Ship sails to break siege of Gaza

Ship sails to break siege of Gaza
The Free Gaza Movement UK
Press Release � Friday 18 July 2008

For Immediate Release

Setting Sail on August 5, 2008 to Break the Siege of Gaza

Around 60 Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals from 15 countries will sail to Gaza during the sixty-year anniversary of the Nakba � the forcible expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their lands to create Israel �to challenge Israeli control over the open-air prison called Gaza.

Among the crew are a Holocaust survivor and a survivor of the Palestinian Nakba. They sail with the common bond of focusing the world's attention on the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its collapsing economy which are direct results of Israel's ongoing occupation and continuing control over Gaza's air space and territorial waters.

"The siege of Gaza ends only when Palestinians are accorded the basic fundamental human rights of citizens throughout the free world," says UK passenger, Musheir El-Farra who knows the irreparable human cost of current Israeli government policies. "My family and beloved ones in Gaza have been under siege for over two years now; living without their most basic human rights on their own land.

In the words of Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein "What an opportunity to make a change for good, both for Palestinians and Israelis. We intend to open the port, fish with the fishermen, help in the clinics, and work in the schools. But we also intend to remind the world that we will not stand by and watch 1.5 million people suffer death by starvation and disease".
A press conference will be held in central London on Monday the 4th August 2008 at 11am. Please contact us for more information about the Gaza boat and the conference.