DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

Conference Declaration as published by France Diplomatie

I) Following the Ministerial meeting held in Paris on 3 June 2016, the Participants met in Paris on 15 January 2017 to reaffirm their support for a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They reaffirmed that a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace.

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* They emphasized the importance for the parties to restate their commitment to this solution, to take urgent steps in order to reverse the current negative trends on the ground, including continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity, and to start meaningful direct negotiations.

* They reiterated that a negotiated two-state solution should meet the legitimate aspirations of both sides, including the Palestinians’ right to statehood and sovereignty, fully end the occupation that began in 1967, satisfy Israel’s security needs and resolve all permanent status issues on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and also recalled relevant Security Council resolutions.

* They underscored the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 as a comprehensive framework for the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, thus contributing to regional peace and security.

* They welcomed international efforts to advance Middle East peace, including the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016 which clearly condemned settlement activity, incitement and all acts of violence and terror, and called on both sides to take steps to advance the two-state solution on the ground ; the recommendations of the Quartet on 1 July 2016 ; and the United States Secretary of State’s principles on the two-state solution on 28 December 2016.

* They noted the importance of addressing the dire humanitarian and security situation in the Gaza Strip and called for swift steps to improve the situation.

* They emphasized the importance for Israelis and Palestinians to comply with international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law.

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(Click here for a version in French)

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

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II) The Participants highlighted the potential for security, stability and prosperity for both parties that could result from a peace agreement. They expressed their readiness to exert necessary efforts toward the achievement of the two-state solution and to contribute substantially to arrangements for ensuring the sustainability of a negotiated peace agreement, in particular in the areas of political and economic incentives, the consolidation of Palestinian state capacities, and civil society dialogue. Those could include, inter alia :

* a European special privileged partnership ; other political and economic incentives and increased private sector involvement ; support to further efforts by the parties to improve economic cooperation ; continued financial support to the Palestinian authority in building the infrastructure for a viable Palestinian economy ;*

* supporting and strengthening Palestinian steps to exercise their responsibilities of statehood through consolidating their institutions and institutional capacities, including for service delivery ;*

* convening Israeli and Palestinian civil society fora, in order to enhance dialogue between the parties, rekindle the public debate and strengthen the role of civil society on both sides.*

III) Looking ahead, the Participants :*

* call upon both sides to officially restate their commitment to the two-state solution, thus disassociating themselves from voices that reject this solution ;*

* call on each side to independently demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution and refrain from unilateral steps that prejudge the outcome of negotiations on final status issues, including, inter alia, on Jerusalem, borders, security, refugees and which they will not recognize ;*

* welcome the prospect of closer cooperation between the Quartet and Arab League members and other relevant actors to further the objectives of this Declaration.*

As follow-up to the Conference, interested Participants, expressing their readiness to review progress, resolved to meet again before the end of the year in order to support both sides in advancing the two-state solution through negotiations.*

France will inform the parties about the international community’s collective support and concrete contribution to the two-State solution contained in this joint declaration.*

. .DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. ,

An article by Uri Avnery from Transcend

The Arab taxi driver who brought me to Ramallah had no trouble with the Israeli border posts. He just evaded them.

Saves a lot of trouble.

I was invited by Mahmood Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority (as well as of the PLO and the Fatah movement) to take part in joint Palestinian-Israeli consultations in advance of the international conference in Paris.

Since Binyamin Netanyahu has refused to take part in the Paris event side by side with Mahmood Abbas, the Ramallah meeting was to demonstrate that a large part of Israeli society does support the French initiative.

SIMPLE AS it sounds, the Ramallah meeting was not simple at all.

Before the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004, such meetings were almost routine. Since our groundbreaking first meeting in Beirut in 1982, during the Israeli blockade, Arafat met many Israelis.

Arafat had almost absolute moral authority, and even his home-grown rivals accepted his judgment. Since, after our first meeting, he decided that Israeli-Palestinian meetings served the cause of Palestinian-Israeli peace, he encouraged many such events.

After his murder, the opposite trend gained the upper hand. Palestinian extremists held that any meetings with Israelis, whoever they might be, served “normalization” – a terrible, terrible bogeyman.

