Congresswoman and a Nobel Laureate Detained in Israel
Posted by calpolysjpme on July 5, 2009
A number of foreign activists are still in detention in a Tel Aviv jail four days after the Israeli navy stopped their boat as they attempted to reach the Gaza Strip. Mairead Maguire, a Nobel peace prize winner, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the activists had agreed to remain in detention in Tel Aviv’s high-security Ramle Givon prison until Israel agreed to free all of the activists. Among those detained with Maguire were Cynthia McKinney, a former US congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, and two Al Jazeera journalists.
Israeli sailors boarded the Spirit of Humanity, a Greek-registered vessel, on Tuesday off the coast of Gaza and seized those on board.”They forcibly boarded the ship, detained all our passengers and illegally took them to Israel against their will. This is a kidnapping. This is the act of piracy at sea,” Ramzi Kyzia, an activist from the Free Gaza Movement, told a news conference in Cyprus.
Israeli Navy seize aid boat off the coast of Gaza strip [AFP
A United Nations human rights investigator on Thursday called Israel’s seizure of a ship carrying relief aid for the Gaza Strip “unlawful” and said its blockade of the territory constituted a “continuing crime against humanity”.
Richard Falk, a Jewish American and the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the move was part of Israel’s “cruel blockade of the entire Palestinian population of Gaza” in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibiting any form of collective punishment against “an occupied people”.
Falk, who is an expert on international law, said Israel’s two-year blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza restricted vital supplies such as food, medicine and fuel to “bare subsistence levels”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report this week that Israel was also halting entry to Gaza of building materials and spare parts needed to repair damage from its 22-day invasion late last December.
“Such a pattern of continuing blockade under these conditions amounts to such a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions as to constitute a continuing crime against humanity,” Falk said in a statement released in Geneva.
Prior to leaving Cyprus, the ship was inspected by Cypriot authorities in response to Israeli demands to determine whether it carried any weapons, according to the UN investigator. “None were found and Israeli authorities were so informed.”
“Nonetheless, the 21 peace activists on the boat were arrested, held in captivity and have been charged with ‘illegal entry’ to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel,” Falk added.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, rejected the remarks by Falk whom he said was “known for his bias against Israel and anti-Israel statements”. Israel is allowing relief aid to reach Gaza in coordination with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, Leshno-Yaar said. “Clearly the purpose of that ship was to create a buzz and serve as a propaganda vehicle against Israel,” he told Reuters.
Yigal Palmor, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, had said that those who signed an undertaking to return home voluntarily could be released immediately and repatriated on the first available flight.
Cynthia McKinney calls WBAIX from Israeli prison
In a related news, Yedioth Ahronoth reports that about 100 US activists have arrived in Egypt with the intention of traveling to Gaza to try to deliver medical aid despite a blockade on the territory. The activists are part of an initiative called “Viva Palestina” that aims to send a convoy of 200 people by July 13. US organizer Mansour al-Barbari said Sunday the intended aid if worth about $1 million.
Breaking News: The American detainees have been transferred to a detainment facility near Ben Gurion Airport. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the former congresswoman is released and is returning to the United States.
