting to sail to Gaza.

We are people who felt, who still feel, that we must make the time and find the means because struggling for justice is the moral thing to do. Because we have all come to believe, in the words of Howard Zinn, that “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train” – all notions, one feels, that Rothstein and Seid view with a mixture of scorn and incredulity.

As Americans, many of us also feel our primary duty is to speak truth to precisely that power that purports to speak on our behalf – a notion that is, likewise, rather alien to most Israeli-Jewish society, although by no means to Jews elsewhere. A third of us, passengers and organizers of The Audacity of Hope, are Jews, representing a long and valiant tradition of Jewish progressive activism in the US, Europe, South America, South Africa and elsewhere.

What Rothstein and Seid have neglected to note (carried away as they were by their enthusiastic description of our Israel-Hating Syndrome) is that many passengers on The Audacity of Hope have a long and distinguished record of anti-war activism.

They have been outspoken opponents of the American war in Vietnam; they have spoken against American involvement in Central America, and in the past decade, against wars the US has waged on Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have traveled numerous times to war-ravaged Baghdad and Afghanistan. Kathy Kelly, one of our passengers, traveled to Iraq 26 times! NO, WE are definitely not like other folks, if by “other folks” Rothstein and Seid refer to themselves. Unlike Rothstein and Seid, we insist on remembering not only the 23 people killed by rockets from Gaza, but also the over 1,000 Palestinian civilians killed by Israel in Gaza in Cast Lead. And the scores killed in Jenin, and those shot routinely in demonstrations in the West Bank. Unlike folks such as Rothstein and Seid, we refuse to forget that 1.6 million people in Gaza have been living in an open-air prison for five years now, or that 2.6 million in the West Bank have been under military occupation for 44 years – the longest military occupation in modern history, and a situation with absolutely no current parallels! That we have turned our attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general and to the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians in particular derives directly from the understanding that these could not have survived without US government support. It is the US government that has directly abetted Israel in its continuing dispossession of the Palestinians, and that has supported and protected Israel through its decades of refusal to enter meaningful negotiations. Insofar as we are Americans, and insofar as our action is fundamentally political, it is intended to raise the awareness of our own people and to pressure our own government to change its course.

And yes, horrendous things are happening elsewhere in the world. Some on the flotilla have been very concerned about that. The IHH – that organization which The Jerusalem Post links to jihadist groups – has, in fact, interceded to support the Syrian refugees in Turkey, and delivered medicine and medical equipment to hospitals in al-Bayda and Benghazi in Libya. How inconvenient for your case! But not to worry. One would be hard-pressed to find any trace of these facts in the mainstream Western or Israeli press.

Reading your derisive comments – all intended to belittle the flotilla and its passengers – it strikes us that the main question is not the one you pose, namely, who we are. Rather, a very different question comes to mind. Here we are, by your description – a bunch of pathetic losers, misguided vacationers, professional activists and idealists who ran out of causes.

A grand total of 1,500 – an overestimation to begin with – and in actuality a lot less once the Mavi Marmara withdrew.

And yet, the State of Israel sees fit to keep us in the headlines for months with threats of attack dogs, snipers and anticipated deaths. Israel pulls out all stops in putting pressure on Mediterranean countries in general, and on Greece in particular, to make sure we don’t leave port. The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, on June 22, called on the international community “to do everything in their ability in order to prevent the flotilla and warn citizens of their countries of the risks of participating in this type of provocation.”

BUT IF we are deluded losers, what does that make the State of Israel and its hysterical response? If 16 passengers on a small yacht off the coast of Gaza are bored vacationers with a mental disorder, what does that make the four fully armed gunboats confronting them? The fact of the matter is that Israel, without any aid from us, provided our otherwise symbolic and rather small-scale effort with the overwhelming amplification that made it headline news in the rest of the world, and most crucially, it would appear from your article, an ongoing Israeli obsession.

While we wanted the plight of the Palestinians to be noticed by the world, we did not set out to have the flotilla become a major world event. That it has become one, however, became patently clear to us once Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saw fit to travel to Greece to deliver her heartfelt thanks to ƒPapandreou for services rendered – the stopping of our flotilla.

Frankly, we are grateful!

Ann Wright is a retired US Army Reserve colonel and former US diplomat. Hagit Borer is a professor of linguistics at the University of Southern California.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, “The Iron Wall (We and the Arabs),” Rassvyet (Dawn), Berlin, November 4, 1923

In a recent mass mailing, Lenny Brenner pointed out that the US public is not very knowledgeable about the history of the Likud Party and its ideological underpinning. On the occassion he also posted Zabotinsky's article, 'The Iron Wall', a historical document which I am more than happy to help become better known.

The article - a brilliant piece of writing, in its way - is a very important historical document marked by a high level of lucidity and, I would argue, realism and forethought. It most certainly provides an answer to the question, posed among other places in my LAT op. ed., of how much of what has come to be present day Israel and Zionism could have been foreseen. Zabotinsky, for one, knew exactly where Zionism is headed as early as 1923, and as he argues, so did everybody else who wasn't in denial. Of some interest, to me, is the discussion under the heading  "Moral and Just". I concur with Zabotinsky that answering the moral question is an imperative. And I concur with him that this is a question one should settle before one becomes a Zionist, or, as in my case, before one decides to continue to be one. Sometime in the early 70's, and unlike Zabotinsky, I, personally, answered in the negative.

[Note: The article first appeared in English, captioned as below, in South Africa's November 26, 1937 Jewish Herald.]

The Iron WallColonisation of PalestineAgreement with Arabs Impossible at Present Zionism Must Go Forward

By Vladimir Jabotinsky

It is an excellent rule to begin an article with the most important point. But this time, I find it necessary to begin with an introduction, and, moreover, with a personal introduction.

I am reputed to be an enemy of the Arabs, who wants to have them ejected from Palestine, and so forth. It is not true.

Emotionally, my attitude to the Arabs is the same as to all other nations – polite indifference. Politically, my attitude is determined by two principles. First of all, I consider it utterly impossible to eject the Arabs from Palestine. There will always be two nations in Palestine -- which is good enough for me, provided the Jews become the majority. And secondly, I belong to the group that once drew up the Helsingfors Programme, the programme of national rights for all nationalities living in the same State. In drawing up that programme, we had in mind not only the Jews, but all nations everywhere, and its basis is equality of rights.

I am prepared to take an oath binding ourselves and our descendants that we shall never do anything contrary to the principle of equal rights, and that we shall never try to eject anyone. This seems to me a fairly peaceful credo.

