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Breaking News:
The Oliva boat has been repaired and will resume its accompaniment of Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast tomorrow.
By: Joe Catron
Today, Saturday, 24 September 2011, Palestinian leaders and international observers of Civil Peace Service Gaza (CPSGAZA) held a noon press conference in the Gaza Seaport to announce that their monitoring vessel, the Oliva, has been repaired and will resume its accompaniment of Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast tomorrow. The relaunch had been scheduled for today, but was postponed due to inclement weather. Speakers included Mahmoud al-Ase of the Tawfeq Association of Fishermen, Mahfouz Kabariti of the Palestine Fishing and Marine Sports Association, and Vera Macht and Maria del Mar Fernandez of CPSGAZA. The Oliva, a craft monitoring Israeli naval violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinian fishermen, was damaged when an Israeli warship rammed it on July 20, in a prolonged attack that also included the use of water cannons against its Palestinian and international crew.
Updates
BY: Alix R.
Last week Israel carried out a number of terrifying and lethal raids over the marooned Gaza Strip. In the weeks preceding the attacks, signs of deteriorating conditions were surfacing with cuts to communication outlets in Gaza. The first few days of Israel’s leafleting and air raid campaigns spurred a brief media frenzy with reports from western media such as this one from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14577593
The initial coverage can likely be attributed to the bitter aftertaste of Operation Cast Lead that still hangs in the mouths of many in the international community as well as to the upcoming vote to recognize Palestine as a member of the United Nations. Such a recognition, however incomplete it may be, would give Palestinians a voice in the U.N. and would recognize the territories of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem as territories of a Palestinian state. Israel’s offensive also resulted in the closing of the border at Rafah and the killing of 2 Egyptian border guards. Some of those who have been following the events unfolding in Egypt since the start of the revolution in January perceived this expense to be a test or challenge to the intentions of Egypt’s protesters regarding future relations with Israel.
On Monday Netanyahu announced that Israel would not continue to escalate the raids:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/22/c_131067019.htm
Time will determine whether or not this proves to be an empty claim but it presumably means that Israel will return to it’s previous campaign of waging a slow war over Gaza.
Below are some testimonies and reactions to last week’s events from people who are currently based in Egypt and Gaza:
Joe Catron of ISM-Gaza wrote on August 18th: Other than today’s deaths, everything seems all right at the moment, but a lot of us are apprehensive about what the night could bring. Zionists are dropping leaflets in Rafah and other places, Egypt has closed the Rafah border, the US embassy in Tel Aviv has asked its citizens to leave Gaza, and the UN has imposed a curfew on its employees. None of those usually come before anything good. But we’ll see.
He wrote again on August 24th: Being here during airstrikes is rather frustrating. I spent a lot of time listening to booms in the distance, hovering over Twitter, Facebook, and Ma’an, trying to separate rumors from facts, doing what I could to keep the rest of the world informed, and wishing there was something else I could do, beyond showing up later to record the damage. And while most of the destruction I personally witnessed affected physical infrastructure, it was particularly infuriating to meet children in Shifa who had been injured when their home was demolished.
Hussien A.-Gaza wrote on August 19th: They started bombing everywhere in a crazy way after what happened yesterday and before a moment they bombed in our area the third one and there were at least two killed.
He later wrote on August 25th: Today we went to a “sport club” in Biet Lahya which was bombed yesterday. It was totally destroyed and next to this club there was a school which was also totally destroyed…two people were killed in this attack, one of them 17 years old and his friend was 22 years old. They were hanging out with 8 of their friends in the first one house next to the club and 12 people nearby were injured…we went also to a mourning tent in Buriej for a farmer who was bombed on land where he was working at 5:00 PM At 3:00 PM the owner of this land came and found the trees destroyed, covering that farmer’s dead body.. His name was ” Ismail Nimer Amoom” and he was 62 years old. His father had already been killed during Cast Lead while he was working on another plot of land.
So as you read, first they hit a place for sport, then place for children and then old farmers at work…this is Israel’s doing and who knows what will be next?!
Medo Saleh, a student at the Misr University for Science and Technology, was visiting his family in Gaza for Ramadan and now is unsure as to how or when he will be able to re-enter Egypt or if he will be able to reach Cairo in time for school once classes resume.
Noor H.-Gaza wrote on August 24th: the situation is better than 3 days ago*
*I’m still waiting for additional information from her about the attacks, deaths, and some families that she and 2 ISM members visited. She is experiencing difficulty with her Facebook account and her response will be updated upon receipt.
