Israeli navy to Gazan fishermen: “When the internationals leave Gaza, you will all be made to pay”

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"At high speed an Israeli gunboat rammed a Palestinian fishing vessel. The gunboat smashed through the upper hull, careened over the top of the fishing boat, and landed on the other side.

Extensive damage was caused to the fishing boat. The hull was badly damaged, virtually the entire deck area, all the equipment on it, and the canopy above the deck were severely damaged. Unusually all of the crew happened to be in the cabin and at the fore at the time. Had they been on deck they would have had little chance of survival.

Via a megaphone, the gunboat crew then made the threat that ‘When the internationals leave Gaza, you will all be made to pay.’

Human rights observers from the International Solidarity Movement and from the Free Gaza Movement, have recently been accompanying Gazan Fishermen during their work. The fishermen are constantly harassed, threatened and attacked by the Israelis who in flagrant violation of international law and maritime law, have been attempting to impose a no – go area 6 miles off Gaza’s coast through employment of lethal force. Incidentally and not unusually, this attack happened within the so-called ‘permitted’ area.

The ISM regards the project of accompanying the fishermen as a long term commitment. Some of the human rights observers currently undertaking this work are long term volunteers who will be in Gaza for some time. More long term volunteers are expected to bolster their number within the next few weeks."

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/09/11/israeli-navy-to-gazan-fishermen-when-the-internationals-leave-gaza-you-will-all-be-made-to-pay/

[shira]

1. sounds awful

I wonder if Gazan fishermen have been fortunate enough lately to come up with big catches like these:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1208422633228

You think the ISM and their "Free Gaza" movement knows anything about these floating weapons that Gazans luckily catch in their nets? Or is that really none of the ISM's business? You know...being a "peace" org. and all.

Remember the Karine-A about 6 years ago?

Navy Admiral Yedidya Ya’ari told the press the weapons were packed in special floating waterproof containers designed to be dropped into the sea and picked up by smaller craft. Indeed, the shipment filled 80 custom-made submerisble containers, which were to be tossed overboard off the Gaza coast and washed ashore or picked up by fishing boats and other small vessels.

The haul included 700,000 rounds of small arms ammunition; 735 hand grenades; 311 anti-personnel mines and 211 anti-tank mines; 345 long- and short-range Katyusha rockets and 10 launchers; 29 mortar tubes and 1,545 shells; six Sagger wire-guided anti-tank missle launchers and 10 missiles; 51 RPG-7 anti-tanl missiles and 328 rockets; 30 high-powered Dragonov telescopic rifles; 212 Kalashnikov assault rifles, over 2,000 kilograms of explosives, and two speedboats with powerful Yamaha engines and a range of diving equipment. (See table below for more information). Much of this weaponry is prohibited from the PA under the Oslo Accords.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the PA spent more then $100 million on the arms shipment.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/paship.html

Poor innocent 'fishermen'.

[IA_Seth]

2. So all fishermen are criminals?

Are you saying that all fisherman in Gazan waters are now terrorists that deserve to be harassed/killed? Are you seriously justifying the actions of the Israeli Navy in damaging a fishing vessel with no proof of any wrongdoings?

Collective punishment does nothing but create more people with ill-will.

[azurnoir]

3. Well geez don't you know

if it happened once no matter how many years ago it gives Israel the right to punish all people of that same group forever:sarcasm:

Wonder who will come up with a picture of Tony Blair SIM or maybe Greta Berlin handing weapons off to those Palestinian terrorist fisherman, and if they'll do a better job photoshopping it this time

[Violet_Crumble]

5. That's what they were saying n/t

[shira]

7. who says these particular "fishermen" were innocent?

but to answer the question, no, not all gazan fishermen are terrorists. It's highly likely these 'fishermen' were picking up some Iranian exports.

[azurnoir]

4. So Hamas nust abide by PA and Oslo rules

and only Hamas apparently, but do keep it up please the more you must site things from years ago the more obvious you become

[shira]

8. hamas never agreed to oslo....

...also, this "fishermen" picking up Iranian packages is happening now....not just 6 years ago with the Karine-A incident.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=124

[Scurrilous]

6. Israeli navy again attacks Palestinian fishermen off Gaza coast

<snip>

"On Sunday, Israeli naval boats fired machine guns at Palestinian fishing boats operating within Gaza's supposedly protected sea space. The naval ships fired after circling the fleet of small fishing boats and demanding that they return to shore.

The report came from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) , a Palestinian-led grassroots nonviolent movement which includes international non-violent activists stationed in Gaza. Over the last two months, the ISM has reported numerous incidents of Israeli naval ships firing at Palestinian fishermen.

Under international law and signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, Palestinian fishermen from Gaza are supposed to be able to fish in a restricted area off the Gaza coast. But in the last year, Israeli naval forces have prevented them from fishing at all, which has had a devastating impact on the Gazan economy. Since the arrival of several dozen international volunteers with the ISM on several small ships that broke the Israeli blockade in August, a number of internationals remain in Gaza, and accompany the fishing boats as they attempt to carry out their trade.

