Fisherman from Gaza risking Israeli missiles return to port, 2011. (Photo: Furlong/Getty Images)
The following is a press release from a new organization. Members of the US Boat to Gaza team are taking a part in this initiative.
The Canadian Boat to Gaza, in cooperation with international initiatives in the U.S., Australia and other countries, is launching a new initiative to challenge the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade of Gaza, the only Mediterranean port closed to shipping.
This new initiative: Gaza’s Ark, will build a boat in Gaza, using existing resources. A crew of internationals and Palestinians will sail it out of Gaza carrying Palestinian products to fulfill trade deals with international buyers.
Gaza’s Ark will be constructed in Gaza by Palestinian hands and expertise, with international assistance.
Gaza’s Ark will help revitalize the dwindling ship building industry in Gaza and help ensure the transmission of this disappearing expertise (another effect of the blockade) to the younger generations.
Through Gaza’s Ark and trade deals secured between Palestinian producers in Gaza and international businesses and NGOs, a channel will be established to export Palestinian products from Gaza that are available despite the blockade.
Gaza’s Ark will also provide training to Gaza’s sailors in the use of up-to-date electronic sailing equipment and techniques which they have been denied for years as a result of the blockade.
Although it will help in a very limited manner to alleviate Gaza’s unemployment crisis by paying wages to the boat builders and providing business opportunities to traders, Gaza’s Ark is not an aid project. It is a peaceful action against the blockade which Israel unilaterally and unreasonably imposes on Gaza.
Gaza’s Ark also stands in solidarity with the Palestinian fishery in Gaza whose ability to operate in territorial waters and to derive a livelihood is threatened by the same Israeli blockade which our campaign is challenging.
Gaza’s Ark challenges the blockade by building hope on the ground in Gaza, and affirms our confidence that the Palestinians of Gaza can rebuild their economy through outbound trade that threatens no-one’s security.
With your support, the work on Gaza’s Ark will start this summer. You will be able to follow its progress with regular updates on the web (www.GazaArk.org), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/GazaArk) and Twitter (@GazaArk).
You can reach us by email at info@gazaark.org.
h/t Jane Hirschmann.
Have you tried Rafah or perhaps Kerem Shalom to export your “goods”?
dimadok July 18, 2012 at 11:41 am
Uh? You want Egypt to break its Peace Treaty and the 2005 agreement with Israel?
Stooges for a Greater Israel are either ignorant, stupid or both.
Talknic,
They are neither stupid nor ignorant. This is a recurring hasbara theme, that Gaza can export if only they would be less indolent.
In related news about the Israeli blockade of Gazan coastal waters, Israeli warships to patrol disputed gas fields:
As some Americans said before the Iraq War, “What’s our oil doing under their sand?”
Perhaps that is why Israel now allows Gazans to fish only up to 3 km from shore.
Somewhere I read that Israeli naval vessels sometimes pick on a Palestinian fishing boat. They force the fishermen into the sea, then (again at gunpoint) make them count to 100 until they drown. It has stuck in my head and I want to mention it in something I plan to write, but I can’t recall the source. Was it in Mondoweiss?
“Have you tried Rafah or perhaps Kerem Shalom to export your “goods”?”
It’s very important to you that the Israelis continue to have someone’s face to grind the boot into, isn’t it?
It is an important hasbara meme that Palestinians stuck in Gaza could build second Singapore if only they wanted. When siege of Gaza is discussed, what is less obvious is that any exports are verboten as well.
No weapons in the exports.
No reason not to allow exports other than to destroy another normal segment(s) of Gaza society.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, and collective punishment.
I’ll buy “Made in Gaza/Palestine” from the Gazan people. Where can I find the products that are being shipped? The pure Gaza honey looks good.
Virtually all exports from Gaza are verboten as part of the siege.
Indeed. Exports have dropped to 3% of what they were before the 6+ year siege.
To know what Palestinians products you will be able to purchase from the Ark, and about the campaign generally, please follow us at twitter.com/GazaArk
and/or facebook.com/GazaArk
As for blockaded exports via Kerem Shalom, here is a good FAQ summary from Gisha:
link to gazagateway.org
and a fact sheet here:
link to gisha.org