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| Thursday, November 20, 2008
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Free Gaza Movement
Number of Views:
81
A message from the Free Gaza Campaign
Dear Endorsers and Supporters
The moment we’ve all worked so long for is nearly here: on August 12th or 13th the Free Gaza Movement will begin its trip from Cyprus to Gaza. They will sail in two boats, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty with 40 people on board. If all goes well, the journey should take 20 hours. But a lot can happen along the way and it’s not unlikely that as the boats approach Gaza’s coastal waters or even before, they will end up in a stand off with the Israeli navy. You can track the progress of the boats by going visiting Free Gaza and clicking on the BOAT UPDATES tab on the top right-hand side of the page.
Free Gaza intends to resist Israeli attempts to board the boats, and all other forms of intimidation. If the boat is stopped at sea, fired on, boarded, towed or otherwise subjected to Israeli attack, it is very important that everyone who has endorsed this trip mobilize quickly to support the people on board and the purpose of the voyage.
That’s why we are writing you now. The first step you can take, if you haven’t already, is to add your name to the Gaza friends listserv so you can receive email reports as we go, get our updates and our announcements and watch streaming video once we are on the sea. To do this, subscribe here.
Please contact local press to tell them about Free Gaza’s mission and the current situation of the boats. Let them know that it may be possible to arrange interviews with the passengers on the boats.
Also contact other activist groups in your area to let them know about Free Gaza and to ask for help and support.
If the boats are stopped, IMMEDIATELY:
- Contact the press including local radio and TV as well as print
- Call your political representatives. Explain the situation and give the names of any passengers in their districts. Emphasize that this is a complete non-violent and peaceful mission. Ask them to make sure that Israel does not harm any of the people on board.
- Be prepared to counter disinformation and get the true purpose of the voyage across to journalists and the general public. There may be a lot of false statements circulating from groups that support current Israeli policies.
You can contact us for more information; we’ll share what we know. Please keep us updated on what you are doing—you can post to the list at freegazasupport@lists.riseup.net.
Sincerely,
The Free Gaza Movement
-Free Gaza Movement Mission Statement- We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation. We want to uphold Palestine's right to welcome internationals as visitors, human rights observers,
humanitarian aid workers, journalists, or otherwise.
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