English
Ship to Gaza-Greece
On Avigdor Lieberman’s official visit to Greece


Athens, 10 January, 2011


The ties between Greece and Israel continue to strengthen…
After the exchange of visits between the two prime ministers and the working visits of the Greek ministers D. Droutsas and C. Paboukis to Tel Aviv, the formal visit of the Israeli Minister of External Affairs Avigdor Lieberman to Athens on Wednesday 12/1/2011 is in the highlight of the diplomatic agenda.

This visit takes place against the background of the international outcry against the Zionist’s state raid on  the Freedom Flotilla few months ago, while Avigdor Lieberman, as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu have been declared persona non grata, subject to arrest and trial, for war crimes in many countries, several European countries included.

The president of the far-right party Yisrael Beiteinou is known for his fascist positions, not only against the Palestinians, but also against Israeli citizens coming from poverty-stricken countries who settle in Israel – in order to alleviate the significant demographic deficit. Over 1 million Israeli citizens of Arab origins are marginalized and oppressed, with the obvious and declared intention of persecution. Ethnic cleansing and racism are his refrain. He praised the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli military forces two years ago and the murder of more than 1500 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

The Government of G. Papandreou welcomes the war criminal Lieberman with a series of imaginative arguments about ostensible plans for economic development, and possibly co-management of natural resources. Arguments that together with the promotion of a national illusion – “we’ve found natural gas…” along the lines of (coincidentally in previous periods of crisis) “we’ve found, oil… or gold”- are merely preparing the grounds for yet another unholy alliance.
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[Doha, Qatar, 25 October] International legal experts and lawyers representing victims of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla today announced the establishment of the “Flotilla Justice Group.” The announcement came at the conclusion of a two-day meeting held on 23 and 24 October, aimed at coordinating legal actions to hold Israel accountable for its 31 May 2010 attack on the Freedom Flotilla. The meeting, hosted by the Doha-based Al Fakhoora campaign, brought together 70 representatives from 20 countries, to follow up on work that began at the first lawyers’ meeting held in Istanbul on 15 July.

The international advocacy groups, legal and media experts, and lawyers in attendance met in a number of workshops to devise a comprehensive strategy for national, regional and international legal action, inter-organizational coordination, and media mobilization. “The Flotilla Justice Group” will serve as a coordination mechanism for facilitating communication and the exchange of information between lawyers working on behalf of flotilla victims around the world.

Bettahar Boudjellal, a Qatar-based international human rights expert, said, “Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla breached international, human rights and humanitarian law. Our efforts to unify the legal actions through a designated coordination apparatus will allow us to collectively bring the State of Israel to justice.  More importantly, it will serve as a foundation for responding to Israel’s future violations.”
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PRESS STATEMENT-11/10/10
Legal, Political, and Grassroots Action to End Israeli Impunity

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition met in the home of the Geneva Conventions to welcome the Swiss Boat Initiative into the Coalition, as well as to discuss the various levels of our ongoing efforts to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza. The Geneva Conventions, a body of law agreed upon by the world community to protect human life and dignity, continues to be violated on a daily basis by Israel with near total impunity.

As members of civil society we are working to end this impunity that our governments have been shamefully silent about. Many of our countries abstained on the vote of the UN Human Rights Council investigation that found Israel guilty of “incredible violence”, and “grave breaches” of international law to support prosecutions against Israel for “willful killing” and torture. The United States vetoed this report that found one of their citizens was “executed” by Israeli forces. We refuse to accept this. We represent the voice of growing worldwide condemnation of Israel’s continued crimes and are working on legal, political and grassroots levels to hold Israel accountable.

In three days, on 14 October, we will be at The Hague to submit our complaint to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. In less than two weeks, lawyers from over 20 countries will meet to discuss lawsuits against Israel and ongoing efforts to indict Israeli war criminals. And yes, we are also planning to sail again.
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Athens, 3 June 2010
We express our deepest sorrow and grief for the assassination of our Turks brothers on "Mavi Marmara".