But it is quite another question whether it is always possible to realize a peaceful aim by peaceful means. For the answer to this question does not depend on our attitude to the Arabs; but entirely on the attitude of the Arabs to us and to Zionism.
Now, after this introduction, we may proceed to the subject.

Voluntary Agreement Not Possible

There can be no voluntary agreement between ourselves and the Palestine Arabs. Not now, nor in the prospective future. I say this with such conviction, not because I want to hurt the moderate Zionists. I do not believe that they will be hurt. Except for those who were born blind, they realised long ago that it is utterly impossible to obtain the voluntary consent of the Palestine Arabs for converting "Palestine" from an Arab country into a country with a Jewish majority.

My readers have a general idea of the history of colonisation in other countries. I suggest that they consider all the precedents with which they are acquainted, and see whether there is one solitary instance of any colonisation being carried on with the consent of the native population. There is no such precedent.

The native populations, civilised or uncivilised, have always stubbornly resisted the colonists, irrespective of whether they were civilised or savage.

And it made no difference whatever whether the colonists behaved decently or not. The companions of Cortez and Pizzaro or (as some people will remind us) our own ancestors under Joshua Ben Nun, behaved like brigands; but the Pilgrim Fathers, the first real pioneers of North America, were people of the highest morality, who did not want to do harm to anyone, least of all to the Red Indians; and they honestly believed that there was room enough in the prairies both for the Paleface and the Redskin. Yet the native population fought with the same ferocity against the good colonists as against the bad.

Every native population, civilised or not, regards its land as its national home, of which it is the sole master, and it wants to retain that mastery always; it will refuse to admit not only new masters but, even new partners or collaborators.

Arabs Not Fools

This is equally true of the Arabs. Our peace-mongers are trying to persuade us that the Arabs are either fools, whom we can deceive by masking our real aims, or that they are corrupt and can be bribed to abandon to us their claim to priority in Palestine, in return for cultural and economic advantages. I repudiate this conception of the Palestinian Arabs. Culturally they are five hundred years behind us; they have neither our endurance nor our determination; but they are just as good psychologists as we are, and their minds have been sharpened like ours by centuries of fine-spun logomachy. We may tell them whatever we like about the innocence of our aims, watering them down and sweetening them with honeyed words to make them palatable, but they know what we want, as well as we know what they do not want. They feel at least the same instinctive jealous love of Palestine, as the old Aztecs felt for ancient Mexico, and the Sioux for their rolling Prairies.

To imagine, as our Arabophiles do, that they will voluntarily consent to the realisation of Zionism, in return for the moral and material conveniences which the Jewish colonist brings with him, is a childish notion, which has at bottom a kind of contempt for the Arab people; it means that they despise the Arab race, which they regard as a corrupt mob that can be bought and sold, and are willing to give up their fatherland for a good railway system.

All Natives Resist Colonists

There is no justification for such a belief. It may be that some individual Arabs take bribes. But that does not mean that the Arab people of Palestine as a whole will sell that fervent patriotism that they guard so jealously, and which even the Papuans will never sell.

Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised.

That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing, and what they will persist in doing as long as there remains a solitary spark of hope that they will be able to prevent the transformation of "Palestine" into the "Land of Israel."

Arab Comprehension

Some of us have induced ourselves to believe that all the trouble is due to misunderstanding –- the Arabs have not understood us, and that is the only reason why they resist us; if we can only make it clear to them how moderate our intentions really are, they will immediately extend to us their hand in friendship.

This belief is utterly unfounded and it has been exploded again and again. I shall recall only one instance of many. A few years ago, when the late Mr. Sokolow was on one of his periodic visits to Palestine, he addressed a meeting on this very question of the "misunderstanding." He demonstrated lucidly and convincingly that the Arabs are terribly mistaken if they think that we have any desire to deprive them of their possessions or to drive them out of the country, or that we want to oppress them. We do not even ask for a Jewish Government to hold the Mandate of the League of Nations.

One of the Arab papers, "El Carmel," replied at the time, in an editorial article, the purport of which was this:

"The Zionists are making a fuss about nothing. There is no misunderstanding. All that Mr. Sokolow says about the Zionist intentions is true, but the Arabs know that without him. Of course, the Zionists cannot now be thinking of driving the Arabs out of the country, or oppressing them, nor do they contemplate a Jewish Government. Quite obviously, they are now concerned with one thing only -- that the Arabs should not hinder their immigration. The Zionists assure us that even immigration will be regulated strictly according to the economic needs of Palestine. The Arabs have never doubted that: it is a truism, for otherwise there can be no immigration."

No “Misunderstanding”

This Arab editor was actually willing to agree that Palestine has a very large potential absorptive capacity, meaning that there is room for a great many Jews in the country without displacing a single Arab.

There is only one thing the Zionists want, and it is that one thing that the Arabs do not want, for that is the way by which the Jews would gradually become the majority, and then a Jewish Government would follow automatically; and the future of the Arab minority would depend on the goodwill of the Jews; and a minority status is not a good thing, as the Jews themselves are never tired of pointing out. So there is no “misunderstanding.” The Zionists want only one thing, Jewish immigration; and this Jewish immigration is what the Arabs do not want.

This statement of the position by the Arab editor is so logical, so obvious, so indisputable, that everyone ought to know it by heart, and it should be made the basis of all our future discussions on the Arab question. It does not matter at all which phraseology we employ in explaining our colonising aims, Herzl's or Sir Herbert Samuel's.

Colonisation carries its own explanation, the only possible explanation, unalterable and as clear as daylight to every ordinary Jew and every ordinary Arab.

Colonisation can have only one aim, and Palestine Arabs cannot accept this aim. It lies in the very nature of things, and in this particular regard nature cannot be changed.

The Iron Wall

We cannot offer any adequate compensation to the Palestinian Arabs in return for Palestine. And therefore, there is no likelihood of any voluntary agreement being reached. So that all those who regard such an agreement as a condition sine qua non for Zionism may as well say "non" and withdraw from Zionism.

Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population –- behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach.

That is our Arab policy; not what we should be, but what it actually is, whether we admit it or not. What need, otherwise, of the Balfour Declaration? Or of the Mandate? Their value to us is that an outside Power has undertaken to create in the country such conditions of administration and security that if the native population should desire to hinder our work, they will find it impossible.

And we are all of us, without any exception, demanding day after day that this outside Power should carry out this task vigorously and with determination.

In this matter there is no difference between our "militarists" and our "vegetarians." Except that the first prefer that the iron wall should consist of Jewish soldiers, and the others are content that they should be British.

We all demand that there should be an iron wall. Yet we keep spoiling our own case, by talking about "agreement," which means telling the Mandatory Government that the important thing is not the iron wall, but discussions. Empty rhetoric of this kind is dangerous. And that is why it is not only a pleasure but a duty to discredit it and to demonstrate that it is both fantastic and dishonest.

