Dear friends and colleagues
This letter was written and rewritten four times as the ups and downs of the last few days. When you get it two boats would have left Turkish waters and I am not on one of them. I finalize this letter from a boat returning to port in Turkey. Tears are dry (of joy at success of our comrads and sadness for not being with them). The will is still there and I promise myself to get to Gaza next time. The boats now in International waters are named Saoirse (http://irishshiptogaza.org/ ) and Tahrir (http://www.tahrir.ca), Irish and Arabic for Liberty and Freedom. The Canadian steering committee that invited us to join selected 11 from the 36 slated to go because they were unfairly reduced to that number by the Turkish harbor master. We are very disappointed that 25 of us were left behind. Some of us left behind are trying different ways to catch up and we may still succeed. In fact if you do not hear from me in 24 hours it means most likely I have succeeded to get on a boat. We hope that those who took the boats do arrive to the besieged strip on the Mediterranean where 1.6 million people are held under and immoral and illegal blockade/siege. A small group of us took a small boat to try to meet one of the boats in waters off the coast but that did not work out (Turkish coast guard and timing). But it felt important to try.
I personally wanted so bad to visit many friends in Gaza some of them I have not seen in years. I wanted to visit Hiam and her family. I last saw Hiam and her mother 10 years ago when we brought Hiam to CT (she was then less than 8 years old) to get a prosthetic eye after she was shot deliberately by an Israeli soldier. She is one of hundreds of children who lost their eyes between 2000-2005 (for her story and pictures, see http://qumsiyeh.org/hiamsstory/). I wanedt to visit with friends like Dr. Heidar Eid whom I saw only when he was able to get out of Gaza and I was able to get out of the occupied West Bank so that we can meet in a faraway country in Europe. I want to look in the eyes of Gaza children and tell them that we, the human family, care about them. We will keep trying. I figure, not trying would be far harder on all of us.
We arrived at Istanbul at the 88th anniversary of proclamation of Turkey as a republic in 1923. Ataturk’s Turkey evolved quickly into a modern state at par with other European states. On the news we witness earthquake destruction in Eastern Turkey and I see a beautiful young girl with casts on her legs smiling at one point, sad at another and I do not have to understand the language to understand human tragedy. The damage from this natural disaster is chillingly similar to the damage of the man-made disaster in Gaza: collapsed multistory building, burying dead, injured people. But Gaza is not allowed to recover.
From Istanbul to Dalaman and then to a small lovely town where we stayed until the launch time. People here are very friendly. They become even friendlier (if that is possible) when they hear I am from Filistin. But then the whole place reminds me of Filistin (especially northern Palestine areas of the Galilee). I take a deep breath and soak the views of Olives, Citrus, Figs, Almonds, Loquots, mullberies, Jasmine, cactus, old stone terraces, and old men playing cards or backgammon. The colors are so bright, the smells so refreshing, the water so abundant. Smiley comfortable faces with the wrinkles of the hillsides reflected on the faces of the old people. The shops, restaurants and hotels are family run and the young are playful and energetic. The evening call to prayer emanates from the mosque. The bicycles all around are never locked and even our hotel rooms were left open much of the time. I feel like I am again visiting North Palestine where my grandmother is from a place that was also etched in her face and her memory till the day she died.
Before I proceed any further, I pause to tell you who were most on my mind in the last four days as we went through the ups and downs and countless meetings to come to this point. What was on my mind were victims of the Israeli apartheid state including these US victims:
1) The 34 sailors killed on the USS Liberty attacked deliberately in International waters in 1967 (http://www.usslibertyveterans.org/, http://www.gtr5.com/ ) and the survivors who have later died without ever seeing justice for the murderers.