Amr S.-Cairo, Egypt wrote on August 24th: There is nothing new about the attacks on Gaza, they are brutal and omnipotent as we sorrily are used to seeing. But the reason behind them I guess, is to monitor how the Egyptian government and people will respond. Are we going to open the gates? Transport medical and food supplies to the Palestinians? Officially denounce the attacks internationally? The response was clear from the people’s side by the demonstrations in front of the embassy that combined not only the need of revenge from shooting our soldiers on the borders, but also the call for freeing Palestine; they (protesters) were strongly denouncing the attacks on Gaza. Some believe this is a normal reaction from Israel to the protests they witnessed regarding their own economic problems suffered by the middle class and to their over population problems due to the immigrants who come from Latin America and leading them to extend their lands and build new settlements; however I am not strongly with this opinion. The people here are extremely angry. What happened also could be a game played by the Egyptian SCAF from one side and the IDF from the other side to drag the peoples of both countries into a state of congestion and anger with each other. They might do this to take control of the inner issues as they will claim that it’s not the time to address them because they have to “secure the borders and stand behind the army!” What happened can be interpreted in many ways.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14577593
The initial coverage can likely be attributed to the bitter aftertaste of Operation Cast Lead that still hangs in the mouths of many in the international community as well as to the upcoming vote to recognize Palestine as a member of the United Nations. Such a recognition, however incomplete it may be, would give Palestinians a voice in the U.N. and would recognize the territories of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem as territories of a Palestinian state. Israel’s offensive also resulted in the closing of the border at Rafah and the killing of 2 Egyptian border guards. Some of those who have been following the events unfolding in Egypt since the start of the revolution in January perceived this expense to be a test or challenge to the intentions of Egypt’s protesters regarding future relations with Israel.
On Monday Netanyahu announced that Israel would not continue to escalate the raids:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/22/c_131067019.htm
Time will determine whether or not this proves to be an empty claim but it presumably means that Israel will return to it’s previous campaign of waging a slow war over Gaza.
Below are some testimonies and reactions to last week’s events from people who are currently based in Egypt and Gaza:
Joe Catron of ISM-Gaza wrote on August 18th: Other than today’s deaths, everything seems all right at the moment, but a lot of us are apprehensive about what the night could bring. Zionists are dropping leaflets in Rafah and other places, Egypt has closed the Rafah border, the US embassy in Tel Aviv has asked its citizens to leave Gaza, and the UN has imposed a curfew on its employees. None of those usually come before anything good. But we’ll see.
He wrote again on August 24th: Being here during airstrikes is rather frustrating. I spent a lot of time listening to booms in the distance, hovering over Twitter, Facebook, and Ma’an, trying to separate rumors from facts, doing what I could to keep the rest of the world informed, and wishing there was something else I could do, beyond showing up later to record the damage. And while most of the destruction I personally witnessed affected physical infrastructure, it was particularly infuriating to meet children in Shifa who had been injured when their home was demolished.
Hussien A.-Gaza wrote on August 19th: They started bombing everywhere in a crazy way after what happened yesterday and before a moment they bombed in our area the third one and there were at least two killed.
He later wrote on August 25th: Today we went to a “sport club” in Biet Lahya which was bombed yesterday. It was totally destroyed and next to this club there was a school which was also totally destroyed…two people were killed in this attack, one of them 17 years old and his friend was 22 years old. They were hanging out with 8 of their friends in the first one house next to the club and 12 people nearby were injured…we went also to a mourning tent in Buriej for a farmer who was bombed on land where he was working at 5:00 PM At 3:00 PM the owner of this land came and found the trees destroyed, covering that farmer’s dead body.. His name was ” Ismail Nimer Amoom” and he was 62 years old. His father had already been killed during Cast Lead while he was working on another plot of land.
So as you read, first they hit a place for sport, then place for children and then old farmers at work…this is Israel’s doing and who knows what will be next?!
Medo Saleh, a student at the Misr University for Science and Technology, was visiting his family in Gaza for Ramadan and now is unsure as to how or when he will be able to re-enter Egypt or if he will be able to reach Cairo in time for school once classes resume.
Noor H.-Gaza wrote on August 24th: the situation is better than 3 days ago*
*I’m still waiting for additional information from her about the attacks, deaths, and some families that she and 2 ISM members visited. She is experiencing difficulty with her Facebook account and her response will be updated upon receipt.