Zionism Moral and Just

Two brief remarks:

In the first place, if anyone objects that this point of view is immoral, I answer: It is not true; either Zionism is moral and just, or it is immoral and unjust. But that is a question that we should have settled before we became Zionists. Actually we have settled that question, and in the affirmative.

We hold that Zionism is moral and just. And since it is moral and just, justice must be done, no matter whether Joseph or Simon or Ivan or Achmet agree with it or not.

There is no other morality.

Eventual Agreement

In the second place, this does not mean that there cannot be any agreement with the Palestine Arabs. What is impossible is a voluntary agreement. As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter, because they are not a rabble, but a living people. And when a living people yields in matters of such a vital character it is only when there is no longer any hope of getting rid of us, because they can make no breach in the iron wall.

Not till then will they drop their extremist leaders whose watchword is"Never!" And the leadership will pass to the moderate groups, who will approach us with a proposal that we should both agree to mutual concessions. Then we may expect them to discuss honestly practical questions, such as a guarantee against Arab displacement, or equal rights for Arab citizens, or Arab national integrity.

And when that happens, I am convinced that we Jews will be found ready to give them satisfactory guarantees, so that both peoples can live together in peace, like good neighbours.

But the only way to obtain such an agreement, is the iron wall, which is to say a strong power in Palestine that is not amenable to any Arab pressure. In other words, the only way to reach an agreement in the future is to abandon all ideas of seeking an agreement at present.

Audaciously Sailing On - updated

Here's the on-line publication version, updated from the July 8th posting.

http://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/26/audaciously-sailing-on-with-hope/

PICTURES!!!!

PICTURES!!!

And four little video clips:
Can you hear the music?

For Greta

Free Gaza!

They will never clear those boats!

History, as written by Huffington Post

Le Dignité-Al Karama Seized by Israeli Navy

One doesn't get to choose one's enemies, alas.  But with friends like Huffington Post one does wonder. 

Here is a bit of a deconstruction of Amy Teibel's story, in the Huffington Post on the morning of July 19. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/19/dignity-al-karama-gaza-bound-french-ship-seized-israel-_n_902325.html 

The report, or so it appears, starts with a number of relatively neutral statements.  They are, however, not so neutral upon further consideration. The activists on board are, we are told, 'pro Palestinian', but we are not told, until considerably later, why they are attempting to break the Israeli blockade.  In case you are wondering why, well, they report that "their mission was meant to make a "political statement" against the Israeli blockade."  What, exactly, gets to them as concerning the "Israeli blockade", remains unspecified.  Possibly they enjoy the attention.


On the other hand, we are told, and immediately, why Israel thinks it needs to stop them – it's "a measure to prevent arms smuggling to Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group."   Oh, wait, shouldn't this be "a measure to prevent "arms struggling" to Gaza"?


Pro-Palestinian activists; Hamas; Militant...


And here's more.  Last year, we are reminded, "Israeli naval commandos clashed with knife and club-wielding activists on a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists."  Knife wielding activists?  Oh, I forgot, that photograph of kitchen knives!  Clearly, Amy Teibel was not in on the day that was declared an Israeli propaganda mishap.  Even Israel's own Tirkel Report doesn't mention knives.  But I guess club-wielding sounds too much like a baseball team to justify the shooting of civilians.  The reader is spared the fact that the Turkish boat, with civilians on board and no serious ammunition, was boarded 150 miles from the port of Gaza and in international water and that the surrounding naval ships opened fire on it even before any commandos landed. 


Pro-Palestinian activists; Hamas; Militant; Arm smuggling;  Knife and Club-wielding


Both sides, reports the balanced Huffington Post, claim to have acted in self-defense.  But wait, there is some additional evidence bearing on the issue: "since the deadly May 2010 takeover, the navy has intercepted two blockade-busting boats without incident"


Israeli Blockade; Self-defense; Without Incident.


Have we gotten it already?  In case we haven't, here's more: "The Hamas government in Gaza condemned the seizing of the boat."  Of course, so have many other governments and organizations.  But they don't really count, do they?


Let's do an interim summary:


Israeli Blockade; Self-defense; Without Incident; Condemned by Hamas. 
Pro-Palestinian activists; Hamas; Militant;  Arm Smuggling; Knife and Club-wielding.


To be absolutely thorough, here's a bit more about what there is in Teibel's piece: "Hamas militants.. "seized control of Gaza", whereas in actuality they won an internationally supervised fair elections.  And  lest we lose track of where we are going here, please take note of the fact that Israel "approved individual construction projects in coordination with the international community"!


And here's a bit more about what there isn't in Teibel's piece: not a single comment on the fact that Le Dignite -Al Karama was seized in international water;  not a single comment on how and why Greece stopped the rest of the flotilla, or on the fact that Hillary Clinton is in Greece as we speak congratulating the Greek government on its austerity measures and on its support in stopping the flotilla;  not a word about the fact that in the past week Israel has been using Gaza as a target practice, bombing the strip and the city daily; not a word about the fact that fishing boats are regularly shot at off the coast of Gaza, most recently less than a week ago, when Israel shot at an international observers' ship as well, while they were at it.


Not a word about the fact that 95% of drinking water in Gaza are below the World Health Organization standards as a direct result of the fact that Israel deliberately targeted the water system in its 2009 attack on Gaza, and has since systematically subverted any attempt to repair it!


What critics say, Ms. Teibel and Huffing Post, goes quite a bit beyond the fact that the blockade has hurt the territory's economy and punished its population collectively, which is in itself very true.  What critics say is that the population of Gaza, and the West Bank, has lived under a military occupation now for 44 years.  Israel may have left the streets of Gaza, but as long as it tightly controls its borders and invades and bombs it at will, Gaza is under occupation.  This has now been the longest military occupation of the modern era, and has simply no parallels.  The only analogies that come close involve colonial occupations in the 19^th century or the control which the whites of South Africa exercised over the blacks prior to 1994.


Sixteen people on board the Le Dignité-Al Karama, trying to convey a peaceful message to the people of Gaza.  Four Israeli navy ships, no doubt funded by US tax-payers' money, blocking their way. 


700,000 children under 14 in Gaza, of whom 47% suffer from severe anemia and 75% suffer from some measure of malnutrition. The State of Israel with its army, the United States of America, and now Greece, determined to keep them that way. 


Who's David here?  Who's the Goliath? 

Neither alternative, Huff Post, nor press!

Chasing this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2PpyjcecgM

Watch it before it disappears from UTube as well!

