Re: Pallywood's "Free Gaza Boat"

1. Prior to the boats’ arrival along the Gaza coast:

a. Israel is closely monitoring the flotilla. This action constitutes an intentional provocation. Consequently, Israel will do everything it can to prevent it.

b. In accordance with the Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which was supported by the international community, the Israel Navy is exclusively responsible for the safety and security of the maritime zones off the coast of Gaza.
2. In the event that the boats will be allowed to proceed to Gaza:

a. The campaign is orchestrated by a handful of agitators who tried to draw the State of Israel into a confrontation in the open sea, with broad media coverage. This is not an expression of concern for the residents of the Gaza Strip, but rather a political protest that serves only the Hamas and terrorism.

b. This campaign is an intentional provocation undertaken by organizations and activists, some of whom have a long history of employing provocative tactics. Such groups, though flying the banner of human rights, are troublingly silent in the face of the gross violations perpetrated by Hamas which have caused so much suffering to Israelis and Palestinians alike. This action, which seeks to grant legitimacy to the Hamas terrorist regime, is immoral and flies in the face of the clearly stated position of the international community.

c. Israel continues to reserve its right to determine regarding entry into the Gaza Strip. In this case, Israel merely decided not to be dragged into the provocation that the protesters so eagerly sought to instigate.

d. Israel's policy remains unchanged, and it will continue to examine each case upon its merits.

3. Israel's humanitarian policy towards Gaza:

Despite ongoing Hamas terrorism and attacks against the inland crossing points, Israel permits the transfer of large quantities of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip on a daily basis, and allows the passage of patients and accompanying individuals into Israel, and the West Bank for medical treatment. Consequently, there is no justification for this provocation.

4. Israel’s security policy vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip:

The Gaza Strip under the Hamas regime has become a terrorist entity. Hamas smuggles and manufactures arms in a military buildup that is continuing despite the current state of calm, in blatant violation of the understandings laid out in the Egyptian initiative which established the calm.

Slow Boat to Gaza--Radicals gather in Cyprus "to break the siege."...
Mr. Monir Deeb, a native Gazan who has lived in Los Angeles since 1979, explained to the media that he was boarding these boats to reunite with his siblings in Gaza. Mr. Deeb described Gaza as a "peaceful community under Israeli military siege" and said that this small convoy was meant to deliver a message to Israel to stop the siege of Gaza.

This reporter asked Mr. Deeb about the armed Gaza militias who have fired thousands of missiles over the past eight years against Israeli civilian communities that surround Gaza. I also asked for his comment on how the Hamas government is using the current cease fire period to regroup and train for the next attack on Israel. Mr. Deeb said that he "could not relate to this question," since it was "political" and his concern was "only humanitarian" in nature.

The convener of the FreeGaza.org press conference, Ms. Greta Berlin, an American woman formerly married to a Palestinian whose family was dislocated from Safed in Northern Israel during the 1948 war, gave examples of the humanitarian mission on which they were embarking. “One of her missions,” she said, “was to supply 9,000 hearing aids for Palestinian children who suffer hearing loss at a young age, due to Israeli missile attacks on Gaza.”

I asked Ms. Berlin if it were not the case that the missile attacks that she had claimed had been fired at Palestinians in Gaza by Israelis were actually fired by Palestinians towards the Western Negev, as they screech over Palestinian villages en route to hit Israeli civilian targets.

Ms. Berlin would not comment, saying repeatedly that the purpose of the voyage to Gaza was not political, even though the press statement issued by FreeGaza.org touched every raw political nerve possible.

FreeGaza.org also clearly stated that it strongly condemns Israel for not allowing "refugees and their descendants the right to return home" to the villages that have since been resettled by Israel after the 1948 war. Meanwhile, the "FreeGaza.org" press statement also decried "Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine," laying aside any pretensions that the group only favored Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza...

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=63ECA9A0-A391-4286-B5A1-9EB32E49A27B

Israeli Civil Rights Center Warns US Attorney General: Gaza Boat Organizers Have Violated the Neutrality Act

http://www.cyperus.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/07-31-2008/0004859273&EDATE=THU+Jul+31+2008,+08:06+AM

Israelis Get Smart: Cause Gaza Boat Flop
23 Aug 2008
Leftist Gaza Boat project flops big time!
Palestinians: Leftist boats didn't bring any food - just lots of talk!!
So the Leftist propaganda boat project flopped. Israel got smart and let the boats through, thus defusing the antagonist's desired media spectacle.

http://www.israelforum.org/blog_article.php?aid=1640060

1 posted on 08/23/2008 10:05:32 PM PDT by PRePublic

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794