Amr S.-Cairo, Egypt wrote on August 24th: There is nothing new about the attacks on Gaza, they are brutal and omnipotent as we sorrily are used to seeing. But the reason behind them I guess, is to monitor how the Egyptian government and people will respond. Are we going to open the gates? Transport medical and food supplies to the Palestinians? Officially denounce the attacks internationally? The response was clear from the people’s side by the demonstrations in front of the embassy that combined not only the need of revenge from shooting our soldiers on the borders, but also the call for freeing Palestine; they (protesters) were strongly denouncing the attacks on Gaza. Some believe this is a normal reaction from Israel to the protests they witnessed regarding their own economic problems suffered by the middle class and to their over population problems due to the immigrants who come from Latin America and leading them to extend their lands and build new settlements; however I am not strongly with this opinion. The people here are extremely angry. What happened also could be a game played by the Egyptian SCAF from one side and the IDF from the other side to drag the peoples of both countries into a state of congestion and anger with each other. They might do this to take control of the inner issues as they will claim that it’s not the time to address them because they have to “secure the borders and stand behind the army!” What happened can be interpreted in many ways.
Report for CPS Gaza Mission 20/07/11 — Attacked Again by Israeli Navy
By againstempire
The Oliva left the port at 8:20 am this morning. There were 3 press teams accompanying us and their members were divided amongst the Oliva and 2 hasakas. When we set out for sea we had 10 other vessels with us, 8 of which were carrying fishermen and the other 2 were carrying the media crew. Representatives from The Guardian, Egyptian Satellite Channel (ESC) and Malaysian Television documented today’s events.
As usual, we were well within the 3 mile limit when we saw the first warship. They paced us for a few minutes and then started circling us, similar to what they had done on Sunday, except they made sure to keep a further distance today. Although this was supposed to intimidate us, we stayed in the area, hoping that maybe a few fishermen would be able to do some fishing. Realistically, we were too close to shore and the turbulence was disrupting all fishing operations. Another warship showed up to join in the intimidation charades and both ships started sounding their sirens at us for no apparent reason other than to scare us away from the area. After a few minutes of this, the hasaka boat carrying the reporter from Malaysian TV and the ESC crew decided to go back to the port. The cameraman from Malaysian TV was on the Oliva along with me, Joe and Captain Salah and the hasaka carrying the crew from the Guardian remained at sea with us. Reporter Harriet Sherwood from the Guardian-Jerusalem Office was live-tweeting everything as it happened, you can follow her and read her tweets here:
http://twitter.com/#!/harrietsherwood
After the two warships circled us for about 30 minutes, one of them turned west and started to move away from the area. We saw a third ship appear to the north of us, heading south with it’s water canon running. It drove towards us quickly and once reaching a distance of about 200 meters the other ship that had been circling us turned and drove south. The two warships that were originally harassing us watched from approximately 1 mile away as the third boat moved towards us and began hitting the Oliva and crew with its water canon. It’s clear the Israeli Navy is after the Oliva, they’ve had enough of us. As I said in a previous post I wasn’t sure how sustainable the project would be. For a while we were able to offer some sort of protection to the fishermen and they were encouraged to defy Israel’s illegal blockade. I know for a fact that Oliva’s presence was making some kind of a difference at sea because several fishermen have told me that there were days where the Oliva would head back to port and they would stay at sea longer to continue fishing and the Zionists had waited until after the Oliva left to open fire on their boats. For a few days it seemed that the press was providing the Oliva with some form of protection from attacks but having the press present for every mission is even less sustainable than the CPS Gaza/Oliva project itself.
The ship that was attacking the Oliva today steadily pelted us with high pressure streams for about 20 minutes. We’ve known since Thursday that their intention is to sink or capsize the Oliva, either for the purpose of arresting the crew or simply putting a hitch in our operation in the hopes that we will not return to sea or at least will not be able to return to sea until the boat can be replaced. It became very difficult to steer the boat, the crew, captain and cameraman were ducking. The Zionists were aiming the water canon directly at the head of anyone who tried to stand up and take control of the wheel. At one point the Zionists rammed its side into the Oliva–still pelting us with water. After this the captain ordered us to exit the boat and we all boarded a hasaka. From the new point of view, away from the forced of the water, I was able to see a large maniacal clown poster on the side of their ship–another twisted form of intimidation. The captain stayed on the Oliva for a while longer. The boat was half-way full with water when we exited it and back at the port we found out that the fan of the engine had fallen off, presumably when the warship knocked itself into us. Some Palestinian fishermen took over the Oliva and Captain Salah boarded a different hasaka. We stayed at sea observing the warship and waiting to escort the Oliva back to the port. The Israelis shouted repeatedly in Arabic for the Oliva to stop, “wa-qef Oliva! wa-qef Oliva! Oliva, wa-qef! wa-qef al-safineh!” This translates to “Stop, Oliva! Stop, Oliva! Oliva, stop! Stop the ship!” The Palestinians that had boarded the Oliva and had taken control over it did not stop but rather helped to tie ropes attaching the boat to two hasakas which proceeded to tow it away from the Israelis. Salah re-boarded the Oliva and all of the men on board started bailing out the water as the smaller boats towed them to the port. The crew and the Oliva managed to escape once again.