Justice under Occupation

http://vimeo.com/13367159


Comments are superflous, really!  Do watch!

Social Rage, Political Rage: ISRAEL

Just in from ynet.  Extremely interesting, and also very instructive on some aspects of the Israeli Jewish Society and their political perspective.

English translation (joint effort by Google and me) below:

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4096161,00.html

Demonstrators threw cups of cottage cheese on Mecudat Ze'ev

Dozens of young people gathered in Gan Meir in Tel Aviv to protest the high cost of living. The protesters promised a "Week of Wrath" as they marched toward the tent city on Rothschild Boulevard. On their way they threw cups of cottage cheese at Likud headquarters.[Mecudat Ze'ev]. The activists disagreed on whether to the consumer struggle to the struggle against the occupation. "We will lose half of the people"

Boaz Feiler

16:07:11, 22:3

Dozens of young people gathered this evening (Saturday) in Gan Meir in Tel Aviv to protest the cost of living in Israel. The protests were organized on Facebook and the organizers promised an escalation of the struggle in the coming week.  The protesters were marching to join the group of young activists already camping on Rothchild Boulevard [since Friday] bombarding the Likud headquarters with cups of cottage cheese on their way. 

When the demonstrators reached Rothschild Blvd. they were greeted by the camping tenters assembled there with a thunderous applause.

On their way they were chanting slogans such as "no income, no education – let's overthrow the government."

Many of the youths who gathered in Gan Meir were left wing activists, who proposed, as wouldbe natural from their perspective, to divide the gathered crowd into three groups: one to deal with the oncoming struggle against the erosion of democracy, one to protest the rising cost of living and a third to discuss the struggle against the occupation.

As soon as this suggestion became known, however, some in the crowd protested that they do not understand the connection between their social struggle and political views against the occupation.  Ricky Yishay, one of the protesters, told Ynet: "Once a protest is identified with a political position, even if the social-economic position is right, but it is still identified with a particular political position, I do not want to be part of it because I have right-wing views and so do many others here."

She says, "the minute you connect this social protest against cost of living, which I consider legitimate, with the issue of the occupation, you lose me and half of this nation."  Itay Zalhit added "Some do not believe there is an occupation and others believe there is.  To involve ourselves in this means to involve ourselves in the military budget which we are not interested in.  It is a trump card that people use:  the trump card of occupation and security".

([picture caption] Grated Cottage Cheese Cup.  Cottege cheese has become a symbol [because of its excessive cost and because of having already triggered a powerful protest]

Eilat Maoz, one of the activists associated with the left, argued, on the other hand, that "the Week of Wrath is an accumulation of actions based on frustration and dissatisfaction and a deep sense that we must stop this government which is an occupier, which is violent, which destroys our democracy and which propels us all into poverty. During this week we will conduct daily actions against the cost of living,  against racism and against the right-wing rampage that is dangerous to us all. "

She says, "More and more people realize that we must go to the street [to protest]. Protest against the boycott law across the political spectrum proved this week that people are beginning to recognize the connection between the settlement project and control over another people and the hardships of their daily lives in Israel. Still, the protest is organized in such a fashion that each action will focus on a different topic and people are invited to express their frustration on what is most painful to them."

The organizers of the camping protest in Tel Aviv criticized the act of throwing cottage cheese on Likud headquarters and expressed dissatisfaction at the attempt to link their struggle to politics ."We advocate nonviolent protests and condemn any instance of violence," sources told Ynet, "Our protest is not connected with any party. This is street [=popular] protest with one clear purpose: allowing affordable housing to the public. The thousands of demonstrators who support us and who come here to sleep in tents are from across the political spectrum, indicating the very specific nature of this protest."

The Not-so-Holy Trinity vs. Six Women

The might of the new not-so-holy trinity of US, ISRAEL and GREECE has finally found its appropriate target:  the boat, Audacity of Hope, and the six women on board, four of whom are over 60.  Right on, US and Israel!  Right on, Greece!  The enemy has been surrounded!  Victory at last!

CALL THE GREEK EMBASSY TODAY! 

DEMAND THE RELEASE OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE!

Missy Lane, OJ Linnell, Ann Wright, Carol Murry, Regina Carey

and

Greta Berlin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ann Wright, 0030 694 165 7310
Regina Carey: 0030 694 203 6296

Athens, July 12, 2011,  At 10 am today, the shore electricity was cut off to the Audacity of Hope, the US Boat to Gaza, leaving us with no power. The boat has been imprisoned at the US Embassy/Greek Coast Guard dock, near Piraeus, Greece, just outside of Athens since we tried to sail to Gaza on July 1 when the Greek Coast Guard intercepted our small boat and hauled us into this compound.

Its over 100 degrees inside the boat, and a Russian ship loading grain is spewing grain and dust over the entire area. In addition, the off-loading noise the ship is making is above environmentally acceptable limit, sounding like a bad rock concert playing at the back of the boat! Six women are staying on board to protect the boat, since two boats heading to Gaza were already sabotaged in an attempt to prevent us from sailing to Gaza. Four of us are over 60. The Greek naval facility is co-located with a US Embassy compound which has one warehouse exclusively for the U.S. government, as well as a ramp for loading vehicles onto a ship.  It also has a parking area for the wrecked cars of Americans who have been involved in traffic accidents plus a secure warehouse compound behind the ubiquitous high fence topped with razor wire and signs printed in both English and Greek in the US government block style lettering

The Greek Coast Guard is probably caught in the middle and may be ready to release us, but government politics seems to wants to keep us in port to appease the Israeli government, since the occupation of Palestine has been outsourced to the Greeks.

Call the Greek Embassy in Washington and .the Greek consulates around the Country and demand that they release the Audacity of Hope:

Embassy of Greece
2217 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Tel. 202.939.1300
Fax. 202.939.1324

You can also call Kim Richter at the State Department or write a text message to her at 202-647-8308  , insisting that the US release this boat and the six women on board who are making sure she remains safe.

Our conversation this morning with Kate Brandeis, acting Consul General for the United States bore no fruit after we told her what was happening on board this boat.



Audaciously Sailing on, with Hope!

For 44 years now, the people in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 have been awaiting their freedom. In Gaza, people have been waiting for five years for a release from the largest world’s open air prison; for the resumption of at least some measure of free movement, for the resumption of risk-free fishing and raw materials, for the re-emergence of commerce and industry. Since Operation Cast Lead, two and a half years ago, they have been also been waiting for the arrival of construction material that would allow them to rebuild their homes, their schools, their hospitals, their infrastructure, destroyed by Israel.