2) Rachel Corrie, 23 year old American student killed deliberately by Israeli bulldozer in Rafah
3) Furkan Dogan, 19 y. o. Turkish American citizen, who was executed at point blank range on the Mavi Marmara ship (see http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19667 and smuggled videos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT5823U5YLc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjEJGw7BcMo )
I thought of their bravery as I watched fellow human beings from 10 countries try and even compete to get on boats (some have been to Gaza several times and some tried to get to Gaza several times). Driven only by belief in our common humanity, I as a Palestinian cannot help but feel a weight of gratitude for these brave souls. We had lots of glitches in the past few days here with both bureaucratic and political rollercoaster. I will spare you the gory details because the ultimate goal is Gaza. Briefly, we arrived Saturday and were in meetings Sunday when negotiations started s the boats arrived at docks. Monday we find that we are unable to accommodate all passengers per the Turkish authorities (who were not told our destination). Monday night we had a meeting till nearly midnight. Tuesday was a an emotional rollercoaster as those selected were approached individually to give their passports. Those of us who were not asked knew then we were not selected. Passport data went to Ankara and further delays. Wednesday at 11 AM came back green light to go but a little later, we heard glitches happening and the authorities were at the doc. When the boats finally left, five of us “the crazies” raced to our locally chartered boats to try and meet. The cruise Wednesday did not succeed and we had to go back, disappointed. But we hope that our colleagues on the Tahrir and Saoirse will not be intercepted by the navy of the apartheid regime that is enforcing an illegal and immoral siege on Gaza.
We live in an Orwellian world where humanitarian activists are persecuted and war criminals get wined and dined in five star hotels. We live in a world where for seeking membership in a cultural and scientific organization (UNESCO) and getting it by a democratic vote:
- the organization is punished with losing members withholding dues
- the internet service of 4 million Palestinians under occupation is targeted by spams and attempts to shut it down (slowed down so far but it is not clear if the Palestinians will cope with this
- the occupation authority decides to “punish” the Palestinian population by building more settlements and by withholding Palestinian tax money (this is Palestinian money from their taxes due to them).
- the US congress cuts humanitarian aid going to the Palestinian people (not going to the Palestinian authority or even passing through its hands).
It was hard for me to see why we had to be secretive about a humanitarian operation like this. It is hard for me to see why the Turkish authorities limited us to 11 passengers on each boat. It is hard for me to see why activists had hard feelings about each other or why choices were made the way they were. I had so many questions left on my mind but for now sadness and anticipation overwhelms everything.
The human language is so limiting in expressing emotions and feelings on this day. Words like anticipation, exhilaration, hope, fear, love, are all rather limiting. But there is one thing I think is interesting: when I am in the Galilee, in Al-Walaja, in Aida refugee camp, in an Israeli holding cell or jail, or attempting to get to Gaza, it is precisely these times in my life that I feel most alive and most human because I am having “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world”. Fellow human beings from Ireland, Canada, USA, Denmark and elsewhere are inspiring and I quickly became friends with those I did not know before. They share me these strong feelings and this makes it even more meaningful. You can see why Vittorio Arrigoni ended his messages to us with the note “stay human”. May we all stay most alive and stay most human.
If you want to help, please use all possible communication means (emails, twitters, facebook, calls) to let all people especially media and politicians know you support lifting the siege on Gaza and you want our ships protected from Israeli piracy. It is long overdue.
Now imagine: http://youtu.be/bvFLKyAGzzI
For a previous adventure of the Canadian boat, see
November anniversaries
2/11/1917 Britain issued the infamous Balfour declaration promising some one else’s country to become a national homeland for a racist Zionist movement
3/11/1956 Khan Yunis massacre by Israeli forces of civilians in Gaza
9/11 International Day of Action Against the wall (coincide with fall of Berlin wall)
10/11/1975 UN General Assembly resolution condemning Zionism as a form of racism
13/11/1974 PLO Chairman Address UN General Assembly
15/11/1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence
22/11/1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242 "Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" and "achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem"
29/11/1947 UN GA 181 recommending partition
29/11 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People inaugurated by the UN GA
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Join us in Palestine in December http://www.palestinejn.org
and the Global March to Jerusalem on March 30 www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org
autonomous North American GMJ group is at www.gmj-na.org
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