It’s interesting that after the crew left the boat, the Israeli Navy seemed more concerned with the Oliva itself than with the people that were on it. We already know from previous interactions with them that they would like to arrest us, however some of us think that they prefer to drive us off of the boat and simply destroy the boat or tow it to Ashdod without having to deal with arresting and deporting internationals. If they arrested us they would be forced to deal with explaining why the arrests took place in territorial waters that they do not claim jurisdiction over in their weak attempt to pretend that it’s “no longer occupied.” There’s no doubt about it, the Israelis want the Oliva gone. They know that our presence has helped to empower the fishermen and encourage them to defy the illegal blockade. They know what we do out there and they’ve made it clear that they don’t like it and they’ve had enough. Several press representatives have asked if our intention is simply to antagonize the Israeli Navy. I don’t care what it appears that we are doing, the fact is that when this campaign started we had very little up-close interaction with the Israelis and were somewhat effective in helping to make the fishermen feel like they had a safe area to fish. We do not go out to sea to antagonize the Israelis, we don’t even have to reach 3 nautical miles before encountering them; they wait for us and taunt us along with the fishermen, hoping that we will do something antagonistic that might excuse the use of force against us. Our goal in continuing to go out to sea is to try, in spite of the Zionists’ actions, to provide our service in documenting their crimes at sea in the hopes of deterring their harassment against the fishermen. The Zionists seem to be less and less concerned with people observing and reporting their crimes as they had no problem attacking us today in the presence of media. It raises the questions of to what extent will we actually be able to continue to help the fishermen and how CPS Gaza might improve its tactics. The crew and some project supervisors will meet tonight to discuss our next mission and what should be done from here. If we can manage to fix the engine fac and some other damage to the gears then we will go out to sea tomorrow morning.
I know I’m late on updates about the tunnels and the mental health center but whenever these things happen to the Oliva, my attention and work time gets monopolized. I’ll have that other stuff up within the week.
As usual, we were well within the 3 mile limit when we saw the first warship. They paced us for a few minutes and then started circling us, similar to what they had done on Sunday, except they made sure to keep a further distance today. Although this was supposed to intimidate us, we stayed in the area, hoping that maybe a few fishermen would be able to do some fishing. Realistically, we were too close to shore and the turbulence was disrupting all fishing operations. Another warship showed up to join in the intimidation charades and both ships started sounding their sirens at us for no apparent reason other than to scare us away from the area. After a few minutes of this, the hasaka boat carrying the reporter from Malaysian TV and the ESC crew decided to go back to the port. The cameraman from Malaysian TV was on the Oliva along with me, Joe and Captain Salah and the hasaka carrying the crew from the Guardian remained at sea with us. Reporter Harriet Sherwood from the Guardian-Jerusalem Office was live-tweeting everything as it happened, you can follow her and read her tweets here:
http://twitter.com/#!/harrietsherwood
After the two warships circled us for about 30 minutes, one of them turned west and started to move away from the area. We saw a third ship appear to the north of us, heading south with it’s water canon running. It drove towards us quickly and once reaching a distance of about 200 meters the other ship that had been circling us turned and drove south. The two warships that were originally harassing us watched from approximately 1 mile away as the third boat moved towards us and began hitting the Oliva and crew with its water canon. It’s clear the Israeli Navy is after the Oliva, they’ve had enough of us. As I said in a previous post I wasn’t sure how sustainable the project would be. For a while we were able to offer some sort of protection to the fishermen and they were encouraged to defy Israel’s illegal blockade. I know for a fact that Oliva’s presence was making some kind of a difference at sea because several fishermen have told me that there were days where the Oliva would head back to port and they would stay at sea longer to continue fishing and the Zionists had waited until after the Oliva left to open fire on their boats. For a few days it seemed that the press was providing the Oliva with some form of protection from attacks but having the press present for every mission is even less sustainable than the CPS Gaza/Oliva project itself.
