Stopped by sea

As the International Court of Justice wound up hearings on Israel’s two-month blockade of Gaza, a small ship carrying aid for the strip was struck and disabled by two Israeli drones while in international waters off Malta. The Maltese authorities have offered to repair the ship and send it on its way while the UN human rights organisation has called for an independent investigation of the attack.

The voyage, mounted by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) was intended to break Israel’s 18-year siege and blockade of Gaza. This tightened on March 2, 16 days before Israel cancelled a two-month ceasefire and resumed bombardment of and ground operations in the beleaguered strip. The ship, dubbed the “Conscience, “was not deemed seaworthy, forcing 12 crew and 30 activists from 21 countries, to abandon the mission. Once repaired, “Conscience” could set sail again.

The FFC is comprised of organisations from Canada, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the US, Ireland, Brazil, Australia and France. It was formed in 2010 after helicopter-borne Israeli commandos boarded a Freedom Flotilla vessel, the Mavi Marmara, on May 31st, and killed 10 activists. That effort had been mounted by the Free Gaza Movement, which had carried out several blockade-busting missions, and Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation. Six FFC successor and multiple country-based voyages were scuppered by Israel which is determined to isolate Gaza and its 2.3 million Palestinian inhabitants. Over the past two years, the good ship “Handala” sailed to European ports to educate people on the perilous situation of children in Gaza.

Once Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from Gaza in August 2005, Gazans hoped they would be allowed freedom to develop economically and prosper. Gazans spoke of developing the strategic strip into a high-tech centre or becoming the Singapore of the region. At the time, Palestine’s then Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told “Gulf Today” this was a vain hope as Israel continued to control Gaza by air, land and sea and had no intention of allowing Gaza to advance and become independent.

The Free Gaza Movement, the coalition’s parent, was founded in 2006 by California activists Greta Berlin, Mary Hughes-Tompson and Palu Larudee. Israel tightened its grip in 2007 after Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority and assumed rule over Gaza.

On Aug.23, 2008, 40 Free Gaza activists on two fragile Greek fishing boats set sail from the Cypriot port of Larnaca and were greeted on their arrival in Gaza’s tiny port by thousands of cheering Palestinians. They had broken the blockade. The movement’s second successful sailing on a yacht named “Dignity” arrived in Gaza on Oct.29. Among the 26 passengers were Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan and Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti. On its next voyage in December, the “Dignity” was rammed by Israeli war ships and limped into a port in southern Lebanon. Subsequent sailings were aborted by Israeli naval action.

It is bitterly ironic that Israel has closed the sea lanes to Gaza as the Palestinian coast was settled in the 12th century BC by the mysterious Sea Peoples known as “Philistines” who arrived from the Aegean, Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus and western Anatolia. They defeated Egypt’s Pharoah Ramses II and established Philistine statelets which were conquered by the Assyrian, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and British empires. Gaza forms the land link between North Africa and West Asia, Egypt and the Levant, prized by conquerors Alexader the Great and Napoleon. Gaza was also a trading hub and resting place for travellers.

Between 2007-2010, Israeli military nutritionists calculated Gaza’s daily calorie requirements to avoid malnutrition during the blockade. The figure settled upon was 2,300 calories a day per person, based on the World Health Organisation’s assessment for global personal needs. While Israel argued it had never limited food supplies to Gaza, critics argued that the leak of the document exposing this information provided proof that the government was using food insecurity to pressure Hamas, “The Guardian” reported.

Failed by the sea, today’s Philistines resorted to building tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border. A few tunnels were dug to import weapons for Hamas, but more than 1,200 commercial tunnels were dug. They were used to smuggle people, goods, fuel, food, fertilizer, livestock, spare parts for vehicles, cars, cement and building material – all restricted or banned by Israel which controlled official crossings. Sixty per cent of Gaza’s needs were provided by the tunnels. A “tunnel economy” emerged, giving Gazans a brief chance to live “normally” and offering Gazan youths hope for their future. I had friends who bought enough tunnel cement to build a house which was bombed by Israel on October 15th, 2023, killing eight members of the family.

Both Gazans and Egyptian Sinai Bedouin benefitted from tunnel business until 2013 when Cairo cracked down on the tunnels, depriving Gazans of their sole connections with the world and leaving them at the mercy of Israel. The destruction of the tunnels rendered 20,000 construction workers unemployed because Israel permitted only small amounts of cement to enter for approved UN and non-governmental agency projects. Prices for all goods rose because imported from or via Israel. The cost of smuggled fuel was twice that of limited amounts fuel brought from Israel. The Gaza power plant, hospitals, and sewage and water facilities were deprived of supplies and forced to ration to meet basic needs. Drivers queued to put petrol in their cars.

Israel has banned the import of “dual use goods,” which are not usually put in this category. These include ventilators, oxygen cylinders, anaesthetics, water filtration equipment, X-ray machines and crutches. Israel has also excluded dates, sleeping bags, cancer medicines, water purification tablets, and maternity kits, CNN reported. In mid-2024, The Guardian listed goods barred from entry between 2007 and 2010, based on Israeli human rights group Gisha’s lists. Among them were spices, jam, typing paper, cloth for clothing, newspapers, notebooks, musical instruments, toys, sewing machines, donkeys, sweets, pens, and pencils. Israel’s aim was to make Gazans so miserable that they would ouster Hamas. Although this was a failed policy, the blockade continues and has in recent months and weeks become total, prompting UN and humanitarian agency warnings of starvation, widespread malnutrition, and disease.