Abbas has now put an end to this nonsense. Like me, he believes that Palestinian statehood and independence can come about only through a joint struggle of the peace forces on both sides, with the help of international forces.

In this spirit, he invited us to Ramallah, since Palestinians are not normally allowed into Israeli territory.

He seated me next to him on the stage, and so the meeting started.

MAHMOOD ABBAS – or “Abu Mazen”‘, as he is generally known – was gracious enough to mention that he and I have been friends for 34 years since we first met in Tunis, soon after the PLO had left Beirut and moved there.

Through a number of years, when my friends and I came to Tunis, the same procedure was followed: first we met with Abu Mazen, who was in charge of Israeli affairs, and drew up plans for joint action. Then we all moved to Arafat’s office. Arafat, who had an almost uncanny capacity for making quick decisions, would decide within minutes “yes” or ‘no”.

There could hardly be two more different characters than Abu-Amar (Arafat) and Abu-Mazen. Arafat was a “warm” type. He embraced and kissed his visitors in the old Arab style – a kiss on each cheek for ordinary visitors, three kisses for preferred ones. After five minutes, you felt as if you had known him all your life.

Mahmood Abbas is a much more reserved person. He embraces and kisses too, but it does not come quite as naturally as with Arafat. He is more withdrawn. He looks more like a high-school principal.

I have a lot of respect for Mahmood Abbas. He needs tremendous courage to do his job – the leader of a people under brutal military occupation, compelled to cooperate with the occupation in some matters, endeavoring to resist in others. The aim of his people is to endure and survive. He is good at that.

When I complimented him on his courage, he laughed and said that it was more courageous of me to enter Beirut during the siege of 1982. Thanks.

The Israeli government succeeded, even before Netanyahu, in splitting the Palestinians in the country into two. By the simple device of refusing to honor their solemn pledge under Oslo to create four “safe passages” between The West Bank and Gaza, they made a split almost inevitable.

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Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

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Now, while officially treating the moderate Abbas as a friend and the extremist Hamas in Gaza as an enemy, our government behaves exactly the other way. Hamas is tolerated, Abbas is considered an enemy. That seems perverse but is really quite logical: Abbas can sway public opinion throughout the world in favor of a Palestinian state, Hamas cannot.

AFTER THE Ramallah meeting, in a private session, I submitted to Abbas a plan for consideration.

It is based on the appreciation that Netanyahu will never agree to real peace negotiations, since these will lead inevitably to the Two-State Solution, tut-tut-tut.

I propose to convene a “Popular Peace Conference”, which will meet, say, once a month inside the country. In each session, the conference will deal with one of the paragraphs of the future peace agreement, such as the final location of the borders, the character of the borders (open?), Jerusalem, Gaza, water resources, security arrangements, refugees, and so on.

An equal number of experts and activists from each side will deliberate, put everything on the table and thrash it all out. If agreement can be reached, wonderful. If not, the proposals of both sides will be clearly defined and the item left for later.

In the end, after, say, half a year, the final “popular peace agreement” will be published, even with defined disagreements, for the guidance of the peace movements on both sides. Deliberations on the disagreements will continue until agreement is found.

Abbas listened attentively, as is his wont, and in the end I promised to send him a written memorandum. I just did so, after consulting with some of my colleagues, like Adam Keller, the Gush Shalom spokesman.

Mahmood Abbas is now preparing to attend the Paris conference, the official aim of which is to mobilize the world for the Two-State Solution.

SOMETIMES I WONDER how I do not get infected with megalomania. (Some of my friends believe that this cannot happen to me, since I already am a megalomaniac.)

A few weeks after the end of the 1948 war, a tiny group of young people in the new State of Israel met in Haifa to debate a path to peace based on what is now called the Two-State solution. One was a Jew (me), one a Muslim and one a Druze. I, just released from hospital, was still wearing my army uniform.

The group was completely ignored by everybody. No takers.