The ship that was attacking the Oliva today steadily pelted us with high pressure streams for about 20 minutes. We’ve known since Thursday that their intention is to sink or capsize the Oliva, either for the purpose of arresting the crew or simply putting a hitch in our operation in the hopes that we will not return to sea or at least will not be able to return to sea until the boat can be replaced. It became very difficult to steer the boat, the crew, captain and cameraman were ducking. The Zionists were aiming the water canon directly at the head of anyone who tried to stand up and take control of the wheel. At one point the Zionists rammed its side into the Oliva–still pelting us with water. After this the captain ordered us to exit the boat and we all boarded a hasaka. From the new point of view, away from the forced of the water, I was able to see a large maniacal clown poster on the side of their ship–another twisted form of intimidation. The captain stayed on the Oliva for a while longer. The boat was half-way full with water when we exited it and back at the port we found out that the fan of the engine had fallen off, presumably when the warship knocked itself into us. Some Palestinian fishermen took over the Oliva and Captain Salah boarded a different hasaka. We stayed at sea observing the warship and waiting to escort the Oliva back to the port. The Israelis shouted repeatedly in Arabic for the Oliva to stop, “wa-qef Oliva! wa-qef Oliva! Oliva, wa-qef! wa-qef al-safineh!” This translates to “Stop, Oliva! Stop, Oliva! Oliva, stop! Stop the ship!” The Palestinians that had boarded the Oliva and had taken control over it did not stop but rather helped to tie ropes attaching the boat to two hasakas which proceeded to tow it away from the Israelis. Salah re-boarded the Oliva and all of the men on board started bailing out the water as the smaller boats towed them to the port. The crew and the Oliva managed to escape once again.
It’s interesting that after the crew left the boat, the Israeli Navy seemed more concerned with the Oliva itself than with the people that were on it. We already know from previous interactions with them that they would like to arrest us, however some of us think that they prefer to drive us off of the boat and simply destroy the boat or tow it to Ashdod without having to deal with arresting and deporting internationals. If they arrested us they would be forced to deal with explaining why the arrests took place in territorial waters that they do not claim jurisdiction over in their weak attempt to pretend that it’s “no longer occupied.” There’s no doubt about it, the Israelis want the Oliva gone. They know that our presence has helped to empower the fishermen and encourage them to defy the illegal blockade. They know what we do out there and they’ve made it clear that they don’t like it and they’ve had enough. Several press representatives have asked if our intention is simply to antagonize the Israeli Navy. I don’t care what it appears that we are doing, the fact is that when this campaign started we had very little up-close interaction with the Israelis and were somewhat effective in helping to make the fishermen feel like they had a safe area to fish. We do not go out to sea to antagonize the Israelis, we don’t even have to reach 3 nautical miles before encountering them; they wait for us and taunt us along with the fishermen, hoping that we will do something antagonistic that might excuse the use of force against us. Our goal in continuing to go out to sea is to try, in spite of the Zionists’ actions, to provide our service in documenting their crimes at sea in the hopes of deterring their harassment against the fishermen. The Zionists seem to be less and less concerned with people observing and reporting their crimes as they had no problem attacking us today in the presence of media. It raises the questions of to what extent will we actually be able to continue to help the fishermen and how CPS Gaza might improve its tactics. The crew and some project supervisors will meet tonight to discuss our next mission and what should be done from here. If we can manage to fix the engine fac and some other damage to the gears then we will go out to sea tomorrow morning.
I know I’m late on updates about the tunnels and the mental health center but whenever these things happen to the Oliva, my attention and work time gets monopolized. I’ll have that other stuff up within the week.
