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IntroductionA year after the May 2010 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla II (FFII) is preparing to set sail to Gaza at the end of June 2011. According to reports, it is to include 15 to 20 passenger ships and cargo ships and some 1,000 participants from several European countries, five Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, and some Asian countries. Among the participants are members of parliament, politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and human rights activists. According to the campaign coordinators, FFII is expected to be twice the size of FFI and will set out from different ports across the world, convening in the Mediterranean Sea before sailing to Gaza. The French FFII campaign, named "French Ship for Gaza," has enlisted some 80 French organizations, which have so far raised some €600,000 in funding. The French Movement Against Racism and For Friendship Between Peoples (MRAP)[1] is in charge of handling the funds. Following is a brief review of the preparations for FFII, with an emphasis on the French campaign: Flotilla ParticipantsFreedom Flotilla II is set to sail on the third week of June, with ships departing from various European ports, including Marseilles. Its 15 to 20 passenger ships and cargo boats will carry building supplies, generators, medical equipment, and educational materials designated for the people of Gaza. FII was originally to depart from southern Turkey, headed by IHH ship Mavi Marmara;[2] however, according to spokesman Dror Feiler, speaking from Istanbul on June 17, 2011, the Mavi Marmarawill not set sail to Gaza due to technical reasons.[3] The departure date for FFII had initially been set as "sometime between May 15, in commemoration of the Nakba, and May 31, the first anniversary of the deadly 2010 flotilla mission."[4] However, the date was eventually postponed to the end of June. According to an IHH Foundation Facebook page dedicated to the Flotilla, the founding organizations of Freedom Flotilla II include the pro-Palestinian activist umbrella group Free Gaza Movement, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, the Ship to Gaza, Sweden, and the Ship to Gaza, Greece. These organizations held a press conference in Rome hosted by the Association of Journalists of Rome, to declare Freedom Flotilla II.[5] During the conference, the vice president of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Huseyin Oruc, stressed that the mission would bring together volunteers from "125 countries of the world." President of the Palestinians in Italy Dr. Mohammad Hannoun said that the campaign in Italy had already collected €140,000 toward the flotilla. Additional organizations to take part in FFII hail from the U.S., U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Venezuela, Norway, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Following is a brief overview of some of the flotilla campaigns underway on three different continents. The British organization Britain2Gaza Flotilla has dedicated a well-developed website to the project, as revealed in an IHH Facebook page[6] featuring a link to the Britain2Gaza Flotilla website:[7]
Lifeline 4 Gaza, or Talian Hayat Untuk Gaza in Bahasa, Malaysia, describes itself as a collaborative effort between Malaysian NGOs to join the international flotilla campaign. Indonesian organizations also joined the venture, including KISPA, the "Indonesian Committee for Palestine Solidarity."[8] The Australian Gaza Flotilla organization[9] is coordinating with a Canadian contingent to jointly purchase and crew a ship. To this end, the organization aims at fundraising $145,000. The address where money orders may be sent is provided as follows: "'Palestine Relief Fund, Inc. – 100 for Gaza,' P.O. Box 542, Leichhardt NSW 2040; Electronic Funds Transfer – Bendigo Bank a/c: 141120758 bsb: 633108." A list of people who have already donated is also provided. On May 9, 2011, the European Freedom Flotilla site, which pools information on flotilla campaigns in the various European countries, posted a press statement reading: "We're very pleased to announce the recent addition of a Swiss-German boat to the flotilla..."
The "French Ship to Gaza" Campaign
Campaign Activities Launched as early as October 2010, the French campaign has been highly active. The campaign's website provides daily updates.[10] On May 9, 2011, a campaign committee convened and, on May 11, an announcement was posted on the website's homepage similar to the one posted in English on the European Flotilla campaign site, stating that its craft and crew were ready to set sail. The announcement clarified that on May 12, members of the campaign committee had met with members of the European Parliament to request their "active support" for the Flotilla venture.[11]Since then and until departure in June, it said, they were to meet with representatives from the U.N. and other international organizations to garner additional support. The campaign's homepage features a map of the different cities and towns across all of France which have been campaigning for the project through conferences, concerts, meetings with politicians, and other events.[12] These activities were organized by some 60 local organizations throughout France.