Some ten years later, when I was already a member of the Knesset (as, by the way, were the other two), I went abroad to see who could be convinced. I wandered around Washington DC, met with important people in the White House, the State Department and the UN delegations in New York. On the way home I was received in the Foreign Offices in London, Paris and Berlin.

No takers, anywhere. A Palestinian state? Nonsense. Israel must deal with Egypt, Jordan et al.

I made many dozens of speeches about this proposal in the Knesset. Some powers started to take it up. The first was the Soviet Union, though rather late, under Leonid Brezhnev (1969). Others followed.

Today there is no one around who believes in anything but the Two-State Solution. Even Netanyahu pretends to believe in it, if only the Palestinians would become Jews or emigrate to Greenland.

Yes, I know that I didn’t do it. History did it. But I might be excused for feeling just a tiny little bit of pride. Or a mini-megalomania.

THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION is neither good nor bad. It is the only.

The only solution there is.

I know that there are a number of good, even admirable people who believe in the so-called One-State Solution. I would ask them to consider the details: what it would look like, how it would actually function, the army, the police, the economy, the parliament. Apartheid? Perpetual civil war?

No. Since 1948 everything has changed, but nothing has changed.

Sorry, the Two-State Solution is still the only game in town.

. .DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. ,

A press release from The Elders

The Elders welcomed the latest international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict held in Paris on 15 January 2017 at the initiative of the French Government, and commended their leadership in pushing for a viable two-state solution.

They urged all the wider international community, and in particular all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, to play an active and concerted role to secure a lasting and just peace for the peoples of Israel and Palestine.

The Elders reiterated their support for UN Security Council Resolution 2334 passed in December 2016 which condemned all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and all acts of violence and terror. They hoped this consensus in the Council is maintained in the coming months as the best chance of ensuring the survival of the two-state solution.

Kofi Annan, Chair of The Elders, said:

“The French government has worked hard over the past twelve months to garner international support for a viable two-state solution. It is vital that these calls are heeded and efforts redoubled by all key players, especially on the UN Security Council. Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and all States in the region and beyond, must abjure obstructionism which will only prolong the sufferings of Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Lakhdar Brahimi, Elder and international conflict mediator, said:

“Yesterday’s Paris conference sent out an important message to the world. Scores of nations gathered, demonstrating the international community’s desire to promote the best hope for a sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians: two states living peacefully side by side. Any moves that imperil that solution, including settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, are incompatible with international law and UN resolutions, including Security Council Resolution 2334 of December 2016.”

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Mairead Maguire for Transcend

I was a participant onboard the Zaytouna-Oliva boat | 29 Sep-5 Oct 2016.

26 Oct 2016 – A few weeks ago, the US government agreed to give Israel $38 billion dollars, the largest military funding package the U.S. has given any nation.  This $38 billion in military and other type of Aid will be used to imprison the Palestinians of Gaza, and continue Israel’s military occupation, and imposition of an apartheid state, upon the Palestinian people.

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This money will be used in the training fields of Israeli military, which are in Gaza, where military experiments are done, using US military weaponry, by the Israeli Occupation Forces.  The U.S. military and government is complicit in the crimes against the people of Gaza and the Palestinian occupied territory by the use of military hardware given by USA and by the training that Israelis give to Americans and USA gives to Israel.  It is also estimated that some 70% of European humanitarian aid to Palestine ends up in Israeli pockets.

Gaza continues to suffer from the continuing Israeli blockade, naval and land, and this 25-mile-long tiny strip, 5 miles wide, with l.9 million people, living in it, is a brutal blockade and Israel controls everything including electricity, food, etc.

Indeed, everything that comes into Gaza comes through Israeli hands.  Gaza’s only airport was completely destroyed in 2002 by Israeli jets and ground forces.  Egypt continues to be a part of this blockade as they have blocked Gaza’s southern border; and Egypt continues to receive USA military funding.  Medical authorities have reported that the time for operations in Gaza now goes up to 2025 as so many are awaiting health care, and the increasing issues around food, water, sewage, electricity, all of these mounting problems have led the U.N. to declare in their latest Report, that by the year 2020 Gaza will be uninhabitable.  What hope is there for the Palestinians of Gaza, the vast majority of whom are young people?

