Press release from the Free Gaza Movement, October 21, 2008
Contact:
Greta Berlin, Cyprus, 357 99 08 17 67
Angela Godfrey Goldstein, Jerusalem 972 547 366 393
Osama Qashoo, 447833381660
On October 28, 2008, the Free Gaza Movement will set sail again for Gaza. On board will be a Nobel Peace Prize winner, five physicians, a member of the Israeli Knesset, and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The boat will again carry 26 passengers and crew to the port of Gaza.
“We’ve spent the past month making sure that our boat is better and stronger, because the weather is getting more severe. Since we promised the people of Gaza we would return, we wanted to make sure we would return safely”, said Derek Graham, first mate on board the boat.
Mairead Maguire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work for peace in Northern Ireland and one of the passengers on board stated, “We sail to Gaza to show the people we love and care for them. What less can we do whilst our governments remain silent and inactive in face of such preventable suffering of the women and children of Gaza and Palestine.”
Also on board is Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Jamal Zahalka, , a member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament). Both Palestinians are determined to forge alliances with their countrymen in Gaza, something they have not been able to do, because Israel has closed all land borders to this besieged people.
On this occasion the siege-breakers will deliver 6 cubic meters of medicine, as a gift from the European Campaign to End the on Siege on Gaza. Dr Arafat Shoukri, head of the Campaign stated, “This is just the first consignment of medical supplies we hope to deliver. Our choice of medicines has been in response to a specific request from the health authorities in Gaza. Many basic items such as cough syrup for children are non-existent in the territory and we are happy to make them available. Our Campaign will also dispatch a number of medical specialists to the Gaza to assist in the worsening humanitarian crisis brought on by the siege.”
Greta Berlin, one of the organizers reiterated the goals of the Free Gaza Movement, “We intend to break Israel’s blockade as often as we can. This second trip is just one of many we intend to organize over the next year. We have lawyers, members of Parliament and other professionals already on our passenger lists for upcoming voyages.”
Greta Berlin
Media Team
Free Gaza Movement
357 99 08 17 67
www.freegaza.org
www.anis-online.de/office/events/FreeGazaSong.htm
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/