The main goal of the French Ship to Gaza campaign website is fundraising. It asks each visitor to the website to donate €10:[13i] "If 20,000 of us donate €10 – no more – we've got our ship," pro-Palestinian activist Sommer-Houdeville clarified in a March 2, 2011 video posted on the French Islamic site Oumma.com.[14] On April 24, spokeswoman Claude Léostic, who is vice president of the France Palestine Solidarité association, told Aljazeera.net that the campaign had so far collected €450,000.[15] In addition to holding events, the French Ship to Gaza campaign has also had tee shirts designed. They are sold for eight euros each, and an email address is provided for ordering online. As an example of the campaign activities, following is a series of events held May 7-May 15, a typical campaign week. Similar events took place on an almost daily basis all over France. On May 7, the city of Blois organized a "Regional Day of Solidarity with Palestine" as part of the French Ship to Gaza campaign. Concentration camp survivor and diplomat Stéphane Hessel was requested to join as an honorary guest. Hessel was asked to give a conference on the "violations of human rights in Palestine" and the Palestinian band Haneen was to give a concert.[16] On the same day, similar activities were held in the cities of Nantes and Quimper. In Nantes, an earlier such endeavor had already brought the campaign €1000 on April 20. Campaign partnersBernadette Briand (La Cimade Bratagne-Pays de la Loire), Barbara Durand (La Ligue des Droits de l'Homme), Pierre Leparoux (Association France Palestine Solidarité), and Michel Bernard (Association France Palestine Solidarité) discussed the campaign in a video posted on a Nantes-based website.[17] In Quimper, a "Solidarity for Palestine Day" was organized by the local L'Association des Travailleurs et Commerçants Marocains ("Association of Moroccan Workers and Traders"), the Awal Imazighen association, and the France Palestine Solidarité association, on behalf of the French Ship for Gaza campaign. The event included a dinner, followed by the screening of the film Gaza, We Are Coming. [18] Other such events took place on May 12, 13, 14, and 15 in the French cities of Villejuif, Bagneux, Laragne, and Veynes. In Toulouse, a cycling tour of the city was organized "to show the colors of the campaign." The site Unbateaupourgaza.fr has posted an announcement advertising a large meeting to take place on June 18 at 2:00 pm at the old Marseille port, aimed at showing support for the French Ship to Gaza campaign, as "more and more pressure is exerted against the flotilla." Politicians and members of the French delegations are to give speeches at the event. Campaign Partners Include "More than 80 French NGOs" Campaign spokeswoman Claude Léostic said that since last winter, the French Ship to Gaza campaign has enlisted the support of more than 80 French NGOs. These include pro-Palestinian associations; political parties, such as the French Communist Party (PCF) and the French Green Party; human rights organizations, such as MRAP, LDH, and Cimade; and several French unions. Deputies who support the initiative include communist Patrick Braouezec (GDR), rightist Etienne Pinte (UMP), socialist François Loncle, and Noël Mamère (Green Party). The website of the French Ship to Gaza campaign includes a list of NGOs participating in the venture (see Appendix I).[19] Additionally, 402 French elected representatives and politicians have declared their support for the campaign. 314 have signed a petition to this effect on the campaign website (see appendix I for list). A list of public figures, artists, and intellectuals who have signed the petition in support the campaign is also provided (see Appendix II). Marcel Almero, General Confederation of Labour (CGT) secretary for the railway workers of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, said that the flotilla would involve "80 to 150 people embarking on a four to seven day trip," and added that "the CGT bears the heavy burden of finding a ship." This statement raised questions as to whether the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français ("The French National Railway Company," SNCF) were also a sponsor of the French Ship to Gaza campaign. Political Purpose of the Campaign On June 7, 2011, the Communist French daily L'Humanité reported that €600,000 had been collected toward the campaign. The article quotes several campaign activists whose statements reflect a clear political stance in support of Palestinian "resistance." For instance, Clémentine Autain, of FASE (Fédération pour une alternative sociale et écologique – "The Federation for Social and Ecological Alternative"), said, "Resistance is an absolute necessity." Communist Party member Pierre Laurent was reported as saying, "If there is, indeed, an occupier and an occupied party, the French government must be forced to take a clear position in favor of a Palestinian state." The May 11 announcement that appeared on the website of the French Ship to Gaza campaign compared the flotilla to the Egyptian revolution, in an apparent effort to render the venture the start of a Palestinian uprising against Israel: "Just as the Tahrir [Square] Egyptians refused to accept anything less than the toppling of the former regime, we will refuse anything less than the complete end of the illegal blockade on Gaza and of any other form of Israeli occupation of Palestine." Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, an activist for the International Civil Campaign for the Protection of the Palestinian People (CCIPPP), who has published a book on the first Gaza flotilla with a preface by pacifist Michel Warschawski,[20] was detained by Israel for three days after taking part in the first IHH-sponsored flotilla. In an interview on the French Islamic site Oumma.com about the Israeli interception of the flotilla craft, he said that this marked a "first political and symbolic victory... We understood that it was possible for a large civilian movement to force the international community to take action against Israel..." Sommer-Houdeville said that, like any other ship, the French ship to Gaza would be inspected by the French authorities before setting sail, warning that the activists "will not let any Israeli on the ships" to check their cargo.[21] He clarified that a campaign delegation had met with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to request his government's protection of the French citizens who were to participate in the flotilla. The latest figure of those French planning to sail is reported as around 30.[22] Tunisia to Participate in French Ship to Gaza Campaign Thomas Sommer-Houdeville said that the May 2011 flotilla is expected to stop in Tunisia "to pay tribute to the Tunisian revolution and to invite aboard a Tunisian delegation..."[23] Similarly, the Tunis Afrique news agency reported that Tunisia would take part in the venture, with a dozen Tunisians joining the French ship. Mouldi Jendoubi, deputy general secretary of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), said that the toppling of Arab dictatorships had provided hope regarding the liberation of the Palestinians. UGTT President Féthi Tlili declared that the martyrs of the first flotilla were unforgettable. Tunis Afrique also reported that FFII ships would be awarded as gifts to the Palestinian people upon their arrival in Gaza.[24] AppendicesIncluded in this report are three appendices in French, as follows:
* N. Maruani is a research fellow at MEMRI To read the Appendices, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5381.htm . [1] The Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples ("The Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples," or MRAP – Mrap.fr), is an anti-racist French NGO established in 1949. Since 1989, it has been headed by Mouloud Aounit, its first leader not to belong to the French Communist Party (PCF). [2] Lifeline4gaza.org/2011/01/13/freedom-flotilla-2-to-sail-to-gaza-by-the-end-of-may; http://www.lifeline4gaza.org/1-2. [3] AFP (France), June 17, 2011. [4] Occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/israel-foreign-ministry-in-campaign-against-freedom-flotilla-ii-bid-to-break-gaza-siege. [5] Facebook.com/note.php?note_id=172912039408153. [6] Facebook.com/ihhen. [7] See Britain2gaza.com. [8] Kispa.org. [9] See Australiansforpalestine.com/27943; Palrelief.org/palrelief/page.php?17. [10] Unbateaupourgaza.fr. [11] See Unbateaupourgaza.fr/index.php/La-Campagne/Nous-sommes-prets-a-partir-Communique-du-Comite-de-pilotage-de-la-Flottille-de-la-Liberte-2. [12] See Zeemaps.com/pub?group=225924&x=7.0313&y=46.2255&z=12. [13] See Unbateaupourgaza.fr. [14] Oumma.com/spip.php?page=oummatv-article&id_article=6035, March 2, 2011. [15] Aljazeera.net, April 24, 2011. [16] See Unbateaupourgaza.fr/index.php/Mobilisations/Stephane-HESSEL-pour-le-Bateau-a-Orleans-le-7-mai. [17] See Dailymotion.com/video/xijpr8_un-bateau-francais-pour-gaza-a-nantes_news. [18] A 2009 film by Y. Avgeropoulos and Y. Karipidis about two fishing boats that broke the Gaza blockade in 2008. See Unbateaupourgaza.fr/index.php/Mobilisations/Repas-de-la-solidarite-avec-Gaza-a-Quimper-le-7-mai. [19] See Unbateaupourgaza.fr/index.php/La-Campagne/Resume-de-la-campagne. [20] See Citoyensdesdeuxrives.eu/better/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2193:a-lire-qla-flottilleq—un-livre-de-thomas-sommer-houdeville&catid=82:gazapalestine&Itemid=107. [21] Nouvel Observateur, October 26, 2010. [22] Unbateaupourgaza.fr/index.php/La-Campagne/Le-18-juin-a-Marseille-destination-Gaza. [23] Oumma.com/spip.php?page=oummatv-article&id_article=6035, March 2, 2011. [24] Unbateaupourgaza.fr/index.php/On-parle-de-nous/Participation-tunisienne-a-la-flottille-de-la-liberte-II-en-solidarite-avec-Gaza-Agence-Tunis-Afrique-Press. [25] In a January 17, 2004 article titled "Iquioussen et la culture de la haine anti-juive" ("Iquioussen and the Culture of Hostility towards Jews"), published in the French communist daily L'Humanité, columnist Marc Blachère denounced Iquioussen's virulent anti-Semitic discourse. L'Humanité(France), June 17, 2011. | |||||||
Friday, 17 June 2011
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