Press Release, Wednesday 4th April 2012

The SV Estelle

At a press conference in Finland at 11am today, the steering committee of the Freedom Flotilla, represented by Ship to Gaza Sweden, has announced the purchase of a large sailing ship that will be used to breach the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza. The vessel – the SV Estelle – will bring goods to Gaza that are banned or restricted by the Israeli siege, and will also export commercial produce from Gaza on the return journey.

The SV Estelle, a tall ship built in 1922, will stop at several ports in Europe – including DUBLIN – on its way to Gaza and will be joined by other vessels on the final leg of its journey through the Mediterranean.

For details and photographs of the SV Estelle and the Ship to Gaza Sweden, click on the following link: http://shiptogaza.se/en/news/press-release-ship-gaza-buys-estelle

The SV Estelle is an historic ship that has been used in fair trade missions to Africa and has participated in tall ships events.

Welcoming the purchase of the SV Estelle, Dr Fintan Lane, national Coordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza and a member of the Freedom Flotilla steering committee, said: “We are fully behind this effort and look forward to welcoming the SV Estelle in Dublin as it makes its way to Gaza. We hope that Irish citizens will participate directly in this mission and we will certainly be providing logistical and other support.”

He continued: “It is particularly important that this ship, and those that accompany it, will attempt to bring goods back out of Gaza – the local economy has been devastated by the Israeli blockade. Fishermen, for example, are not allowed to fish beyond a tightly controlled three-mile limit.”

On the plight of Palestinian fishermen, see this statement issued today by the PCHR: http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8310%3Aoccupied-lives-no-benzene-no-livelihood-&catid=65%3Anarratives-under-siege&Itemid=209

Dr Lane described inaction by the international community as unacceptable and said, “Palestinians in Gaza don’t require charity, they need an end to the siege, so that they can rebuild their economy and live normal lives. More than 80 per cent of people in Gaza are currently aid-dependent and over 40 per cent are unemployed – this is a disgrace and the world cannot continue to ignore this crisis. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is entirely man-made and Israel could end it tomorrow by lifting its illegal blockade.”

Commenting on Irish involvement, he said: “We want to see a big reception for this ship when it stops in Dublin – it is important that Irish people continue to show their deep solidarity with the ordinary people of Gaza. It is a beautiful vessel and I look forward to seeing it sail safely into Gaza port.”

The ship will dock in Dublin during the summer.

Last November, an Irish ship – the MV Saoirse – was hijacked and 14 Irish citizens kidnapped by Israeli forces in international waters, as it made its way to Gaza as part of the Freedom Waves to Gaza flotilla.

ENDS

For further information, contact:

Fintan Lane (national coordinator, Irish Ship to Gaza): 087 1258325
Claudia Saba (spokesperson, Irish Ship to Gaza): 086 3938821

When: 11 November, 4:30pm

Where: Radisson Blu Hotel, Killarney Room, Dublin Airport

Five of the 14 Irish humanitarian activists detained in an Israeli prison for almost one week returned to Dublin late last night. The remaining nine are due to arrive in Dublin this afternoon. Two of the nine, Irish Ship to Gaza National Coordinator Fintan Lane and University of Limerick lecturer Zoe Lawlor, are booked on Flight TK 1977, due in to Dublin airport terminal 1 at 12.55pm. The other seven, including MEP Paul Murphy, are booked on Flight EI 163, due in to terminal 2 at 3.45pm.

Immediately following their disembarkation, a press conference will be held at the Radisson airport hotel, at 4.30pm.

The reason why those who were detained undertook this journey to Gaza was to show solidarity with the ordinary people of Palestine who have lost their basic freedoms as a result of a militarily-enforced, illegal blockade. The fourteen rights activists took direct action to end the blockade.

Freedom Waves was never intended to focus attention on the 27 people aboard the MV Saoirse and the Tahrir, but on the 1.6 million people of Gaza – half of whom are children under the age of 16 – who continue to suffer collective punishment at the hands of the Israeli military. While Irish and international citizens languished in prison in Israel for the crime of coming to their aid, the population of Gaza continues to languish in what is, in effect, the world’s largest open air prison.

This latest of eleven attempts to break the blockade of Gaza via the sea demonstrates once again that Israel is able to act with impunity when it comes to the welfare of the Palestinian people and anyone trying to help them. It is because of the continuing inaction of governments around the world, including the Irish government, that ordinary people feel compelled to act.

The activists will be available for interviews at the press conference today.

Five of the kidnapped Irish participants in the #FreedomWaves to Gaza mission will return home on flight LH982 (from Frankfurt) at 11.40pm on Thursday 10th November.