July 17,2011 Oliva mission
By againstempire
Today the Oliva set out, behind schedule, at 8am. We had Press TV with us, this time on board the Oliva with the CPS Gaza crew instead of on a separate boat. The reporter from Press TV, Ashraf, speaks fluent Hebrew, which definitely worked to our advantage today. After the fact, the “base” crew reported that through their binoculars, they were able to see the Israeli Navy waiting for us at just around 2 nautical miles–they were. Few hasakas sailed out with us today, there were only around 10 vessels, and we did not accompany any trawlers out to sea. When we reached the area where the Zionists were waiting for us there was one gunboat present. Later in the morning 2 others appeared. The gunboat that was initially present did not have its water canon already running as they had on Saturday and Thursday but they did not waste any time before they started harassing us. The started quickly circling us, creating a whirlpool and larger turbulent waves than when they had attacked us with water canons on Thursday, trying to capsize or sink our boat. Ashraf jumped on the radio and spoke to them in English and in Hebrew asking, “What are you doing? Are you trying to kill the internationals? This is very stupid, you are going to kill the internationals.” They continued to circle us, creating these waves, but Captain Salah managed to steer us out of their whirlpool and quickly drove south and out of their way. After this, the boat sporadically tried to intimidate us throughout the morning by directing itself towards us and moving quickly for a few hundred meters and once it would reach about 100 to 200 meters distance from us it would turn and change directions. Around 10am this boat turn on its water canon but focused its attention on the small hasakas and only used it against them. In situations like this we are supposed to drive over to the area where the hasaka are being harassed. We told Captain Salah to do this but rather than driving further west and towards them. He would simply drive north or south (depending on where they were at the time) but would remain parallel to them. I mentioned before that by this point, Salah’s nerves have been tried and he’s admitting that he is scared of the Israeli Navy and is certain, based on what he’s heard them say over the radio, they are after the Oliva and its crew. They certainly have made it clear that they don’t want to see us out there anymore and the real test will be the day we ride out to sea without the press there to protect us. After the first gunboat started using it’s water canon, one of the 2 other boats that had recently arrived to the scene took over the role of chasing the Oliva while the other boat hosed the hasakas. A third boat was present in the distance–about a mile west of us. After about 3 hours at sea, since we had the press with us and the captain wasn’t willing to go towards the gunboats as we had asked and as the base had ordered, we returned to the port. Turblence on the Oliva caused Ashraf from Press TV to sustain a broken foot, other than this the day went “relatively” smoothly which the whole crew generally attributes to having the press with us. The real test will be Wednesday’s mission which we’ve yet to confirm any press for.
Oliva report :
July 16 , 2011 Mission
Today, despite Israeli threats from Thursday of using live ammunition the next time they saw us out at sea, the Oliva sailed. Originally we were going to go out with the hasakas today instead of the trawler that lost its net to test a theory about the Israeli behavior. We wanted to see if the water canon attacks were exclusive to the days on which we’re out with the trawlers or if they would act the same when we’re out with hasaka boats alone. At the last minute while we were waiting in the port to leave, Mahfouz, one of our coordinators told us that we would be going back out with the trawler who still hadn’t managed to retrieve his net. Apparently replacing the net would be a huge financial difficulty for him (I’m not sure if this needs mentioning but the fishermen are all very poor) and he was upset that he hadn’t managed to retrieve it on Thursday after losing it during the first attack on Wednesday. We brought media with us as a form of protection, knowing it would be very unlikely for them to shoot anyone with their cameras present. Al-Manara, a local Gaza news source and Al-Jazeera International rented boats to accompany us out on.
When we left the port we had about 15 vessels with us. We rode south towards Khan Younis. At around 1 mile out to sea we spotted an Israeli ship coming towards us from the north with it’s water canon already running. At around 2 miles out they started circling and shooting the trawler with their water canons. We rode closer but our motor stalled for a few minutes. Captain Salah was able to restart it and we continued to sail towards the Israeli Navy. At this point another boat came to the scene and while one was busy hosing the trawler the other drove towards us. Our motor stalled again, this time it took around 15 minutes to fix the engine and the Israeli boat that had been driving towards us turned around and drove back to where the other boat was harassing the trawler. All of this was taking place well within the imposed 3-mile limit at around 2 to 2.5 nautical miles. Our megaphone was broken so I tried calling the Israeli Navy over the radio, stating that we were a human rights monitoring group and that we were unarmed international observers and, against CPS Gaza protocol, I asked them not to harm the Oliva or the trawler. One of the CPS Gaza crew members, Nils, had gone out on the trawler as ISM. I restated several times that we were a human rights monitoring group. They continued to approach us and retreat from us for a while. The closest they got to the Oliva was about 50 meters and they didn’t hose us with water canons today. They did however strap gas masks on at one point (presumably a form of intimidation) and hose the trawler the entire time they were out at sea trying to retrieve the captain of the trawler’s net. We were out at sea from around 8am to 1pm. One of the Israeli boats turned and started to drive quickly towards the Oliva which was closer to the shore than the trawler. Captain Salah heard the 2 Israeli boats communicating over the radio for them to try to seize and arrest the 3 of us. Salah has a a wife and 5 kids, he’s currently unemployed except for the CPS Gaza project which has yet to give him any kind of payment, he is risking a lot by coming out to sea with us. After hearing the Israelis say they would try to arrest us, he told me he was really scared of them and would simply drive the Oliva away from the Israelis whenever they approached us. This is also against CPS Gaza protocol. We are not supposed to run from the Israeli Navy and if there is a dangerous situation at sea, if someone is being shot at or if any harassment is happening it is our duty to drive towards them for the purpose of observing and recording these incidents.
