Article

2008-07-25 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Taking the protest against the Gaza blockade to a new level, two boats packed with foreign left-wing activists will attempt to sail from Cyprus to the sealed Gaza harbor in two weeks' time. The operation is being directed by members of the International Solidarity Movement and the Israeli Commission against House Demolitions. A Web site, FreeGaza, has been set up to collect donations and update the public.

The group - which numbers some 40 activists - has purchased two boats, one called SS Free Gaza and the other SS Liberty, named after the USS Liberty that was mistakenly bombed by the Israel Air Force during the Six Day War. Thirty-four American sailors were killed in the bombing. The boats are scheduled to set sail from Cyprus on August 5 and arrive, according to organizer Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, at the Gaza coast a day or two later.

"The purpose is to get into the Gaza harbor and breach the siege," Godfrey-Goldstein said Thursday. "The IDF will probably stop us but part of the point is to show that Gaza is closed off." She said that if the boats were stopped by the Israel Navy, they would likely remain at sea for a few days in an effort to get the government to change its policy and allow free access to Gaza by sea. Such access is not allowed and the waters off the coast are patrolled by the navy, mainly due to weapons-smuggling from Egypt and other countries.

In April, The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran was increasing its efforts to smuggle arms into the Strip by dropping floating devices off the Gaza coast that are then picked up by Gazan fisherman.

According to defense officials, Iran was sending rockets and other advanced weaponry to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip via tunnels dug under the Philadelphi Corridor from Sinai as well as by sea. Officials said the navy was doing an effective job in curbing the smuggling by sea but that there were shipments that Israeli forces had not succeeded in intercepting.

The IDF Spokesman's Office would not say what the navy intends to do in the event that the protest boats try to enter the Gaza harbor.

Posted by Pappy 2008-07-25 00:14|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top
File under: Hamas

#1 Man the topedoes

Posted by DK70 the scantily clad 2008-07-25 01:37|| 2008-07-25 01:37|| Front Page Top

#2 let them in Gaza and then don't let them out.

Posted by Percy Spumble4268 2008-07-25 03:12|| 2008-07-25 03:12|| Front Page Top

#3 The real enemy.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-07-25 03:12|| 2008-07-25 03:12|| Front Page Top

#4 Let them in. I'm sure they'll have blast. Some of them might even live long enough to beg the Israelis to let them into Israel.

Posted by phil_b 2008-07-25 04:27|| 2008-07-25 04:27|| Front Page Top

#5 And in the meantime Blacks are being massacred in Sudan to the utter indiffernce of those activiists. Why is it that the only peope for whom they move a finger are those who want to exterminate Jews?

Show me a pro-Palestinian activist and they will show you a Nazi.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-07-25 04:45|| 2008-07-25 04:45|| Front Page Top

#6 Oops. Should have read:

Show me a pro-Palestinian activist and I will show you a Nazi.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-07-25 04:58|| 2008-07-25 04:58|| Front Page Top

#7 Time to try out another of those super duper revamped Mk.48 torpedoes (see above). They are expensive as hell but I for one am willing to take up a collection for this particular acquisition.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2008-07-25 05:55|| 2008-07-25 05:55|| Front Page Top

#8 Swap them for Gilad Shalit.

Posted by Lumpy Cheack3231 2008-07-25 06:17|| 2008-07-25 06:17|| Front Page Top

#9 And how are those clowns going to protest against Hamas missile attacks on Israeli civilians? If they are pro Hamas, then they are targets in the GWOT.

Posted by McZoid 2008-07-25 07:24|| 2008-07-25 07:24|| Front Page Top

#10 I agree with Phil. The best way to let the situation pass under the radar is to let them into Gaza, then seal the port like they want. Survivor: Gaza. I love it.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-07-25 07:55|| 2008-07-25 07:55|| Front Page Top

#11 letting their boats in without searching and removing anything of value would be foolish. Strip em, let em in, and lock em in with the Paleos. They become just another set of mouths to feed, and prolly not very fun after the first news conference is over and the attention goes away

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-07-25 07:59|| 2008-07-25 07:59|| Front Page Top

#12 So sink them. That'll mean the blockade is working and prove their point. Everybody's happy!

Posted by tu3031 2008-07-25 08:47|| 2008-07-25 08:47|| Front Page Top

#13 Surface Action!

and SS? Using steam are they?

Posted by .5MT 2008-07-25 09:46|| www.cybernations.net]">[www.cybernations.net] 2008-07-25 09:46|| Front Page Top

#14 Spread the rumor that 2 boats full of Zionist commandos dressed as civilians will sail unchallenged into Gaza harbor...
and let them pass.

