Israeli crimes in Gaza incite struggle worldwide
By
Kathy Durkin
Published Feb 15, 2009 11:07 PM
Israel seizes aid ship bound for Gaza
A Lebanese ship carrying 60 tons of humanitarian aid for the besieged people of
Gaza was aggressively intercepted and seized on Feb. 5 by the Israeli navy.
Called “The Brotherhood Ship,” this unarmed vessel carried medical
supplies, food, books, toys and milk for children.
The cargo ship was stopped 19 miles off Gaza. On board were human rights
activists, religious figures, journalists and crew members.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Salam Khoder reported that the Israeli navy opened
fire on the ship. Then soldiers stormed it. Passengers were beaten, then
handcuffed and interrogated, and their possessions confiscated. All were
arrested. Most were held for a day. Khoder said that she and another woman,
Lebanese TV reporter Ugarith Dandash, and Dr. Hani Suleiman, an organizer of
the Lebanese aid mission, were beaten. (iht.com)
The ship’s owner, Mohamed Youssef, told Al-Jazeera from Beirut that the
navy’s firing damaged the ship. He said, “Contacts with the ship
were cut. ... the crew and passengers were beaten savagely.”
(latimes.com)
The freighter was forcibly towed to Ashdod, Israel, where it was searched and
where it remains. What happened to the aid is unknown. Most passengers and crew
have been sent to Lebanon and Syria, but as of Feb. 6 two crew members from
India were still in Israeli police custody. Scottish human rights and Free Gaza
Movement activist Teresa McDermott is reportedly in Israel’s Ramleh
prison. (palsolidarity.org)
Though other humanitarian-aid ships bound for Gaza have been harassed and
threatened, this is the first time that Israel has seized a ship, its
passengers and crew. Israel is trying to stop solidarity with the Palestinians
while its belligerent enforcement of the blockade of Gaza is preventing
critical medicine and food from reaching families there.
Scottish students’ solidarity with Palestinians
Strathclyde University students staged a 24-hour sit-in on Feb. 4-5 to demand
that the Glasgow school end its ties to Israel.
Led by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), more than 40
students, including many Palestinians, occupied the registry hall. The
administration then agreed to stop buying water from the Israeli-owned company
Eden Springs, to provide some scholarships for Palestinian students, to
publicize the Gaza aid appeal and to show solidarity with the University of
Gaza.
Eden Springs has been the target of a growing boycott campaign by the Scottish
PSC for its violations of international and human rights laws. The company
makes worldwide profits from selling water it extracts from Salukia Spring in
the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, thereby depriving the Syrian population of
a vital water supply.
Eden Springs Scotland shut its East of Scotland depot after losing hundreds of
contracts across Scotland following an Edinburgh University boycott. Lancaster
University’s Friends of Palestine Society is pushing for a campuswide
boycott there. (scan.lusu.co.uk)
Strathclyde activists vow future sit-ins to demand the university sever its
ties to the United Kingdom’s BAE Systems, which ships arms to Israel, and
more. (Scotsman.com)
Western Australia dockworkers to boycott Israeli ships
On Jan. 27 the Maritime Union of Australia (Western Australia) resolved support
for the people of Gaza and condemned Israel’s military assaults on
them.
The delegates’ assembly endorsed the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) campaign and pledged to fully participate in it. They called on
the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and Unions WA to support the BDS
and all related actions.
They also asked that the Maritime Union of Australia state conference agree to
boycott “all Israeli-registered vessels, and all vessels known to be
carrying either goods destined for Israel or goods sourced from Israel.”
(www.greenleft.org.au)
Sydney MUA officials roundly condemned Israel’s massacres in Gaza by
signing a petition which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald.
South African dockworkers refuse to unload Israeli goods
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) announced a victory by
South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), whose members
refused to unload a ship filled with Israeli goods at Durban harbor.
This courageous workers’ action is a big boost to the growing
international movement challenging Israeli oppression and militarism against
the Palestinian people.
The action was carried out despite threats to COSATU members and maneuvers to
try to circumvent the workers’ protests by the ship’s owner, M.
Dizengoff and Co., a shipping agent for Zim Israel Navigation Company. The
shipping company had secretly changed the arrival date for the cargo ship
Johanna Russ, which docked on Feb. 4, four days earlier than expected.
“The vigilant [dock]workers were on guard and immediately they realized
that it had docked, then they refused to handle it, despite pressures from
management. SATAWU members maintained their refusal to offload the ship and
also attempted to ensure that scab labor would not be used. ... A few hours
after berthing ... the Johanna Russ sneaked out of Durban Harbor.”
(wwww.cosatu.org)
COSATU members plan to intensify their efforts in support of the Palestinian
people’s struggles by strengthening boycotts of Israeli products and
institutions, and pushing divestment and sanctions against Israel.
COSATU states: “The momentum against apartheid Israel has become an
irresistible force. We are proud to stand with the millions around the world
who say, ‘Enough is enough.’ They are doing what we asked them to
do when we faced the apartheid regime in our own country.”
COSATU and the Palestine Solidarity Committee of South Africa stress,
“This is just the beginning of a solidarity campaign which will continue
until the demands of the Palestinian people have been won.”
BDS movement salutes South African Transport and Allied Workers
Union
On Feb. 3 the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee,
BNC, warmly saluted SATAWU for not unloading the Israeli ship on Feb. 4:
“Coming weeks after the massive Israeli massacre in Gaza, this
distinguished expression by SATAWU of effective solidarity with the Palestinian
people in general, and with Gaza in particular, sets a historic precedent that
reminds us of the first such action during the apartheid era taken by Danish
dock workers in 1963, when they decided not to offload ships carrying South
African products, triggering a similar boycott in Sweden, England and
elsewhere.” (www.bdsmovement.net)
They also hailed the decision of the Maritime Union of Australia (Western
Australia) to boycott Israeli vessels and Israel-bound cargo and ships, and
they recognized the Greek dockworkers who threatened to block a ship carrying
weapons to Israel to use against Gaza:
“Those actions [and] the SATAWU decision ... will most likely usher in a
new, qualitatively advanced phase of BDS that goes well beyond symbolism. We
call on dock workers’ unions around the world to endorse similar
sanctions against Israeli or Israel-bound cargo.
“Support in South Africa for the Palestinian struggle against
Israel’s colonial and apartheid policies and its war crimes is reaching
new heights, with COSATU, the South African Council of Churches, the Palestine
Solidarity Committee, the Young Communist League and many grassroots
organizations and networks leading diverse forms of BDS campaigns, informed by
the long and ultimately successful struggle of South Africans against
apartheid. The Palestinian and global BDS movement against Israel is indebted
to the people of South Africa for their inspiring and morale-boosting
solidarity.”
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