An Israeli naval ship sprays a Palestinian fishing boat with a water cannon off the coast of the Gaza Strip. (Photo: David Schermerhorn)
The Civil Peace Service Gaza is beginning a new project off the coast of Gaza to protect the rights of Gazan fisherman. The “Oliva,” a human rights monitoring boat, will launch Wednesday from the port of Gaza City with an international crew from Spain, the United States, Italy and Belgium to accompany Gazan fishermen within Palestinian waters and record violations of international law.
The press release announcing the project states:
Since Operation Cast Lead, access to fishing grounds has been unilaterally restricted by Israel to three nautical miles. This dramatic reduction of the 20-mile limit, which was agreed upon in the Oslo Accords, has resulted in the overexploitation of fishing grounds in which stocks are close to exhaustion. Fishermen are threatened by gunfire, confiscation of their boats and fishing tools, and arrest by the Israeli Navy which regularly launches attacks and incursions in Palestinian waters.
The press release also mentions that Vittorio Arrigoni was part of establishing the project (they will commemorate his life and work tomorrow at the kick off event). The issue of Gaza’s fishermen was central to Arrigoni’s recent work in Gaza. Here are two previously unpublished reports he wrote detailing the deadly conditions off the coast of Gaza. Arrigoni’s close friend Daniela Loffreda shared the reports with us and requested that we change the names of those mentioned to protect their identity:
Report 1: Yousef
20 year old Yousef is the last fisherman that was killed by the Israeli navy in 2010, on the 24th of September.
Yousef was sailing on a boat with three of his cousins opposite al-Sudaniya beach, north of Gaza City. They were fishing. While they were about 2 kilometers away from the beach, an Israeli gunboat approached at a distance of 100 meters and started heavily firing the fishing boat with a machine gun. There was no reason or any warning. Yousef was shot by a bullet in the chest. His relatives carried him to Kamal Odwan Hospital in Beit Lahia where he died soon after arrival.
This is what his uncle Ali, told some ISM activists during the wake:
“It was Yousef’s first experinece at sea as a fisherman. He would have married the next month. He didn’t speak about anything else, about the wedding party and about his new life. On the day of his death, the furniture was delivered to his new home.
In addition to Yousef, two members of our family have recently become disabled: Fadi and Bilal. They can not walk anymore because of the wounds inflicted on them by Israeli bullets while they were at sea fishing.
We raise our children just like the Israelis, as they aspire to have normal and possibly happy lives, get married and have families. Due to this desire for normality we die, going to work, trying to procure at sea what we need to feed our families.
Yousef was doing nothing wrong at sea. He did not commit a crime against Israel, he was just trying to build his future. He had no weapons with him, just a net. They could stop him if they wanted, instead they wanted to kill him.
We are under siege from every side, sea and air, Gaza is not a safe place wherever you are: at home, college, street, traveling by car and fishing at sea.
This is the punishment you get when you are born Palestinian.
We thank all people everywhere that show solidarity with the Palestinian people, who speak the same language of the oppressed who resist.
A father goes off to work in the morning and then comes back dead, a child goes off to school and then must make a trip to the morgue.
I thank all the people who give us support, but it’s not enough, you have to isolate Israel in every way within the international community and boycott it.
Report 2: Ghassan
Ghassan cannot stay composed as he sits on a dock at the port of Gaza. As he gestures with one arm, the other remains limp and holds on to dear life while he tells his story to an activist from the International Solidarity Movement.
On the night of March 12, 2007 Ghassan was aboard his boat with two of his brothers. They were fishing about a mile off the coast of Rafah, preparing the lights for night fishing when they noticed an Israeli gunboat nearby that was motionless in the dark. It apparently had been watching them for some time.
Soon after, the Israeli navy boat quickly approached them at a high speed and fired directly at them, without any warning. They panicked and tried to flee to shore but the Israelis started firing missiles at them. They managed to reach the shore and hide behind their small boat when a missile fell near Ghassan, then age 26, and his 14 year old nephew. They were both seriously injured. The barrage of fire made it impossible for the Red Crescent ambulance to reach them for a long time. Precious time was lost and they were first taken to a nearby hospital in Khan Younis and then Ghassan was transferred to a hospital in Israel, but they were not able to save his arm.
“We are not terrorists, Israeli soldiers know that. They know all the fishermen of Gaza by name, have the numbers of our boats, even have our photographs. Every day we go out to sea, we never create problems for the Israelis, we are forced to challenge the illegal limit imposed by the soldiers in order to go off where the sea is rich in fish so that we can feed our families. We are not terrorists, yet we are treated as terrorists. In winter the fisherman are sometimes forced to strip naked while under Israeli fire, then jump into the sea and swim to the Israeli ships. From there the fisherman are transported to Ashdot and put in jail. Last year during one of these abductions, it happened to be Ramadan. Using the threat of death against the fisherman, the soldiers forced them to eat and drink during the fast. To me it was much worse, they tore my arm and I lost the ability to continue to work. ”
Today Ghassan spends his days hanging out at the port illuding himself to believe that he is helpful, as he patiently awaits the day when his life will be compensated. Maybe Europe will deliver a miraculous prosthesis that will once again make him the expert captain that plowed the sea of Gaza for 15 years.