Posted by logi_cal">logi_cal 2008-07-25 09:48|| 2008-07-25 09:48|| Front Page Top

#15 Spread the rumor that 2 boats full of Zionist commandos dressed as civilians will sail unchallenged into Gaza harbor...
and let them pass.

That is sooo.... Machiavellian.

I love it!

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-07-25 09:59|| 2008-07-25 09:59|| Front Page Top

#16 I love that last one too!

Posted by liberalhawk 2008-07-25 10:05|| 2008-07-25 10:05|| Front Page Top

#17 I'm hoping for a rogue wave, or a sudden squall at sea.
If not, intercept and arrest. Let the extradition process take about 6 months while they rot in a jail cell with Paleostain buggerers.

Posted by bigjm-ky 2008-07-25 11:07|| 2008-07-25 11:07|| Front Page Top

#18 logi_cal,
That is an elegant, brilliant, diabolical, solution to the problem.

Posted by bigjm-ky 2008-07-25 11:12|| 2008-07-25 11:12|| Front Page Top

#19 Ready the 3-inch gun! Surface action starboard!

Posted by mojo">mojo 2008-07-25 12:10|| 2008-07-25 12:10|| Front Page Top

#20 Some interesting tidbits from Ma'an...

The trip organizers think one of four things will happen to the ship: it may be stopped as it crosses or approaches the barrier marking the international waters boundary, in which case the crew is prepared to stay on board for at least two weeks in protest of the illegal halt of passage. The second possibility envisioned by the organizers is that the ship will be allowed to pass into the area, and will be stopped in the territorial waters. In this eventuality the crew expects to be arrested, and the ship dragged to shore. A third possibility is that the ship will be sunk by the navy.

The final option is that the ship actually makes it through to the Gaza port near Gaza City in the north of the Strip.

According to Holocaust survivor and crew member Hedy Epstein, in the event that they can get through to Gaza they will "open the port, fish with the fishermen, help in the clinics, and work in the schools."

The ship was invited to Gaza by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and support for the initiative was provided in part from Carter Center in the US and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Posted by tu3031 2008-07-25 12:25|| 2008-07-25 12:25|| Front Page Top

#21 I bow to logi_cal's superior suggestion

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-07-25 12:46|| 2008-07-25 12:46|| Front Page Top

#22 put sand in their oil in the Cyprus harbor.
Done.
Adrift at sea.

Posted by 3dc 2008-07-25 12:49|| 2008-07-25 12:49|| Front Page Top

#23 some metallic and kevlar strips adrift near the props will foul them. That, and some solvent in the diesel will cause the engines to burn out as well.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-07-25 12:53|| 2008-07-25 12:53|| Front Page Top

#24 Ship of Fools...

Posted by Querent 2008-07-25 13:07|| 2008-07-25 13:07|| Front Page Top

#25 Sunken ships make great marine habitat.

Posted by wxjames 2008-07-25 13:24|| 2008-07-25 13:24|| Front Page Top

#26 Swamp the "vessels" at night with a couple of mines. Then an Israeli ELint Counter-Measures ship can "bend" their SOS signals enough to send any Paleo Helpers off chasing flying fish 150 miles away.

OH the GREAT WHITE Sharks are Hungry
For FAT FAT Paleo Snacks
OH the GREAT WHITE Sharks are Hungry
For FAT FAT Paleo Snacks

Repeat process with the Paleo Rescue "vessels".

Posted by Red Dawg">Red Dawg 2008-07-25 13:39|| Red Dawg]">[Red Dawg] 2008-07-25 13:39|| Front Page Top

#27 let them in, and as the ship gets close to shore, sink it. good chance they could survive if the Paleos assist them, but their ride home is now holding the seabed down.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2008-07-25 14:01|| 2008-07-25 14:01|| Front Page Top

#28 Let them into Gaza. Just don't ever let them out again. They can get the same treatment as Kuntar got from his dad and uncles. They'll probably like it.

Posted by Jomock Platypus9662 2008-07-25 20:11|| 2008-07-25 20:11|| Front Page Top

#29 SS = sailing ship.

Posted by Pappy 2008-07-25 20:53|| 2008-07-25 20:53|| Front Page Top

#30 Ready the 3-inch gun! Surface action starboard!

From the viewpoint of maritime law, would the resulting 'activist' debris be considered flotsam, jetsam, or chum?

Posted by SteveS 2008-07-25 22:25|| 2008-07-25 22:25|| Front Page Top

#31 as well as SS, MV = Merchant Vessel, FV = Fishing Vessel.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-07-25 22:38|| 2008-07-25 22:38|| Front Page Top

10:33 Grom the Reflective
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