In order to give hope to the people of Gaza by showing solidarity and support the Women’s Boat to Gaza sailed in September 2016. Also we sailed in order to challenge this illegal and immoral blockade and occupation of Palestine by Israel, and draw international attention to the fact that under Geneva Conventions it is illegal to punish civilians, which is what Israeli government policies continues to do.

The Women’s Boat to Gaza set sail from the Spanish Port city of Barcelona (Barcelona is twinned with Gaza) in mid- September 2016.  The three legs of the trip were 1715 miles from Barcelona to Ajaccio, Corsica, France and then down to Messina in Sicily, Italy. 

It was hoped to have two boats but when one developed engine trouble in Barcelona, the other 50’ sailing boat, Zaytouna-Oliva, continued alone.  At all Ports the women were greeted and hosted by mayors, officials, and supporters of the Free Palestine Movement.   Over 40 women from around the world flew to Messina in hopes of being able to sail to Gaza.

I joined the boat in Messina, and was grateful to be chosen as one of the 13 women from thirteen countries, being finally chosen to sail to Gaza.   It was sad for those of us sailing to leave behind so many wonderful women due to not enough boats to sail, but it is hoped the Palestinian Coalition will be able to get more sailings to accommodate those wishing to go on a future occasion.   The 13 chosen participants included Ann Wright, (boat leader) the captain and two crew, two Al Jazeera journalists, and women from USA, Ireland, Russia, UK, Spain, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden/Chile, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia, and Algeria.

The third leg of the journey from Messina to Gaza was almost 1000 miles and a nine-day journey.  On 29th September 2016, we set sail from Messina, Sicily, after a wonderful reception from the mayor, the Muslim community, and many Palestinian friends in Messina.

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Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

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The first few days sailing the weather was rough and many of us were seasick, but several days into the journey we had got our sea-legs and busied ourselves helping with the tasks to be done such as cooking, reporting, night watches with the crew, etc.  We shared our stories and held nonviolence training.   It was a wonderful experience getting to know the women whose courage was inspiring. Their love for the Palestinian people and their freedom was very deep.  Unfortunately, some 400 miles from Messina, with some 600 miles to go, we had problems with the boats rigging.  An appeal to friends in Crete resulted in a boatful of people coming out to meet us, bringing many gifts of food, and four men to fix the rigging!  This was for me one of the most moving experiences of the journey, and it proved yet again, the magnificence of the human spirit. Around 20 men and women answered our call for help and came to our aid, and all for the people of Gaza.  After the men fixed our boat rigging, we passed greetings to our rescuers from Crete and sailed in a happy and hope filled mood towards Gaza.

On Wednesday 5th October, we were contacted by the Israeli navy by phone.  A few hours earlier all communications via our own phones were cut off.  The Israeli navy communicator told Captain Madeleine that we were nearing the 20-mile military Israeli security zone and were breaking Israeli law.  They said if we did not turn back or agree to be escorted to Ashdod, they would confiscate our boat and take us to Israel.

However, we kept sailing towards Gaza.   We saw several Navy military ships on the horizon.  At 6 p.m., a Zodiac boat came alongside our boat.  There were 30 Israeli sailors including Israeli women sailors who were the first to come on board our boat. 

They were not in combat gear.  They wore baseball caps, and long sleeved jerseys.  In 2010,   I had been on the Rachel Corrie Irish/Malaysian boat, which was part of the Freedom Flotilla and when we were boarded by Israeli sailors, they were in combat gear, with rifles, and sniffer dogs, and we were handcuffed and forcibly taken to Israel.  I was surprised when this different approach was used to confiscate our boat, the Zaytouna.  In 2010, on the Mavi Marmara, the Israelis murdered nine people, and subsequently a 10th person died as 50 people were wounded.  Therefore, the treatment of our women’s boat to Gaza participants was very different from what happened on previous ones where I had travelled.

On the Zaytouna, when the Israeli navy sailors confiscated our boat, took us under protest against our will to Israel, arrested, held us for several days without contact with our families, and deported us for ten years, it was all completely illegal under international law. However, it is sad to report that no governments or international bodies have taken up our case for being hijacked, and again the Israeli government has been allowed to break international laws.