Mags O’Brien, John Mallon, Trevor Hogan, Hugh Lewis and Patrick Fitzgerald have all been illegally held by the Israeli state since Friday afternoon after being violently abducted in international waters while attempting to break the illegal siege and sailing to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Irish Ship To Gaza campaign is organising a welcoming committee to meet them at Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport, and asking people to gather there at around 11.30pm to be there when they come through the gates.

UPDATE [7pm]: Fintan Lane and Zoë Lawlor are now in the air en route to Istanbul! They will have to spend the night there, then will get a connecting flight tomorrow. No details yet about arrival time Dublin.

Two leading Irish human rights activists were prevented for a second time today from flying home from Israel, in the latest strange twist to the protracted homecoming saga of Ireland’s #FreedomWaves campaigners.

They were among the 14 Irish passengers of the MV Saoirse, hijacked in international waters last Friday on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

The seven people who had earlier been stopped from flying out on a morning British Airways flight were returned to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport this afternoon to take a Lufthansa flight. However, only five of them departed, with two — Irish Ship to Gaza co-ordinator Fintan Lane and Limerick university lecturer Zoe Lawlor — being returned to Israeli custody.

The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign understands that these developments caught Irish consular officials by surprise.

“We had been informed by the Irish consular mission that seven Irish citizens, held in Israel since last Friday, were placed on a Lufthansa flight home bound,” spokesperson Claudia Saba said this afternoon. “However, a few minutes later we got a call saying that the bus that had gone out to the plane with seven passengers then returned with two of them still on it.”

Campaigners were told by Irish officials that Lane and Lawlor had boarded the flight, but were then removed and “returned to their holding cells” at the airport.

The other five human-rights activists did leave Tel Aviv and are due to arrive in Dublin airport at 23.40 tonight, on a connecting Lufthansa flight. A further seven were due to be released tomorrow, but today’s bizarre and cruel developments put all such predictions in doubt.

The seven Irish human rights activists due home in Ireland this afternoon at 2:25 pm were at the last minute prevented from boarding their flight out of Ben Gurion airport by Israeli armed guards. They had been taken last night to a holding cell and were ready to board their 7:40 am flight to London this morning when at the last minute they were prevented from doing so by Israeli security forces and returned to Givon prison. All seven are now being detained indefinitely, with no further news available from Israeli authorities or the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs about when they will be released.

An Irish Ship to Gaza shore team coordinator spoke briefly on the phone with Fintan Lane before communication was abruptly cut off. Lane said: “This is a deliberate and calculated attempt by the Israelis to break our spirit. It won’t succeed.”

Lane also reported that the seven had been subject to “continuous harassment and repeated, humiliating body searches” and were shackled and “denied sleep”.

Gay Lawlor, Zoe Lawlor’s brother, spoke briefly with Zoe, who described what was happening as “sheer malice” on the part of the Israelis.

The families of the detainees are phoning member of the Irish Ship to Gaza shore team this morning in great distress.

Laurence Davis, Irish Ship to Gaza spokesperson, commented: “We are outraged by this latest attempt by the Israeli authorities to break the morale of the human rights activists, their families and their supporters, all of whom had been looking forward to the homecoming this afternoon in Dublin. This is yet another example of the cruelty and arrogance that the Palestinians face every day.”

Irish Ship to Gaza spokesperson Claudia Saba added: “It is particularly distressing for the families to learn that their loved ones won’t be coming home as they had expected, and distressing that they have no update as to what exactly is happening or when they will be finally freed.”

IMPORTANT UPDATE: IT APPEARS THAT THE FIRST SEVEN PRISONERS DUE TO FLY HOME TODAY HAVE BEEN PREVENTED FROM DOING SO BY THE ISRAELI AUTHORITIES. SEE HERE FOR MORE INFO.

THURSDAY: The first seven of the kidnapped Irish participants in the #FreedomWaves to Gaza mission will return home to Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport on flight BD123 (from London) at 2.25pm on Thursday 10th November.

Zoe Lawlor, Mags O’Brien, John Mallon, Fintan Lane, Trevor Hogan, Hugh Lewis and Patrick Fitzgerald have all been illegally held by the Israeli state since Friday afternoon after being violently abducted in international waters while attempting to break the illegal siege and sailing to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Irish Ship To Gaza campaign is organising a welcoming committee to meet them at Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport, and asking people to gather there at around 2pm to be there when they come through the gates.

FRIDAY: The final seven of the kidnapped Irish participants in the #FreedomWaves to Gaza mission will return home on flight EI163 (from London) at 3.45pm on Friday 11th November.

