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Free Gaza" initiative to try and enter Gaza by sea and open port. A small shipping vessel will set sail for Gaza from Cyprus on 5 August expecting to be illegally detained as it enters Gazan waters. The waters off the Gaza Strip are patrolled by Israeli naval vessels, and Israel enforces a "Fishing Limit" that is 6 nautical miles (11.1 km) from the Gaza shore. These restrictions on access and borders are enforced despite the 2005 Israeli "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip. There will be 60 people aboard the "Free Gaza" vessel including a Holocaust survivor a survivor of the Palestinian Nakba, and members of the international Palestinian diaspora. The crew intends to travel into the Gaza strip, past the international waters boundary, the 1996 Oslo accords boundary (20 nautical miles from the Gaza coast), the 2002 Bertini agreement boundary (12 nautical miles and 22.2 km from the Gaza coast) and the current "Fishing Limit" imposed by the Israeli navy since October 2006. Legally, the group says there should be no problem passing each of these lines since Israel disengaged from the Gaza strip in 2005 and should no longer its control airspace and territorial waters. The initiative hopes to draw attention to the continued de facto occupation of Gaza. In an interview with Ma'an on Saturday, a spokesperson for the group in Israel said that the crew expects to be stopped by the Israeli navy shortly after they cross from international waters into Gazan territorial waters, which according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, extend 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from an area's shoreline. While Israel has not signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, they did sign the Bertini Agreement in August 2002 with the UN, which stated that Gazan territory extended the full 12 nautical miles from the shore. In June 2005, Israel unilaterally "disengaged" from Gaza and withdrew all troops to the 1967 borders. In theory, Gazans control the entire Strip, excluding approximately 650 meters along the eastern border which is called a buffer and "no go" zone. The trip organizers think one of four things will happen to the ship: it may be stopped as it crosses or approaches the barrier marking the international waters boundary, in which case the crew is prepared to stay on board for at least two weeks in protest of the illegal halt of passage. The second possibility envisioned by the organizers is that the ship will be allowed to pass into the area, and will be stopped in the territorial waters. In this eventuality the crew expects to be arrested, and the ship dragged to shore. A third possibility is that the ship will be sunk by the navy. The final option is that the ship actually makes it through to the Gaza port near Gaza City in the north of the Strip. According to Holocaust survivor and crew member Hedy Epstein, in the event that they can get through to Gaza they will "open the port, fish with the fishermen, help in the clinics, and work in the schools." What Epstein hopes to do on this journey is to "remind the world that we will not stand by and watch 1.5 million people suffer death by starvation and disease." Chairman of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, Palestinian Legislative Council member and lawyer Jamal El Khoudary i said that he hopes the arrival of the ship in Gaza will mean an end to the siege. He emphasized that the ship has a right to enter the local waters and Gazans have the right to host their guests without Israeli intervention. Opening a port in Gaza would allow residents to export agricultural products, and gain control over the goods and material brought into the region. Currently, all crossing points are controlled by Israel and Egypt. The truce between Hamas and Israel was supposed to see the blockade and restriction on essential goods lifted, but food, medical supplies, cement and fuel are still only trickling in. For Gaza Coordination --
Popular Committee Against Siege(PCAS),
PCAS Manager,
Sam AK
Gaza - Palestine
Mob:0097259466166
Freegaza.ps@gmail.com
Website: www.freegaza.ps/english
www.freegaza.ps/french
Videos: http://freegaza.blogspot.com/
اللجنة الشعبية لمواجهة الحصار
غزة- فلسطين
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