We watched from a distance as they continued to hose the trawler. They eventually managed to retrieve the captain’s net and we met up with them close to the port. Nils boarded the Oliva and told us that they had been hitting them with sewage water from the tank of the warship. Although they were threatening us with arrest and harassed the trawler incessantly there were fewer problems than Thursday as we managed to escape them when they were chasing us and because they did not try to sink or capsize the Oliva today. This is most likely because we had press with us. The problem now is that we can’t always convince the press to sail out with us and the Israeli Navy could abuse the absence of press the next time we sail out–the same way they could abuse the absence of the Oliva if the project isn’t sustained, the fishermen will have to ride out there to face the Israelis alone while they try to fish to feed themselves and their families.
When we left the port we had about 15 vessels with us. We rode south towards Khan Younis. At around 1 mile out to sea we spotted an Israeli ship coming towards us from the north with it’s water canon already running. At around 2 miles out they started circling and shooting the trawler with their water canons. We rode closer but our motor stalled for a few minutes. Captain Salah was able to restart it and we continued to sail towards the Israeli Navy. At this point another boat came to the scene and while one was busy hosing the trawler the other drove towards us. Our motor stalled again, this time it took around 15 minutes to fix the engine and the Israeli boat that had been driving towards us turned around and drove back to where the other boat was harassing the trawler. All of this was taking place well within the imposed 3-mile limit at around 2 to 2.5 nautical miles. Our megaphone was broken so I tried calling the Israeli Navy over the radio, stating that we were a human rights monitoring group and that we were unarmed international observers and, against CPS Gaza protocol, I asked them not to harm the Oliva or the trawler. One of the CPS Gaza crew members, Nils, had gone out on the trawler as ISM. I restated several times that we were a human rights monitoring group. They continued to approach us and retreat from us for a while. The closest they got to the Oliva was about 50 meters and they didn’t hose us with water canons today. They did however strap gas masks on at one point (presumably a form of intimidation) and hose the trawler the entire time they were out at sea trying to retrieve the captain of the trawler’s net. We were out at sea from around 8am to 1pm. One of the Israeli boats turned and started to drive quickly towards the Oliva which was closer to the shore than the trawler. Captain Salah heard the 2 Israeli boats communicating over the radio for them to try to seize and arrest the 3 of us. Salah has a a wife and 5 kids, he’s currently unemployed except for the CPS Gaza project which has yet to give him any kind of payment, he is risking a lot by coming out to sea with us. After hearing the Israelis say they would try to arrest us, he told me he was really scared of them and would simply drive the Oliva away from the Israelis whenever they approached us. This is also against CPS Gaza protocol. We are not supposed to run from the Israeli Navy and if there is a dangerous situation at sea, if someone is being shot at or if any harassment is happening it is our duty to drive towards them for the purpose of observing and recording these incidents.
We watched from a distance as they continued to hose the trawler. They eventually managed to retrieve the captain’s net and we met up with them close to the port. Nils boarded the Oliva and told us that they had been hitting them with sewage water from the tank of the warship. Although they were threatening us with arrest and harassed the trawler incessantly there were fewer problems than Thursday as we managed to escape them when they were chasing us and because they did not try to sink or capsize the Oliva today. This is most likely because we had press with us. The problem now is that we can’t always convince the press to sail out with us and the Israeli Navy could abuse the absence of press the next time we sail out–the same way they could abuse the absence of the Oliva if the project isn’t sustained, the fishermen will have to ride out there to face the Israelis alone while they try to fish to feed themselves and their families.
Escalation of Attacks by the Israeli Navy on the CPS Gaza Boat
By againstempire
July 14, 2011
Today the CPS Gaza boat, the Oliva was attacked for the second time by the Israeli Navy, this incident was worse than the preceding one. It seems now that the danger level of the project has heightened. Since nothing new has happened with the flotilla has happened in over a week, they’ve turned their attention to us. They do not want the Oliva out at sea anymore and they’re making this very clear. The Oliva will continue to sail in spite of these new risks but expecting that each mission following this one will be the same if not worse.
