URGENT: Kidnapped by the Israeli Navy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date : 11-18-2008
From Free Gaza
Fourteen Palestinian fishermen along with three internationals have been
kidnapped out of Palestinian waters by the Israeli Navy. They were fishing seven miles off the coast of Deir Al Balla, clearly in Gaza fishing waters.

The three internationals are Andrew Muncie from Scotland, Darlene Wallach from the United States and Victor Arrigoni from Italy. The U.K., U.S. and Italian embassies in Tel Aviv have been contacted and know about the abductions.

Please call the Israeli Ministry of Justice at +972 26 46 66 66 and register
your outrage over these illegal actions by the Israeli Military

CONTACT:
Caoimhe Butterly + 972 598 273 960
Donna Wallach + 972 598 836 420
Ramzi Kysia, U.K. +44 75 191 33 097

————————

+ ISM Press Release

For Immediate Release:

Gaza City, 10 a.m.- Fourteen Palestinian fishermen and 3 international Human Rights Observers (HROs) were surrounded by the Israeli Navy and taken from their boats 7 miles off the coast of Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip.

The fishermen and the HROs were transferred from 3 separate boats to the Israeli warships. Other Palestinian fishermen reported that the 3 boats were seen being taken north by the Israeli Navy.

The Human Rights Observers are Andrew Muncie, a Scottish British citizen, Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian citizen, and Darlene Wallach, an American citizen. They have been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) since they entered Gaza on ships with the first Free Gaza Movement voyage on the 23rd August 2008. All internationals have previous experience working with the ISM in the West Bank.

Fellow activists have been unable to establish contact with the HROs or with the fishermen since they were abducted.

Since their arrival, the ISM volunteers have been regularly accompanying Palestinian fishermen who are regularly attacked by Israeli navy vessels from as little as 3km from shore. They have regularly filmed Israeli forces using live ammunition, shells and water cannons against unarmed fishermen.

For videos from these attacks please contact palreports@gmail.com or the ISM Media Office - 02-2971824

For more information please contact:
Fida (Gaza - Arabic) – 0599681669
Jenny (Gaza - English) - 059 876 5377
ISM Media Office - 02-297-1824 or ISM contacts in the Gaza Strip

When confronted by the Israeli Navy, the boats were 7 nautical miles from the shore of Deir al Balah, well within the fishing limit detailed in the Oslo Accords of 1994.

With regular claims that from the Israeli government that it has “disengaged” from Gaza, these patrols and attacks from the Israeli navy, regularly occuring from as little as 3 miles from shore, represent a clear signal of the continuation of occupation of Gazan territory as well as regular breaches of the current cease-fire.

Over 40,000 people in Gaza make a living from the fishing industry, yet this community has been decimated by Israeli restrictions on fishing rights and the prevention of fuel from reaching the Gaza
Strip.

According to the Fishing Syndicate in Gaza, fishermen need 40,000 litres of fuel and 40,000 litres of natural gas each day to operate throughout the high fishing season.

Starting in April each year, there is a migration of fish from the Nile Delta to Turkish waters which Palestinian fishermen have traditionally relied upon. Yet Israel limits fishing 6 miles from the Gaza shore and regularly attacks those who venture further than 3 miles - over 70 fishermen were arrested last year by the Israeli forces. The large schools that form the migration are usually found 10 miles from shore. The average catch of fish was over 3000 tons a year in the 1990’s, now it is around 500 tons directly due to the Israeli siege of Gaza.

Not only this, but the brutal effects of the siege, the water in which the fishermen of Gaza sail in is now receiving 50 million litres of sewage per day because the people of Gaza have no alternative.

CAN PALESTINIANS REGAIN THE INITIATIVE FOR ENDING THE
OCCUPATION?

Speaker: Kamel Hawwash (University of Birmingham)

6:30 pm
Monday 1st December
Lecture Theatre 4
Geoffrey Manton Building
Manchester Metropolitan University

Kamel Hawwash is a British Palestinian academic. He is Associate
Professor and Head of the School of Civil Engineering at the
University of Birmingham, UK. Kamel is a member of the Palestine
Strategy Study Group, which recently produced a report entitled
” Regain the Initiative:Palestinian Strategic Options to End
Israeli Occupation”.

(Tom Hurndall was a student at Manchester Metropolitan
University. He was fatally wounded by the Israeli Defence Force
whilst protecting Palestinian children in Gaza. He died on
January 13th. 2004.)

From Bustan

Israelis and Internationals Protest Imminent Demolition of Straw Bale Mosque in the Unrecognized Bedouin Village of Wadi Na’am, Israel

Wadi Na’am, Israel– The first mud and straw-bale built mosque in Israel received demolition orders late last week in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Wadi al Na’am. On Tuesday, Mahmoud Jarbeau, who lives in Wadi Na’am and has served in the Israeli Army for nine years, received notice that the mosque/community center which he is building will be destroyed on Thursday, November 20^th.

BUSTAN (www.bustan.org) and the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages (www.rcuv.net) are coordinating protests against the demolition. Israeli and international volunteers will be on site to protest and witness the demolition if it occurs.

There are 80,000 Bedouin Arabs currently living in 45 unrecognized villages in Israel that lack basic infrastructure, health care, electricity, and water access. Local Bedouins as well as Christian, Muslim, and Jewish volunteers from Israel, the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Africa have contributed to building the mosque over the last four months.

The mosque, which was built with environmentally sustainable materials, cost approximately 140,000 shekels to build, according to Jarbeau. He built the mosque both as a place of worship and as a center for the preservation of Bedouin heritage that is threatened by Israel’s policies of forced urbanization, as exemplified by the threatened demolition.

Contacts:

• Mahmod Jarbeau at 057-466-2331 (Hebrew, Arabic) —resident of Wadi Na’am, served nine years in the Israeli military, director of the project
• Ra’ed Al Mickawi 052-371-1800 (Hebrew, Arabic, English)—Director of BUSTAN
• Dr. Yeela Livnat Ra’anan 054-748-7005 (English, Hebrew)—RCUV