All the women were deeply saddened as we knew many people in Gaza were preparing for our visit, and yet again Israel was denying our entry into Gaza. So as we watched the coastline of Gaza in complete darkness and then the coastline of Israel fully lit up against the night sky, we were again witnessing the injustice and unfairness of the Israeli policies against the Palestinians. 

With this experience, many of us committed in our hearts to continue our support for the Palestinian people’s ongoing work to break the blockade and end the occupation. We also saw just off the coast of Gaza two huge gas rigs fully lit up and whose gas is piped to Israel. Yet Gaza has only a few hours of light, as Israeli bombings have destroyed most of its electricity and sewage infrastructures.

When we reached Ashdod, Israel, after six hours sailing, we were processed by Israeli security and searched, taken to Prison and released two days later.   All the women on board the Zaytouna, now have a ten-year deportation order. As this is my 4th time being given a 10-year deportation order, it will be 40 years before I can return to Israel or get into Palestine.  This thought reminds me that there are over 7 million Palestinian people who cannot return to their country, and this is why it is so important to campaign for the right to return for the Palestinian people.

I would like to thank the Freedom Flotilla Coalition who gave us the opportunity to participate on the journey to Gaza.  Their work of joining in solidarity with the people of Gaza is so important and I thank them for all they do.

To the Palestinian people of Gaza, please keep your hopes high and believe that freedom and peace will come. Thank you for your perseverance and ongoing inspiration to us all.

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

An article by Fatima for Alliance for Middle East Peace

An estimated 20,000 women and men marched in Jerusalem for the final rally of the Women Wage Peace March of Hope on October 19th. That morning, almost 4,000 Israeli and Palestinian women met near Jericho to begin the journey. Those who were able continued on to Jerusalem, where the March of Hope culminated in a historic rally outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, demanding a political solution to the conflict.

Thousands of women marching to Qasr al-Yahud on the border between Isral and Jordan (Photo: Women Wage Peace)
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This is all thanks to the hard work of the amazing activists at our member organization Women Wage Peace, including ALLMEP’s regional director Huda Abuarquob. Huda played an integral role in organizing this march and ensuring its success on both sides.

At the final rally, Huda gave an electrifying speech which was reported in Ha’aretz:

“Huda Abu Arqoub, a political activist from Hebron, won rousing applause when she said, in English, that she was there as a free woman, and that the time had come for women to speak their piece and to work for peace, security for everyone and mutual recognition. She ended her speech by declaring that there is a partner for peace.”

[additional notes from other news sources]

Among the participants in the final rally were Hadassah Froman, the widow of Rabbi Menachem Froman, and her daughter-in-law Michal Froman, who was wounded in a stabbing attack in 2015, Leymah Gbowee, one of three Liberian women to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, and Singer Yael Deckelbaum, who performed at the rally.

Ynet News quoted Hadassah Forman as saying: “There is a lot of energy which will lead us on a new path—maybe even to change. I hope that it will be possible to see the connections and to see what can be done to create a solution.” And they quoted Michal as saying: “I believe that the peace we want will happen, and that it will come after we see what is possible and what is definitely not possible. Even the right-wing will work with us towards peace,” she said.

According to Jews for Justice for Palestinians Leymah Gbowee said that the two days she spent marching with Israeli and Palestinian women were days of hope and of looking toward the future, and they had convinced her that peace was possible. And the singer Yael Deckelbaum spoke about the women’s prayer service she had attended Wednesday morning at Qasr al-Yahud, near Jericho. “We were 4,000 women, half of them Palestinians,” she said. “They told me there was nobody to make peace with. Today, we proved that wrong.”

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

How effective are mass protest marches?

Readers’ comments are invited on this article and question. See comments box below.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

By David Swanson

A new film called Disturbing the Peace tells the story — unknown to most Americans but painfully familiar to others — of Israel and Palestine. Of the many films I’ve seen, this is one of the best. It presents both sides without equating them. It opens itself to a broad audience without boring anybody.