ISMer Joe Catron, the Palestinian captain of the Oliva, Captain Salah and I were on the boat today. When we left the port we had about 25 hasakas sailing out with us and about 5 trawler boats (the larger Palestinian fishing boats). We first went out directly with a trawler that had been shot at yesterday. They were forced to leave their net at sea so we sailed out with them so they could retrieve it. We were within the 3-mile limit when we saw 2 Israeli warships in the distance, already firing the same water canons that they attacked the Oliva with yesterday. They both turned toward us and quickly drove over. They started by pacing back and forth and shooting their canons from about 20 meters away. At this point I was filming them, some of the soldiers waved. They picked up their pace and started circling us and firing more water from a closer distance. There was a lot of turbulence at sea and it felt as though they were trying to capsize our boat. Joe and I were initially joking that it would be funny if they were to have to rescue us. I presumed that if their goal was for us to be stranded in the water, it would either be for them leave us having destroyed the Oliva or an excuse arrest us after retrieving us from the ocean. They continued to blast the painful streams of water at us. At this point I was still sitting in the boat filming but the force of the water became too strong and I had to turn my back to them. It seemed that their violence might escalate and Joe and Captain Salah pulled me down to the bottom of the boat near the bow to take cover. At this point one of the warships was shooting water at about 10 meters distance from us. The force of the water was so strong that it cracked the floor of the boat and it sounded as if live ammunition was being fired at us. A Palestinian fisherman boarded the Oliva and a hasaka came over and insisted that we get on board. We abandoned ship and the fisherman who had boarded the Oliva to take it back to the port. Unfortunately, at some point, the camera that I had been holding with its strap around my wrist was lost and left behind. Boarding the hasaka was potentially dangerous because it meant abandoning the “white-colored, peaceful, 3rd-party international boat,” however the Israeli Navy didn’t seem too concerned with our status as unarmed peaceful international observers (Civil Peace Service Gaza) while they were trying to sink us, and they were in fact trying to sink us. Captain Salah speaks some Hebrew and heard them saying to “put the boat under.” The hasaka took us over to the troller that we had initially followed out to sea. The navy continued to harass the trawler and us for nearly an hour, circling it, shooting it with water canons and verbally harassing the fishermen saying “Ayn al-samaki ayn al-samaki” or “Where are the fish? Where are the fish?” I’m not sure if they expected that these people would have anything other than fish on their boat but of course they didn’t have many fish to show for their efforts since the Israelis were preventing them from catching any. It was like a sick form of teasing and torture. Captain Salah heard them saying to “Put the water again…again…again.” Salah told me to tell them (shout over to them) that Joe and I were American and would be going back to port with the trawler if they would just stop hitting us with water. I tried this but it was in vain, they continued to hit the boat and circle it, luckily this boat was bigger than the Oliva and was better able to withstand the blows. Seeing these fishermen up close, including 2 small boys and a young girl and knowing that this is their life, every day, made me furious. I was so angry I wanted to cry but all I could do was shout in anger. We continued to circle around the bow where the steering cabin is located, trying to avoid the strikes from the water canons. Several times I saw a different, unmanned canon that presumable shoots live ammunition moving around as though it were going to aim at us. I also saw one soldier pointing his gun at me, with another tapping him on the shoulder and giving him directions. It looked as though they were aiming to shoot. I kept alternating between flashing peace signs and putting my hands in the air to show them that I was unarmed, hoping they wouldn’t shoot. At one point we heard what sounded like bullets hitting the rear of the boat. I wasn’t sure if they understood that we were American so I reiterated it, shouting to them from the trawler to let us go back to the port with them and that we were Americans. Usually I’m reluctant to pull the “I’m American” card but I think in cases like this, that’s kind of the point. After this they responded to the trawler “Leave and if we see you here again we will shoot you and the children and the Europeans or Americans.” After this they left. The hasaka move faster than the trawlers so we boarded another one that took us back to the port. I didn’t get to see if there was any damage from bullets or live ammunition on the rear of the trawler boat because we didn’t stay together when we went back. The Oliva was waiting for us back at the port, there wasn’t any bullet damage to the Oliva but the camera was missing and there are CPS Gaza members currently looking for it at the port. We will be holding a press conference tonight at 6pm and we will be going back out Saturday, unarmed of course but with press either on board or on a separate boat that will accompany us.
Let me stress that we are a human rights monitoring group consisting of unarmed international observers. The Israeli Navy is ugly. This was a display of their idea of “showing us mercy.” Such behavior and threats towards unarmed international observers clearly demonstrates the attempts to hide the ongoing crimes of an illegal blockade.