For six months now, and like my 40 fellow passengers, I have been waiting to sail to Gaza. For more than a year, Ann and Jane and Laurie and Helaine and Nic and so many others have been working tirelessly on the US Boat to Gaza.  Sometime last winter, our individual efforts came together to become the stream that was to be The Audacity of Hope.

For more than a year now, organizers and passengers in 22 other countries have been working continuously to bring about their own sailing to Gaza.  For more than four years, the Free Gaza Movement has been working to bring boats to Gaza.  Starting with one boat, and then another, and another, and finally, last year, a flotilla.

Sometime last spring, all these streams came together to become a Gaza-bound river – the Flotilla II: Stay Human River which brought many of us to Greece, where another powerful river is running. That river has emerged from the popular uprising of the people of Greece against the austerity measures imposed upon them by the government of Greece, which were, in turn, dictated by the IMF, largely controlled by US corporate interests, and by the financial institutions of the EU. It is on the back of the Greek population, it appears, that debts incurred through governmental and corporate mismanagement, corruption and greed are to be paid.

On July 1, 2011, the actions of the Greek government have caused our rivers to merge.  On that day, just like the people in Syntagma Square, we, too, unarmed and non-violent, faced a disproportionate display of force.  We, too, were prevented from asserting our right to protest injustice, when the Greek government decided to confront us with faceless commandos and automatic weapons.  When it opted to act, yet again, as an enforcer of dictates originating elsewhere – this time from Israel with the backing of the European Union and the United States.

Our boat was forced back to Athens, and our captain was arrested. But in many important respects, we are very much still on the high seas. Unwittingly, the Audacity of Hope, in its valiant attempt to break away, has become a symbol of standing up to the control and the abuse of the powerful and the mighty. We have become the Speakers of Truth to Power.  Already our path has been followed by the Tahrir, the Canadian boat with its brilliant very nearly successful attempt to escape the Hellenic Coast Guard on July 4th, by Guernica, the Spanish boat, whose passengers are now occupying the Spanish embassy in Athens, refusing to leave until granted permission to sail, and by the Juliano, the Greek/Norwegian/Swedish ship.  Freshly repaired after being sabotaged on June 27, the Juliano has already forced the Hellenic Coast Guard to allow it to relocate on July 6th, with the continuing hope that it will be able to break away and join the French ship, Le Dignité - El Karameh, in international water.  Already, our river has widened and its bed has been deepened by our joint actions with the Greek protesters in marches and demonstrations in Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection, in front of the Israeli and the American embassies in Athens, and in front of the Spanish embassy. 

As the Audacity of Hope is now negotiating its passage from the concrete to the symbolic, from the present to history, our river is flowing on, to merge with that of our most recent mentors – the initiators of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, in Egypt and in Yemen, in Libya, in Syria and in Bahrain, who have taught us so much about truth and about power. Every day, the lines of this new and yet-so-old divide are emerging more clearly. Every day, a choice is made by individuals, by institutions and by governments.  On our side, there are the people of Palestine, the people of the Middle East and North Africa, the people of Greece, the people of Wisconsin, the people of Portugal and of France, and so many others.

And who is on the other side? Little need be said about the Government of Israel, which has now joined international coercion and systematic lying to its list of accomplishments. Or about the government of the United States, which did not bother to hide from us or from the world its position on our mission.  In a much publicized statement, Secretary Clinton practically gave Israel the green light to attack unarmed US citizens.  The US Embassy officials in Athens, in turn, sicced the Greek police on our handful of hunger strikers twice on July 4th.  But on the other side are also the IMF and the corporate and banking interests which it represents, and many, all too many European governments. How sad that this is the side that the government of Greece has chosen, most recently with its votes on June 21 and June 29, and in its decision to use “all means necessary” to stop our boats.

No, our journey is not over.  On August 23, 2008, Liberty, the first ship of the Free Gaza movement, sailed to Gaza, and its 41 activists were the first internationals to enter Gaza by sea in 41 years.  Less than three years later, more than 500,000 people volunteered to sail with the Stay Human Flotilla.  How many more this week?  Next month?  Next year?  How many more coming by sea, landing in airports, marching at borders?  Assembling in city squares and along boulevards?  Challenging governments and corporations?  Pushing against blockade after blockade?  How many more rivers merging to flow to Gaza and beyond? 

For our journey is only starting and we WILL be sailing on, audaciously, and with hope.

from Carlos Latuff

Israel - Recent International Acquisitions

1 Government (Greek)

1 Coast Guard (Greek)
2 Airlines (Malev, Suiss) (information coming in about others)
1 Educational system (French)

 

La Nakba effacée d'un manuel scolaire français

www.monde-diplomatique.fr

A en croire une dépêche de l'Agence France Presse (AFP) datée du 4 juillet, « des passages de nouveaux manuels d'histoire contemporaine à destination des classes de première générale, contestés par des associations juives, vont être “modifiés” à l'occasion de l'impression des versions définitives, a

Syntagma Square, Athens, July 5, 2010

WE ARE ALL THE CAPTAIN!

"We are ALL the captain," our comrades on the the Canadian boat, the Tahrir, said to the Hellenic Coast Guard that used water canon on their boat and then boarded them.  Ten minutes earlier, as kayaks were blocking the Coast Guard, the Tahrir made a run for it.  WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU ALL!  We are singing your praises!

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/canadian-boat-forced-back-shore-after-attempt-sail-gaza-report-and-pictures

In other news, the Greek police has now detained our hunger strikers for the second time.  This time they also brought in an anti-terrorism unit to interrogate them, at the request of the US ambassador, or so our comrades are telling us.

And finally, as I just learned from haaretz, the Israeli Airforce just concluded a two-week long military exercise with the Greek Airforce, held, in its entirety, on Greek soil.  Put differently,  IDF forces, primarily helicopters and units associated with them, have been in Greece, in significant numbers, during the entire period that this drama has been unfolding.  Now isn't that a coincidence.

Certainly much food for thought here, wouldn't you say?

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-greece-mark-growing-ties-with-joint-air-force-drill-1.371420 

And then...

We have been in the news, I am told... even yours truly, in person.  I walked up the steps to the top deck, right after dispatching my last posting, to find my fellow passengers standing at the front of the boat, facing a Greek Coast Guard (Hellenic Coast Guard, to be precise), whose captain has now been joined by eight commando fighters, in full Darth Vader gear, holding, and pointing at us, submachine guns.  Beside me, and in full view of numerous cameras of the media on board, passengers were making a plea, one by one, to the captain to let us go, to the commandos not to hurt us.  "We are your mothers and your sisters," Kathy said.  "If you will let us go you will be a hero to the people of Greece," Medea said.  "I fought in Vietnam," Ken said, "and I know that if you will hurt us today you will live with it for the rest of your lives". 