In the incidents on Sunday, Israeli naval ships began firing at fishing boats around 8:45 am. According to the ISM reports, by 10:30, Israeli ships returned to attack the fleet of eight small fishing boats again. They fired high-powered water cannons at the boats, significantly damaging one of them."

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[Vegasaurus]

9. The ISM is biased

I wouldn't believe anything I read that they report.

[shira]

12. agreed.....

when is the last time:

a) the ISM ever tried to discourage or loudly denounce a terror attack against random Israelis?

b) fight against human rights violations perpetrated by Palestinian leadership against its own citizens?

Instead, they assemble the Free Gaza Movement and get nice and cozy with the terrorist leadership of Hamas - which treats even its own people worse than dogs.

The ISM has only succeeded in encouraging Palestinian leadership to keep up terror and keep treating its own people like shit. What other message could Palestinian leadership get out of the ISM with respect to their regressive actions and values?

[Shaktimaan]

13. The Navy attacked fishing boats?

Seriously? Why? What happened?

On Sunday, Israeli naval boats fired machine guns at Palestinian fishing boats operating within Gaza's supposedly protected sea space. The naval ships fired after circling the fleet of small fishing boats and demanding that they return to shore.

Machine guns? Wow! That must have done some serious damage. Why did they want them to return to shore, anyway? Not that they should have been machine gunned though, that would have done major damage to them.

In the incidents on Sunday, Israeli naval ships began firing at fishing boats at around 8:45 am. According to ISM reports, by 10:30 sraeli ships returned to attack the fleet of eight small fishing boats again. They fired high-powered water cannons at the boats, significantly damaging one of them.

Wait, water cannons? What happened to the machine gunning? Did they all miss? How much damage can a water cannon "attack" do to a fishing boat exactly? And why can't this reporter spell "Israeli" correctly?

One human rights observer aboard one of the fishing boats was almost knocked overboard. In addition, the force of the water cannon caused the fishing nets of several boats to get tangled.

Tangled nets, huh? I went deep sea fishing once and I got my line tangled... I remember what a bummer it was. This sounds serious. Except that part about the guy ALMOST getting knocked overboard. That sounds ridiculous. (Or whatever the opposite of "serious" is.) If I were that guy's friend, I'd be so embarrassed for him whenever he started bragging about when he was attacked by the IDF and they almost knocked him over. That one time when they attacked him with water.

The attacks continued through the afternoon, resulting in damage to a number of boats: two broken windows, several wooden panels broken from one boat's wheelhouse, and damage to another boat's wheelhouse.

A broken window? Broken glass is no joke, that shit is sharp! By the way, why exactly was this happening again? Can someone ask the Navy for their side, or at least give us an idea of what the policy is or why it is in place?

Under international law and signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, Palestinian fishermen in Gaza are supposed to be able to fish in a restricted area off the Gaza coast. But in the last year, Israeli naval forces have prevented them from fishing at all, which has had a devastating impact on the Gazan economy.

I guess not. Perhaps we're just supposed to assume that Israel's doing this out of blind hatred for the Palestinians and a desire to destroy their economy. Yeah, that must be what's going on here! What an awful policy! (So NO ONE had been able to fish this year? Seems I would have read about that somewhere... you know, reputable.) So how did this thing end anyway?

The international human rights workers with the ISM condemned the attacks, as these types of attacks seriously endanger the lives of fishermen aboard their boats engaged in lawful activity. In addition, the use of the water cannon and bullets could cause the fishing boats to sink.

Actually, I learned this weird thing about bullets once in science class... they can't sink anything unless they actually hit it. I swear, it's true. But I guess they have their hands full anyway, what with the broken windows, tangled nets and that one guy who was nearly knocked over.

Hey, why is this happening again? Oh that's right, we have no idea. But it all sounds very awful and very plausible too. I'm certain it happened just like this, for no reason at all. Other than the hate. The hate must have been the reason that this extremely likely but totally uncorroborated event occurred.

I hate the hate.

[Violet_Crumble]

14. Here's a video corroborating that machine-gun fire happened...

I've seen video before of the Australian Navy and the Customs Service firing machine-guns at Indonesian boats fishing illegaly in Australian waters, and now I've seen this video, there's a few things I find disturbing about this one....

1. If it were in Israeli territorial waters, I'd have no complaints about the navy reacting the same way as ours does. But this isn't in Israeli waters, and the problem is they're reacting very differently to what ours does.

2. The Israeli navy wasn't doing what ours does, which is fire warning shots at a distance across the bow, then if the boat doesn't slow down they fire warning shots closer. But they NEVER do what was done on this video, which is fire shots directly at a boat. On the video the line of machine gun fire can be seen on the water, and they're not just firing one precise line, but a series of lines at the boat....

3. And that last bit of the video reminds me of a bunch of hoons driving a hotted up car and trying to force a little old lady in a Mazda323 off the road. That fishing boat is small and looks just as flimsy as the Indonesian fishing boats I've seen. Our navy won't go alongside those vessels at speed coz the wash can sink them, but what do they do in this video? Speed up alongside them and get a huge wash happening. You don't think doing that can hurt people? Seriously, it's a dickhead thing to do, and my guess as to why they did it is those guys were trying to compensate for having tiny dicks just like their kindred spirits, hoons, do...