John Hearne, Billy Smith, Chris Andrews, Paul Murphy MEP, Felim Egan, Gerard Barron and Philip McCullough have all been illegally held by the Israeli state since Friday afternoon after being violently abducted in international waters while attempting to break the illegal siege and sailing to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Irish Ship To Gaza campaign is organising a welcoming committee to meet them at Terminal 2 in Dublin Airport, and asking people to gather there at around 3.30pm to be there when they come through the gates.

The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign has been informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs that seven of the fourteen Irish activists detained by Israel last week whilst en route to Gaza will be returning to Dublin tomorrow (Thursday 10 November) at 2.25pm on British Midland flight BD123, in Terminal One.

The seven returning passengers are ISTG National Coordinator Fintan Lane (Dublin/Cork), rugby star Trevor Hogan (Tipperary/Dublin), People Before Profit councillor Hugh Lewis (Dun Laoghaire), SIPTU activist Mags O’Brien (Dublin), Sinn Fein councilor Patrick Fitzgerald (Waterford), John Mallon (Belfast) and university lecturer Zoe Lawlor (Limerick).

In the last few days there has been much confusion and conflicting information about when the illegally detained Irish citizens would be released. The families of the abductees had been assured by the Department of Foreign Affairs that all those detained would be released by 3am on Tuesday morning. The release has come much later than hoped, and the continuing delay in releasing the remaining seven activists is a cause of great distress for their families.

Media attention has tended to focus on the plight of the detained activists. While we share this concern, Irish Ship to Gaza appeals to the media to refocus attention on the reason why those who were detained undertook this journey in the first place: namely, to show solidarity with the ordinary people of Gaza who have lost their basic freedoms as a result of a blockade imposed by the military forces of Israel, and to take action that would contribute to the end of that blockade.

Freedom Waves was never intended to focus attention on the 27 people aboard the MV Saoirse and the Tahrir, but on the 1.6 million people of Gaza – half of whom are children under the age of 16 – who continue to suffer collective punishment at the hands of the Israeli military. While 14 Irish citizens were languishing in prison in Israel for the “crime” of coming to their aid, the population of Gaza continues to languish in what is, in effect, the world’s largest open air prison.

This latest of eleven attempts to break the blockade of Gaza via the sea demonstrates once again that Israel is able to act with impunity when it comes to the welfare of the Palestinian people and anyone trying to help them. It is because of the continuing inaction of governments around the world, including the Irish government, that ordinary people feel compelled to act.

The brave activists returning tomorrow will be available for press interviews upon arrival in Dublin airport.

ENDS

Irish Ship to Gaza

Press release, Wednesday 9 November 2011, 4.15pm

7 OF 14 IRISH ACTIVISTS TO RETURN TO DUBLIN TOMORROW (THURSDAY10 NOVEMBER) AT 2.25PM

The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign has been informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs that seven of the fourteen Irish activists detained by Israel last week whilst en route to Gaza will be returning to Dublin tomorrow (Thursday 10 November) at 2.25pm on British Midland flight BD123, in Terminal One.

The seven returning passengers are ISTG National Coordinator Fintan Lane (Dublin/Cork), rugby star Trevor Hogan (Tipperary/Dublin), People Before Profit councillor Hugh Lewis (Dun Laoghaire), SIPTU activist Mags O’Brien (Dublin), Sinn Fein councilor Patrick Fitzgerald (Waterford), John Mallon (Belfast) and university lecturer Zoe Lawlor (Limerick).

In the last few days there has been much confusion and conflicting information about when the illegally detained Irish citizens would be released. The families of the abductees had been assured by the Department of Foreign Affairs that all those detained would be released by 3am on Tuesday morning. The release has come much later than hoped, and the continuing delay in releasing the remaining seven activists is a cause of great distress for their families.

Media attention has tended to focus on the plight of the detained activists. While we share this concern, Irish Ship to Gaza appeals to the media to refocus attention on the reason why those who were detained undertook this journey in the first place: namely, to show solidarity with the ordinary people of Gaza who have lost their basic freedoms as a result of a blockade imposed by the military forces of Israel, and to take action that would contribute to the end of that blockade.

Freedom Waves was never intended to focus attention on the 27 people aboard the MV Saoirse and the Tahrir, but on the 1.6 million people of Gaza – half of whom are children under the age of 16 – who continue to suffer collective punishment at the hands of the Israeli military. While 14 Irish citizens were languishing in prison in Israel for the “crime” of coming to their aid, the population of Gaza continues to languish in what is, in effect, the world’s largest open air prison.