"Yes,"  laughed the Greek captain (who had excellent English).  "do the moral thing.  But not this time", as he started maneuvering to align the boarding ramp with our boat, to allow the comandos to board.  Which is when our own captain had decided to accept the invitation to be escorted to another port.  The other port turned out to be a military zone.  Our ship is now impounded and our captain, who left this morning for an arraignment, with a hearing scheduled for Monday, has now been incarcerated.  The Greek Navy has literally blockaded the French, the Spanish and the Canadian boats, placing one ship in their way and another to their side, so that they cannot move at all.  Athens, the birthplace of democracy, taking order from Netanyahu, clearly now the master of the Aegean!  Here's a link to a video taken by one of our passengers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoJuwhshSI

We are sad, needless to say, but nonetheless not discouraged.  The people of Gaza have waited long, and this is not the last flotilla.  0.5 million people, worldwide, submitted applications to be on this one.  The next one will be bigger, and bigger.  From the People of Gaza, we already heard profound gratitude and deep appreciation.

"Cheap stunt which doesn't further anything," is what the interviewer on Israel Channel 10 TV called it when she interviewed me.  Really?  The stunt was certainly not cheap, by a long stretch, and its effectivity, even as far as we have gotten, is unquestionable.  We have been in all the mainstream Amercian media, including the New York Times (read the article, page A4, today!), we have been on CNN and will be on CBS, Greek consulates throughout the US and worldwide have been receiving thousands and thousands of calls in protest.  No, I disagree.  If nothing else, the coercion that Israel has applied to Greece, and to Turkey, that it has tried to apply to every Mediteranean country, tells us that we have been successful.

Here's one to breaking the blockade on Gaza!  Not today, but soon, very soon!

The Audacity of Hope has Set Sail!

This afternoon, in full view of some 15 journalists, now counting those on board, we left our shipyard and went to sea.  Just yesterday, Netanyahu thanked the Papandreu government for having been so helpful in stopping the flotilla, having confirmed what we have been increasingly suspecting - not only the sabotage of the Greek/Norwegian/Swedish ship in a Greek port, not only the sabotage of the Irish boat in a Turkish boat, but the endless line of paperwork requests that take days to process and end with additional requests are there by design, and the design comes from Israel.

How sad for the people of Greece to watch their own government allowing Israel to put not only Gaza, but also Athens, under blockade.   How doubly sad, for the people of Greece, while they attempting to assert their right to continue to live in dignity, to that very same government.  

And so, we left.  Even if it comes to naught, even if the Greek Coast Guard stops us a few miles into sea, in the end, we will have made our stand.  In the end, we will have attracted more attention to the denial of freedom in Gaza, and to what the Israeli government is all about. 

As I speak, the Greek Coast Guard is approaching.  We do not know what will happen.  I will be back when possible.

To my fellow passengers

Yes, we are in Athens, still.  An Athens still in the midst of a civil uprising.  We have now met many of our French and Norwegian and Greek and Spanish and Swedish comerades, likewise getting ready to sail.

And we have been spending a lot of time together, getting to know each other and learning to trust each other.  Pivotal, with the oncoming trip and its challenges.  We have transitioned from our first exuberance, through a stretch of anxiety, having learned of the delays, and back into optimism.  An optimism now more sober, but crucially grounded no only in our continuing conviction that our cause is just, but also in having come to recognize the outstanding individuals among us.  The courage, the passion, the compassion which we are discovering in each other daily, hourly.  The wisdom and the experience.  The effort and the commitment...

Fifty are many people to come to know in such a short period of time, and I am sure the list will grow, but this is (in no particular order), with deep affection and awe, to Linda, Debra, Regina, Brad and Lisa.  To Anne.  To Richard Lo., and to Kit and to Hedi, and Ann, and Gail, and Ken and Gabe, and Max, and Gale, and to Donna and Libor.   To Kathy and to Kathy.... To So many, so unique, so people!

Op. Ed., Los Angeles Times

Hi Folks - here it is:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-borer-gaza-blockade-20110626,0,3515948.story

Hope you like it, and please do remember op eds from this point of view have been getting rather vicious responses.  If you are supportive, put in your two cents...

Still from Athens,

Hagit

=============

By Hagit Borer

June 26, 2011

Later this month an American ship, the Audacity of Hope, will leave Greece on a journey to the Gaza Strip to attempt to break Israel's blockade. It will join an expected nine other ships flying numerous flags and carrying hundreds of passengers from around the world. I will be one of those passengers.

I am an Israeli Jewish American. I was born in Israel, and I grew up in a very different Jerusalem from the one today. The Jerusalem of my childhood was a smallish city of white-stone neighborhoods nestled in the elbows of hills. Near the center, next to the central post office, the road swerved sharply to the left because straight ahead stood a big wall, and on the other side of it was "them."

And then, on June 9, 1967, the wall came down. Elsewhere, Israeli troops were still fighting what came to be known as the Six-Day War, but on June 9, as a small crowd stood and watched, demolition crews brought down the barrier wall, and after it, all other buildings that had stood between my Jerusalem and the walls of the Old City, their Jerusalem. A few weeks later a wide road would lead from my Jerusalem to theirs, bearing the victors' name: Paratroopers Way.

A soldier helped me sneak into the Old City. Snipers were still at large and the city was closed to Israeli civilians. By the Western Wall, a myth to me until then, the Israeli army was already evicting Palestinian residents in the dead of night and demolishing all houses within 1,000 feet. Eventually, the area would turn into the huge open paved space it is today, a place where only last month, on Jerusalem Day, masses of Israeli youths chanted "Muhammad is dead" and "May your villages burn."

It is a different Jerusalem now. It is not their Jerusalem, for it has been taken from them. Every day the Palestinians of Jerusalem are further strangled by more incursions, by more "housing developments" to cut them off from other Palestinians. In Sheik Jarrah, a neighborhood built by Jordan in the 1950s to house refugees, Palestinian families recently have been evicted from their homes at gunpoint based on court-sanctioned documents purporting to show Jewish land ownership in the area dating back some 100 years. But no Palestinian proof of ownership within West Jerusalem has ever prevailed in Israeli courts. Talbieh, Katamon, Baca, until 1948 affluent Palestinian neighborhoods, are today almost exclusively Jewish, with no legal recourse for the Palestinians who recently raised families and lived their lives there.

In his speech on Jerusalem Day, Yitzhak Pindrus, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, assured a cheering crowd of the ongoing commitment to expanding the Jewish neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik, as Sheik Jarrah has been renamed.