We address our most sincere condolences to their families, our IHH brothers and sisters and the Turkish people.

We salute the heroic resistance of our Turks brothers during their defense against Israeli piracy in international waters.

We consider the Turks martyrs as ours and we mourn for them.

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Tuesday, June 1st 2010,
Berseba prison, Israel

"Eleftheri Mesogeios", the cargo ship with Greek flag and 22 Greek passengers, which participated in the international "Freedom Flotilla" mission, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was under pirate raid by israeli commandos in the international waters, during early hours on Monday 31/5. The same violent attack had already taken place on "Sfendoni", a ship with Greek passengers as well, and all 4 other ships of the flotilla. There was use of live ammunition, unarmed citizens were murdered. Israeli commandos with their guns extended, violently attacked Greek passengers by using physical violence and electrified sticks, they handcuffed them, dragged them brutally to the deck. Israelis continued using violence when arrived to Ashdod port, where the ships and passengers were driven, where Greek people were brutally beaten with unprecedented  violence and 3 of them were carried to hospitals and the others to separate detention centers. All of us Greek men and women who are illegally imprisoned in Israeli prisons, we strongly refuse signing any statement forced on us by the terrorist state of Israel. We denounce by all means this murderous attack against our international mission. We ask the Greek government to break all diplomatic relations with Israel, the state-piracy that abolishes 5,000 years of free navigation in the Mediterranean. We state that as long as Gaza is under blockade, as long as Palestine is occupied, as long as the international community does not dare to impose on Israel international legitimacy and international decisions, we will continue to prepare new missions and to sail for Gaza waters. Until the biggest concentration camp created by Israelis in the 21st century stops to exist.



Signed by
The 20 people included in the telephone list
The 6 women
Karypidis Giannis
Boukas Theodoros
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The Palestinian Youth Network condemns the criminal and terrorist actions Israel is taking against the aid ships and calls the international community to take immediate public action against these attacks in front of your local Israeli Embassies.


TAKE ACTION!




Israel Murders at Least 15 Unarmed Civilians on Aid Flotilla to Gaza, Dozens Injured

Under darkness of night, Israeli commandos from at least 14 warships and military helicopters boarded the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began shooting. According to live video from the ship, at least two civilians have been murdered, and dozens injured. Israeli television is reporting 16 civilians killed.

The Mavi Marmara was part of a 6-ship unarmed flotilla, including a U.S.-flagged vessel, carrying 700 passengers from 40 different countries and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza.

The last GPS signal from the flotilla, sent just prior to the attack, placed the ships at latitude:32.64113, longitude:33.56727 - approximately 65 miles off the coast of Netanya, well in international waters.

Palestinian fishermen are regularly fired upon off the coast of Gaza, but these are the first Israeli murders of internationals at sea. In recent years, the Israeli military has adopted increasingly vicious policies toward international human rights workers in Palestine, murdering Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurdall in 2003.

The names of the dead are not yet known. The flotilla passengers included retired US diplomats Amb. Edward Peck and Col. Ann Wright, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, and former UN assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday, as well as humanitarian aid and human rights workers, several Members of Parliament from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Malaysia, and Palestinian Members of the Knesset.

We’re not surprised that the attacks took place in International waters, or that they were a reckless, murderous over-reaction to unarmed ships carrying medical supplies and building materials.

Israel routinely meets nonviolent Palestinian protest with lethal violence.

The Israeli war crimes and massacres continues, the deadly closure of Gaza continues, the colonisation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank continues, and the inalienable right of refugees to return to their homes still remains out of reach for millions. Grassroots resistance to Israel's ongoing attacks has never been as urgent as it is today

TAKE ACTION, CALL YOUR REPRESTANTIVES, AND THE ISRAELI EMBASSIES WORLDWIDE, PROTEST OUTSIDE ISRAELI EMBASSSIES IN YOUR CITY

HOLD ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE. MAKE SURE YOUR COUNTRY HOLDS ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE, .
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