Disturbing the Peace presents personal stories of soldiers and of suicide bombers. You should come away understanding while opposing all of these stories.

In a nod to the power of other films, this film recounts how Palestinians in an Israeli prison watched the film Schindler’s List and found themselves sympathizing with the grandparents of their jailers, and then thinking about what that could mean.

We also see, in Disturbing the Peace, an Israeli whose eyes are opened, who gains the ability to see children, to recognize children, to appreciate the suffering of some of Israel’s victims — and then to cease participating.

We see Israeli soldiers resist.

We see Palestinians learn nonviolence in prison.

We see an Israeli see courage, the courage of unarmed nonviolent Palestinians bringing blankets to those in need, at risk to their own lives.

Turn off your television. Avoid an election circus. Watch this film and see what you see.

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

What are some good films and videos that promote a culture of peace?

.DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

An article from Ahram Online

The Women’s Boat to Gaza (WBG) mission is set to arrive in Gaza in a couple of hours and aims to challenge the 10-year blockade of the strip and highlight the critical role of Palestinian women in the resistance movement amid fears of Israeli forces intercepting the mission, according to WBG’s website.

Sandra Barralilo, MP Jeannette Escarilla, Ann Wright, Ambassador , Dr. Fauziah, Mairead Maguire, MP Samira Douliafia. Above MP Marama Davidson. Olympic Athlete Leigh-Ann Naidoo. (Photo Courtesy of Women’s Boat to Gaza website)
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The Israeli naval and land blockade has severely restricted the movement of 1.8 million Palestinians and goods to and from Gaza since the Islamist Hamas movement became its de-facto ruler in 2006, inflicting increasing suffering on the impoverished population.

“At home we are all asking our governments to ensure the safe passage of Zaytouna [the Women’s Boat to Gaza]. We are calling on government leaders to stand with us in this challenge and to support our efforts to end this blockade, which is a collective punishment and is illegal under international law,” Wendy Goldsmith, an organiser of the Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign, told Ahram Online.

The women’s boat to Gaza, which includes only women from all over the world, is the fourth mission that has been organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition after the last attempt in 2015 ended with the seizure of the boat by Israeli forces in international waters.

“If Israel chooses to intercept this peaceful mission, they will be greeted by 13 incredibly strong and resilient women who are on a course to break the illegal blockade of Gaza. They will be met with love and determination to reach the conscience of humanity,” she said.

The two boats that make up the women’s boat mission — the Amal-Hope and Zaytouna-Oliva — have docked at a number of Mediterranean ports since 12 September, but the Amal-Hope broke off at Barcelona due to unexpected engine problems with only Zatouna-Olivia continuing the journey.

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Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

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“The women on the boat send us daily updates and they report that they are in fine spirits and are looking forward to reaching the shores of Gaza,” Goldsmith said, adding that “we are also in regular contact with the women in Gaza and West Bank who have been organising many solidarity events. We are deeply touched and encouraged by the spirit of sisterhood around the world.”

The first attempt to break the siege with a flotilla, which was organised in 2010, ended in the killing by Israel of nine activists in international waters on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara.

A second attempt was organised out of Greece in 2011, but the vessels were turned back by the Greek coastguard.

Among the diverse group of women on board are Swedish Member of European Parliament Malin Björk; a retired American army colonel and former diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, Ann Wright; Irish Nobel Laureate and peace activist Mairead Maguire; and Turkish athlete and coach Cigdem Topçuoglu, whose husband was killed in the Israeli attack on the first freedom flotilla in 2010.

“Within this struggle, men and women play equal roles. In this particular project, it has been decided that women will take on the major role of confronting the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF). This does not minimise in any way the role that men take in both the organising and planning stages,” according to the launching statement of WBG sent to Ahram Online in March.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is an international coalition composed of civil society organisations and initiatives from all over the world challenging “the illegal and inhumane” Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“When we arrive in Gaza we expect to be greeted by our many supporters, perhaps with coffee and falafel, music and dance. We hope to join hands with our sisters and claim an end to the blockade that has created the world’s largest open air prison, where innocent children and their families suffer every day,” Goldsmith said.