This is not my Jerusalem. The tens of thousands of jeering youths that swarmed through its streets on Jerusalem Day have taken the city from me as well. That they speak my native tongue is almost impossible for me to believe, for there is nothing about them or about the society that gave birth to them that I recognize.

Did we know in 1967, in 1948, that it would come to this? Some did. Some knew even then that a society built on conquest and dispossession would have to dehumanize the conquered in order to continue to dispossess and oppress them. A 1948 letter to the New York Times signed by Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt, among others, foretells much of the future. Martin Buber did not spare David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, his perspective on the expulsion of the Palestinians in 1948-49.

But too many others, including members of the U.S. Congress who recently cheered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are determined to not hold the Israeli government responsible or the Israeli-Jewish society culpable.

Let us note that some Israeli Jews do stand up and protest. There are soldiers who refuse to serve, journalists who highlight injustice, and human rights organizations, activist groups, information centers. In a sense, all of us seeking justice have been on a virtual boat to Gaza all these decades. We have been trying to break through the Israeli blockade, in its many incarnations. We wish to say to the Palestinians that, yes, there are people in Israel who know that any viable future for the Middle East must be based on a just peace — not the forced imposition spelled out by Netanyahu to Congress — or else we are all doomed. We want it known that the soldier is not the only face of Israeli Jews. There are those who say to the government of Israel, "You do not represent us." We say to the people of the United States in general and to American Jews in particular that yes, you do have an alternative. You can support peace. A true peace.

Hagit Borer moved from Israel to the United States to study in 1977. She became an American citizen in 1992 and is currently a professor of linguistics at USC.

Precious! Sure to Make your Day!

Reporters hector State: Is the blockade legal? What right does Israel have to ‘defend itself’ from humanitarian aid?

by Philip Weiss on June 25, 2011

Like 37 Retweet 9

Matt Lee of AP is on fire. Be like Matt Lee, you docile bovine seven-stomached beasts of the mainstream media, grow a pair. And it looks like other State Department reporters are emulating him. Here's the video. And here's an extended excerpt from the briefing, below. Gaza is just about the first order of business. Watch State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland squirm. She's the wife of Robert Kagan, former Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice President Cheney, July 2003-May 2005. And she's in the Obama administration? What does she know, when did she know it?

Be sure to listen to Lee's genius question toward the end about Saudi Arabian women driving and breaking the law. "It seems to me that's a pretty provocative act," too, but Hillary Clinton defends them. I have to believe stuff is shaking. Oh brave flotilla, be safe and make it to Gaza!!!!


QUESTION: This morning, Victoria, you put out a statement – or a statement went out in your name – about the flotilla. This is the third warning in three days from this building or people in this building about this. What is the big concern here? Are you – is there a worry that this is going – that this may upend your efforts to get the peace talks restarted?