This latest of eleven attempts to break the blockade of Gaza via the sea demonstrates once again that Israel is able to act with impunity when it comes to the welfare of the Palestinian people and anyone trying to help them. It is because of the continuing inaction of governments around the world, including the Irish government, that ordinary people feel compelled to act.

The brave activists returning tomorrow will be available for press interviews upon arrival in Dublin airport.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

Laurence Davis 086 360 5053

Claudia Saba 086 393 8821

ISRAEL CONTINUES TO DETAIN ALL IRISH PASSENGERS WITH NO RELEASE DATES OR TIMES

American journalist Jihan Hafiz was on the Canadian boat Tahrir, and was among those detained by Israel despite her press credentials. She reported earlier today about her experience during the Israeli takeover of the Irish and Canadian boats:

“There were three warships [...] four Zodiacs, four water cannon boats, as well as four regular gunboats. All of the commandos on all of these boats were heavily armed. It looked like they were taking on an army of a foreign country.”

She added: “Two water cannons started to pour lots of water into the Irish boat, which flooded it, blew their sockets, and cut off all the electricity. And so, at that point, the Irish delegates I spoke to said they told the Israeli army, ‘We’re taking on water. We’re sinking. We’re going to go down at sea if you continue with the water.’”

Jihan Hafiz goes on to describe the violent takeover during which guns were pointed at the heads of the boats’ passengers, how they were roughed up, mistreated, strip-searched, and filmed naked. She also tells of how the journalists’ equipment was confiscated, in a bid to silence any reporting that might contradict the sanitized Israeli account of what happened during the hijacking of the Tahrir and the MV Saoirse.

For the full video interview and transcript, see: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/8/israel_deports_democracy_now_correspondent_jihan

Meanwhile, despite Department of Foreign Affairs assurances that the detained Irish activists of the MV Saoirse would likely be released by Tuesday 8 November, there has been no further news of their deportation and return to Ireland. Naturally, the family members of the Irish passengers are extremely anxious about their continued illegal incarceration. They are particularly concerned about reports that the judge dealing with the case of the detainees has threatened to keep them incarcerated for two months.

The lawyer dealing with the case met with Canadian detainees Ehab Lotayef and David Heap on Monday. They informed the lawyer that an Israeli judge threatened to keep all detainees who do not sign deportation papers incarcerated for two months. The Irish activists have refused to sign these papers because they state that the activists came to Israel voluntarily and entered the country illegally. This is not the case, as Israeli naval ships violently seized the Saoirse and Tahrir, and forcibly transported them and all on board to Ashdod.

Furthermore, the lawyer reported that the Irish he spoke with felt isolated and alone due to their lack of contact with the outside world. An Irish consular official reports that he attempted to bring newspapers and phone cards for the prisoners, but these were not allowed in.

Fintan Lane’s father, Jim Lane, said:

“My wife and I are deeply concerned for Fintan’s welfare. We are disappointed by the lack of information we are receiving from the Department of Foreign Affairs. On Monday we were told by the Department representative that Irish consular staff would be meeting all the detained prisoners on that day, but later we were told that they were not given access to the male prisoners. Furthermore, I was made to understand that the 72 hour detention period would be up at 2am on Tuesday morning, and we awaited further information from the Department. However, this afternoon we got a call from the DFA to be told that they had no further news. The family is concerned about the silence that has been brought into the affair. It seems deliberate and we would like information immediately. The few statements we have had have come from Israeli sources, which we find to be suspect based on the account our son was able to communicate in the very brief phone call he was permitted to make.”

“We fully support our son’s participation in the Freedom Waves initiative because the inhumane blockade of Gaza must come to an end,” he added.

Gay Lawlor, Zoe Lawlor’s brother, said:

“As a family we are extremely worried about Zoe and the other passengers of the MV Saoirse. Given the passing of the 72 hour detention period and still no confirmation of their release times we think it is shocking that our government, and in particular the Tanaiste, Mr. Eamon Gilmore, are not acting in the best interests of our citizens.”

Mark Hogan, Irish rugby star Trevor Hogan’s brother, said:

“My brother refused to sign a deportation order, which stated he had entered Israel illegally, since he was effectively kidnapped by the IDF and brought to Israel against his will.”

“A 72 hour period of detention pending deportation elapsed at approximately 3am on Tuesday morning, yet the latest information from an Irish consular official who visited them on Tuesday afternoon is that there is still no confirmation of when they will be deported. So they are, effectively, imprisoned indefinitely.”

“I call on Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore to intervene and secure the immediate release of my brother, Trevor, and all the other Irish citizens of the MV Saoirse.