DIGNITY SHIP LEAVES GAZA WITH PALESTINIAN STUDENTS*
http://www.FreeGaza.org <http://www.FreeGaza.org>
*(GAZA PORT, GAZA - 11 December 2008) - *The Free Gaza Ship
"Dignity,"
departed from Gaza International Port at 22:10 hours, Thursday 11
December. Aboard the ship were eleven Palestinian students who had been
denied exit by Israel to attend their universities abroad. Over 700
students are currently trapped in Gaza, unable to obtain permission from
Israel to continue their education.
Accompanying the students are two British academics, Jonathan Rosenhead
and Mike Cushman, of the London School of Economics and the British
Committee for Universities for Palestine (BRICUP), an organization of
UK-based academics responding to Palestine's Call for an Academic
Boycott of Israel.
According to Rosenhead and Cushman, "As academics we are
particularly
pleased to be traveling on the Dignity on this mission to enable at
least some of the hundreds of students trapped in Gaza by the Israeli
siege to get out and take up their places at universities round the
world. This siege is an affront to any idea of academic freedom or human
rights. How can anyone justify preventing young people from fulfilling
their potential and learning how to serve their community more
fully?"
In an act of nonviolent defiance to the ongoing Israeli Occupation of
Palestine, the Free Gaza Movement has been running civil resistance
ships to Gaza for several months. This voyage is the fourth such trip,
helping to reunite families, and delivering medical supplies, mail, and
international humanitarian and human rights workers to besieged Gaza.
Free Gaza spokesperson Ewa Jasiewicz stated that, "Though we carried
in a ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula on our ship, our
mission in Gaza was not to provide charity, but to give our solidarity
to the people of Palestine, break the silence of the world over this
continuing calamity, and physically break through the blockade of Gaza
in an act of direct resistance against the siege. In the end, the
oppression and humiliation of Occupation assaults the humanity of both
occupier and occupied and cannot and must not be tolerated any
longer."
For over two years, Israel has imposed an increasingly severe blockade
on Gaza, dramatically increasing poverty and malnutrition rates among
the 1.5 million human people who live in this tiny, coastal region.
Osama Qashoo, another Free Gaza spokesperson, explained their success by
saying that, "the sea passage to Gaza is open. Our fourth mission
was a quick response to Israel denying earlier attempts by Libya, Qatar and
by
Palestinians from 1948 to also break through the siege. We hope that
other nations, civil society organizations, and activists around the
world will learn from our experience, be strategic in their planning,
and not let Israeli threats and aggression stop them from coming to
Gaza. Freedom of movement and of education, and to live in peace is
everyone's right."
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Cyprus) Osama Qashoo, +357 97 793 595 / osamaqashoo@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Ramzi Kysia, +357 99 081 767 / rrkysia@yahoo.com
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