MS. [Victoria] NULAND: I think this just continues a year of diplomacy and public statements that we’ve had making clear that we don’t want to see a repeat of the very dangerous situation that occurred last year. So we thought it was timely to put out all in one place our views on this issue, and I do commend to all of you the very detailed statement that we put out earlier in the day.
QUESTION: Right. But is there a concern that this may have broader – if it goes ahead, that there may be broader implications for the effort?
MS. NULAND: We have seen some warming in relations between Turkey and Israel, as we talked about I think it was on Tuesday. We want to see that effort continue. We want to see those who want to aid humanitarian situation in Gaza use the appropriate channels. There has been some progress, as the statement makes clear, in opening the way for more humanitarian aid. More humanitarian aid is getting in through legitimate channels. So we’d like to see that process continue and not have a repeat of the dangerous situation we had last summer.
QUESTION: Okay. Well, one of the things that the Secretary said yesterday in – when – in her comments to this was that attempts to go into Israeli waters were provocative and irresponsible. And it’s my understanding that the flotilla organizers do not intend to go into Israeli waters but in – they will stay in international waters. Is that your understanding or is that not your understanding per what the Secretary said yesterday?
MS. NULAND: I can’t speak to the intentions of those involved in the flotilla. I think the Secretary was clear it was in response to a question yesterday --
QUESTION: Correct.
MS. NULAND: -- as you remember, so that also speaks to the fact that publicly this issue is out there, that we do not want to see the bad situation of last year repeated. We do believe that channels exist for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza in a safe and secure way and that that situation is improving. And we urge all NGOs who want to participate in that to use those channels.
QUESTION: But does a flotilla sitting in international waters off the Gaza – off the coast of Gaza, is that a problem for the U.S.?
MS. NULAND: Again, I don’t want to get into the Law of the Sea issues here. I simply want to say that we don’t want to see a conflict at sea, on land. We want to see appropriate legitimate channels used for the --
QUESTION: I understand, but in the briefing that just preceded this --
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: -- you talked about wanting to – in another instance, in the South China Sea, the U.S. has been very concerned about the freedom of navigation.
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: And so I’m not quite sure what the U.S. problem would be with a flotilla that stays in international waters, whether it’s off the coast of Gaza or off the coast of the Philippines.
MS. NULAND: I think we’re not talking about a freedom of navigation issue. We’re talking about appropriate and safe and agreed mechanisms for delivering aid to the people of Gaza.
QUESTION: So it’s --
MS. NULAND: So I think the statement speaks for it --
QUESTION: Well, but you believe that Israel is within its rights to defend itself to take on or to prevent ships from going into international waters?
MS. NULAND: Again, I’m not going to speak to international waters, territorial waters. I’m simply saying that we are encouraging those who want to aid the people of Gaza to use the channels that have been established.
QUESTION: All right. And then was – on the flotilla – this is on the Middle East – I just want to know, wondering if there’s any update on the Quartet meeting in Brussels?
MS. NULAND: Simply that they had a good meeting today, they did begin a conversation about when they’re going to meet next, and they’re looking to do that in the next few weeks. But I don’t have any specific announcements out of the Quartet today.
QUESTION: Is there – is the thought that the next meeting would be at the principals level or is it going to be, again, at the – at an envoy level?
MS. NULAND: I think decisions have not been made on that subject.
Yes.
QUESTION: To follow up on --
QUESTION: Just to – this is a follow-up.
MS. NULAND: Are we on flotilla too or are we --
QUESTION: We’re on flotilla. Just to make sure, does the U.S. consider that blockade legal?
MS. NULAND: I think the main point that we were trying to make in the statement was that we’ve got to use the channels that are safe, the channels that are going to guarantee that the aid get where it needs to go to the people it’s intended for, and to discourage, in strongest terms, any actions on the high seas that could result in a conflict.
QUESTION: Right, but again, that doesn’t answer the question of the legality or the – whether the U.S. perceives that blockade as legal or not.
MS. NULAND: I don’t have anything for you on legality here. We can take a stronger look at that if you’d like, but again, the reason that the Secretary spoke to this yesterday when she was asked, the reason that we’ve put out this very fulsome statement that points people in the correct direction, is because we want to avoid the problems of last year, and we do believe that there are good and reliable channels for getting assistance to the people of Gaza.
QUESTION: And just one more. I’m sorry. The people who are putting this together have a rather elaborate website, and they say that – on that that the U.S. should be protecting the rights of American citizens, protecting their safety abroad. So that is the argument that they are making. They’re very disappointed and shocked that the State Department would be warning people off. What do you say to that?
MS. NULAND: It is in the interest of protecting both Americans and other citizens from around the world who might be thinking about engaging in provocative moves like this that we were putting out these warnings so strongly in the same season where we had this problem last year. We don’t want to see a repeat, and we do believe that those who want to aid Gaza can do so and need to do so in the correct manner.
Please.
QUESTION: You kept repeating that they have available to them --
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: -- proper channels and so on. What – could you share with us some of these proper channels?
MS. NULAND: Well, the Rafah Crossing, as you know, is open again, and we have seen an uptick in the humanitarian aid that is going through there. There are also channels through Israel, and we’ve been relatively encouraged that the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza through these appropriate channels is improving.
QUESTION: But the Rafah Crossing was only recently opened. I mean, until then, it was completely closed. So that’s one issue. And another: Could you clarify for us whether, in fact, the Gaza waters or crossing through the Gaza waters, is that legal or illegal under the Laws of the Seas and so on? Could you clarify that, please?
MS. NULAND: I think that’s the same question that Jill was asking. And I will admit to you I’m not a Law of the Sea expert here, but let me take the question.
QUESTION: Okay. And a quick follow-up on the Quartet: You said that it was a good meeting. Now what constitutes a good meeting? How was the, let’s say, the meeting today different or improved the situation from, let’s say, 24 hours ago?
MS. NULAND: Well, as you saw and as we’ve been discussing here for the course of the last week, David Hale has been involved very intensively with the parties, with the regional states. For the members of the Quartet, I think it was a chance to compare notes on diplomacy that we’ve been doing, on diplomacy that other members of the Quartet have been doing in our shared effort to get these parties back to the table. So, from that perspective, there was a lot to discuss and then to take stock of where to go next.
Please.
QUESTION: Can I do a follow-up on the flotilla?
MS. NULAND: Please, yeah.
QUESTION: My understanding is that there were a number of the Americans who planned to participate and went into your – I believe in your Embassy in Athens and sought some advice. Can you tell us what the message to them in person was today?
MS. NULAND: I’m sure that the message to them in person was identical to the statement that we’ve put out today, that we would ask them to use established and reliable channels and to refrain from action that could lead to the kind of difficulty that we saw last year.
QUESTION: When you say that you want – you don’t want a repeat of last year, you want people to refrain from action that could lead to the kind of difficulty that you saw last year, does that only apply to the flotilla organizers or does that also apply to Israel?
MS. NULAND: We’ve been urging all sides, whether it’s the NGOs or whether it’s governments involved, that we not have a repeat of what happened last year.
QUESTION: Right. Well --
MS. NULAND: And I think this speaks to the fact that the neighboring states that – to Gaza have worked hard to establish legitimate mechanisms, efficient mechanisms to get aid in so that people have a way to do this other than to risk provocative action.
Please, Jill.
QUESTION: Another subject?
MS. NULAND: Anybody – anything else on this? Lachlan?
QUESTION: Just one more on this. Yeah. I don’t think you said it, but people at the State Department have said Israel has a right to defend itself against these flotillas. What exactly would it be defending against, though? That’s what’s not clear to me.
MS. NULAND: Like all states, Israel has a right of national self-defense. Again, I don’t want to get into where the boat might be and Law of the Sea and all this kind of stuff. We are simply saying this is the wrong way to get aid to Gaza. The correct way to get aid to Gaza is through the established mechanisms which are improving, which are open, and which can get aid to the people that it’s intended for.
QUESTION: But it’s just humanitarian aid, so I don’t see why it would be – Israel would have to defend itself if it’s just humanitarian aid coming in.
MS. NULAND: It’s the matter of all states to provide coastal defense, but I’m – again, I’m not going to get into the Law of the Sea issues here. We’re simply trying to make the point that we want this done in a way that not only is going to get the aid where it’s intended, but is going to ensure that we don’t have dangerous incidents.
QUESTION: In general, would you say that the Administration, the U.S. Government, is – would advise anyone against provocative acts?
MS. NULAND: I think that’s a fair point.
QUESTION: It is. Okay. So you don’t see, when the Secretary comes out in support of women who want to drive in Saudi Arabia, deliberately violating Saudi laws and regulations, that – her support of that is – doesn’t mean that you’re not – I mean, I don’t understand where you – if you’re coming out against all provocative acts, it seems to me that that’s a pretty provocative act, and yet she’s supporting that.
MS. NULAND: The Secretary was supporting the right of not only Saudi women, women around the world, to live as men do. She wasn’t encouraging any particular course of action one way or the other. She was simply making a strong public statement of empathy and support for the campaign that these women are on to have these laws changed.
QUESTION: Okay. So a provocative act in support of the Palestinians in Gaza is not okay, though?
MS. NULAND: I don’t think we are supporting provocative acts of any kind. I think you can’t equate these two issues. The Secretary was simply speaking to the aspirations of Saudi women to have the laws of their country changed. She wasn’t encouraging any particular course of action for that.
QUESTION: Okay. Let me try and put it a different way, then. You believe that because there are established – already established means, the Israeli port where things are inspected and the Rafah Crossing, that in this case, being provocative is unnecessary and unwise because it’s just not needed; there are other ways to do it? Is that – that’s the bottom line?
MS. NULAND: That’s certainly the case, and we don’t want further incidents. It’s not in anybody’s interest.
QUESTION: Is the regular blockade a provocative act?
MS. NULAND: I think we’ve gone as far as we’re going to go on this subject.
QUESTION: I’ll ask again. Is the naval blockade a provocative action?
MS. NULAND: We would consider it provocative and it would be dangerous to have a repeat of the situation that we saw last year.
QUESTION: But the current existing blockade, the naval blockade of Gaza, is that provocative action or is it not?
MS. NULAND: As I said, we believe that there are legitimate and efficient ways to get assistance into Gaza and that those mechanisms are working and that we’re seeing, as a result of them, an improvement in the humanitarian situation.
Jill, are we moving on now? Yeah. Thanks. Please, go ahead.