14 Friends Of Palestine

THEY'VE DONE IT!!!!! The SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty have arrived safe and sound in Gaza City after braving high seas (9-ft. waves and seasickness) and electronic sabotage (almost all communication down). Tumultuous ecstatic reception in Gaza. Musheir El Farra's father-in-law among the crowd waiting at the beach. The flotilla of Gazan fishing boats were turned back to Gaza, and the press boat had to turn back to Cyprus because of high seas and electronic sabotage, but the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty are now docked at Gaza City! Congratulations to everyone!

For updates, please visit the Free Gaza Movement web site Also, click here to see more news and links. There is also a picture slideshow here and more pictures here.

A big thank you to everyone who joined our demonstration and vigil in support of the Free Gaza Movement on Thursday August 21st in San Francisco. Click here for photos. We were very encouraged that no less than 29 people came at such short notice. The whole thing was put together in three days flat! Thank you also to Alison Weir of If Americans Knew for her expert guidance and advice throughout. One of our members came home from Cyprus a few days ago, where he had been offering support to the Free Gaza activists, who requested that he organise some kind of demonstration here in the SF Bay Area. It was an exercise in Rapid Organisation, as it had to be done before their scheduled departure from Cyprus on Friday. The result was remarkably successful, with over 800 flyers distributed to passers by outside Senator Feinstein's SF office. Thank you everyone for your support. Further information on the Free Gaza boat trip from Cyprus to Gaza, attempting to break the Israeli seige of Gaza, can be found on their website: www.freegaza.org

Activists from all over the world sailed to Gaza, including five of our friends, Lauren Booth (the sister-in-law of Tony Blair), and Hedy Epstein, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.

This from Lauren Booth sailing on the Free Gaza (15th August):

Today I was going to write about about practical developments, here in the waters of the Greek islands. Of setting sail again, of bumpy seas and equally churning stomachs. However, the subject of today’s bulletin is psychological terrorism. Over the the past 72 hours almost a dozen aggressive messages have been received by members of the groups both on board the ships and in Cyprus. In Nicosia, where twenty human rights campaigners including Hedy Epstein await to board the Freegaza and the Liberty, anonymous callers have been making threats to the general well being of all concerned.

Some of these texts, calls and answer messages focus on the ships being ’blown up’ or ’destroyed, killing all on board.’ Unnerving enough. But today I can reveal even more pernicious acts of psychological violence on those both reporting and supporting this effort to ease the blockade of Gaza by Israel.

Since Monday, some campaigners, (who I will not name here for obvious reasons), have received phone calls made to their mobiles. More disturbingly, in an increasing number of cases - to family members.

Now, it is my turn. Yesterday afternoon, on the 14th of August 2008, an anonymous young man called my home in France as my daughters played hide and seek in the garden. This stranger spoke to my husband, warning him that ’your wife is in great danger. These ships will be blown up.’ My husband asked how it was this person had obtained our private home number. No response was forthcoming, but the illicit threats carried on.

Who is behind these phone calls? Who benefits by upsetting the families of those onboard the Freegaza and the Liberty? Who would wish to unsettle journalists aboard as unarmed ships set sail towards the waters around Gaza and almost certain interception by Israeli forces?

The answer is clear.

What We Do