I hate the hate too, Shakti, but I get sick of seeing one or two people in particular always trotting it out when it comes to Palestinians. How are they any different than anyone who'd trot out the hate when it comes to what Israel does? Me, I can't see hate in this video. What I see is a lack of concern for the safety of those on the fishing boat, and carrying out orders....

[Vegasaurus]

10. Haaretz and Jpost are usually very honest about Israel's foibles

I will wait for report from them, since I don't believe a thing that comes out of ISM.

They are just a hate Israel organization.

[Vegasaurus]

11. Haaretz and Jpost are usually very honest about Israel's foibles

I will wait for report from them, since I don't believe a thing that comes out of ISM.

They are just a hate Israel organization.

[Scurrilous]

15. 'The ebb, the tide, the sighs'

<snip>

"The young fisherman is now in hospital, feeble and pale, one leg in a cast held in place by iron screws. He is awash with pain. His mother does not leave his bedside. A blind Palestinian physician takes him for a brief physiotherapy session in the corridor. Mohammed Masalah leans on a walker. The blind orthopedist encourages him to take one step and then another, but the pain defeats him and he asks to be taken back to bed.

The sea is the same sea and the Arabs are the same Arabs, as an Israeli prime minister once said. Only the cease-fire is no longer the same cease-fire. On land and in the air it is generally maintained, but not at sea. There, Israeli forces continue to shoot at fishermen from besieged Gaza, who are trying to wrest from the sea a living that is so difficult to make on land.

Gaza's 40,000 fishermen have been deprived of their livelihood. Before the siege, they caught 3,000 tons of fish a year; now it is 500 tons. The fishing season begins with the advent of winter, when schools of fish migrate from the Nile Delta and the waters off Turkey toward the Gaza area. But few of them are now entangled in the nets of Gaza's fishermen. Today, most of the fish can be found about 10 miles offshore, in an area that is off-limits to the fishermen. Israel has restricted them to a six-mile limit, though sometimes navy boats attack at three miles - just to keep the fishermen honest.

The siege makes it hard to obtain fuel for the fishing vessels, and also the sea is polluted with 50 million liters of sewage every day, following the collapse of the sewage infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Israel's fish markets are also closed to merchants from Gaza.

Hardest of all, though, are the naval attacks. Every few days the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) publishes reports from its volunteers in Gaza about attacks on fishermen. Sometimes the naval boats ram the wretched craft, sometimes the sailors use high-pressure water hoses on the fishermen, hurtling them into the sea, and sometimes they open lethal fire on them. The boat of Mohammed and his friend, Ahmad Bardaawi, came under such fire for about 20 minutes, until the two managed to get away, with Bardaawi rowing for all he was worth. A bullet slammed into Mohammed's leg, however, and it was hours before he reached the hospital, after a long, exhausting and bloody journey along the Rafah coast with his friend. The physicians in the Khan Yunis hospital wanted to amputate. Now, with Israel's permission, Mohammed is being treated in a hospital in East Jerusalem, and his leg will probably be saved."

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[Scurrilous]

16. Gaza fishermen: under fire at sea

<snip>

Fishermen in the Gaza Strip say they are regularly being harassed and even shot at by the Israeli navy. A ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hamas militants last June has not led to any let up in the actions by the Israeli navy. If anything, say the fishermen, the harassment has only increased. Israel contends that it is simply trying to protect its people.

On a windy afternoon in the southern Gazan town of Rafah, two dozen boats lie beached waiting to head out to sea. Almost all the boats bear bullet holes. One of them was hit over ten times.

Limited movement

A local fisherman, who didn't want to be identified out of fear of reprisals by the Israeli navy, says that he and other fishermen come under fire every single day. If you go out more than four or five miles, he says the navy shoots at you.

Under the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993, Palestinian fishermen have the right to sail up to 20 miles from the Gazan coast. Israel has reduced this limit, however, since it pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

Israel refuses to say how far fishermen can sail, but locals believe they are allowed to fish up to six miles out to sea.

Harassment

But Israel is constantly try to push the fishermen closer to shore, says Andrew Muncie, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led organisation using non-violent means to resist the Israeli occupation.

He and other international observers regularly sail out with the Palestinian fishermen, in effect acting as human shields to help protect the fishermen and their livelihood.

"When we're with them," says Mr Muncie, "they're able to go further out to sea basically because the lives of Europeans or Americans like ourselves are valued more by the international media, even by the Israelis. Having said that, they do fire very close to the boat a lot and they're not essentially warning shots either.

"They'll approach a boat. They'll circle it, fire. They will throw explosives into the water near the boat to destabilise it. This type of behaviour from the Israeli navy takes place anywhere within Gazan territorial waters. It does not happen at the six-mile mark. It happens as close as a mile from the shore. There's really no area at all at sea where the fishermen are safe."

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