The French vessel Dignité-Al Karama is the only boat from the Freedom Flotilla II actually sailing for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade imposed in 2006. At the same time, six Spanish members of the humanitarian aid mission went on hunger strike in the Greek capital.

Activists on hunger strike in Spanish embassy. Credit: Bego Astigarraga/IPS

The hunger strikers, who have occupied the Spanish embassy in Athens since Jul. 5, were travelling on the Spanish ship Gernika (Guernica) that was part of the flotilla carrying 500 activists from 45 different countries, and 5,000 tonnes of aid, bound for the Gaza Strip.

Nearly all the ships have been confined to port in Greece for the last 10 days, except for the Dignité-Al Karama which sailed from the French island of Corsica Jun. 25, evaded the Greek blockade on more than one occasion and remains the only vessel of the flotilla still sailing freely.

With 10 representatives of several delegations of the humanitarian coalition on board, the Dignité received permission Jul. 9 to sail for the island of Rhodes, Manolis Plionis, a member of the Greek delegation of the Freedom Flotilla II – “Stay Human”, confirmed to IPS.

From on board the Dignité, French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nicole Kiil-Nielsen told IPS that after having been stopped last week in Ormos Kouremenos, in Crete, they were taken to Sitia by the Greek coast guard and eventually allowed to sail from there.

“We had to stop in Crete to refuel, as we did not have enough fuel to reach Gaza,” Kiil-Nielsen said. “Now, the Dignité is free and we are organising another group of passengers, probably international, to go on to Gaza.”

Manuel Tapial, coordinator of Rumbo a Gaza (Sailing to Gaza) Spain, told IPS that “the Dignité-Al Karama is heading for Gaza on its own, representing the dignity of the flotilla, and carrying representatives of the international coalition delegations.”

In addition to the crew and MEP Kiil-Nielsen, passengers include Vangelis Pissias, the coordinator of the Greek delegation, Swedish-Israeli musician Dror Feiler and actor Guillermo “Willy” Toledo, representing the Spanish delegation.

Meanwhile, six Rumbo a Gaza activists began a hunger strike at the Spanish embassy in Greece Monday Jul. 11, after medical checks. Two other members of the group participated in the protest from Madrid.

In a communiqué released Monday, the activists said they would fast until “the Spanish government shows some sign that it will intercede (with the Greek authorities) so that the Gernika may sail freely across the Mediterranean.”

The six hunger strikers are among a score of activists who occupied the Spanish embassy in Athens with the declared intent of remaining there until their country’s Foreign Ministry responded to their demands, and until their ship, held by the Greek authorities in Kolymbari, Crete, was released and allowed to go to a safe port or return to Spain.

However, the activists say they have only received an official statement from the Foreign Ministry announcing its decision “not to make any public commitment to the release of the Gernika,” which prompted them to take stronger measures in pursuit of their demands.

In an open letter sent Monday, Tapial upbraided the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party’s (PSOE) prime ministerial candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba: “The government you represent has forsaken us, and our only remaining option is protest action to rescue the Gernika, by right and with dignity.

“Mister Rubalcaba, as leader and candidate of the PSOE, speak out and call for the release of the Gernika, a ship bought with the money of thousands of people throughout Spain who believe that a project like this one is necessary to show effective support for the besieged people of Gaza.

“Listen, commit yourself and take action,” the Rumbo a Gaza coordinator demanded.

The Gernika is still confined to port in Greece, in spite of having resubmitted to the authorities all the necessary documentation for permission to set sail, said Elvira Souto, one of the hunger strikers.

Eight other vessels, including two cargo ships, are still blocked in various Greek ports, while an Irish ship is in a Turkish port undergoing repairs for alleged sabotage suffered two weeks ago.

The crew of the Canadian vessel Tahrir has decided to give up plans to sail to Gaza for the moment; the U.S. ship Audacity of Hope is still in custody in Athens; and the other French boat, the Louise Michel, the Italian vessel Stefano Chiarini, the Freedom for All, the Methimus II and the Gernika are regrouping, ready to form a new flotilla, columnist Eric Verlo wrote in his blog at www.notmytribe.com.

In a move to exert further pressure, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman telephoned Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma and persuaded him to withdraw his country’s flag from the Swedish/Greek/Norwegian vessel Juliano, giving the Greek coast guard the opportunity to block the ship in Heraklion.

Greece and Israel are currently carrying out joint military manoeuvres, the sixth held in a short space of time.

Israeli ambassador to Spain Raphael Schutz said there is “no humanitarian crisis” or shortage of food and medicine in Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla should be seen “for what it is: a propaganda event intended to build solidarity with a terrorist group that wants to wipe Israel off the map and kill the greatest possible number of Jews and Israelis,” he argued.

Some 30 Spanish activists are occupying the embassy of their country in the Greek capital to demand that their government pressure Greece to allow the Freedom Flotilla II – “Stay Human” to set sail for the Gaza Strip.

Freedom Flotilla activists protest in Spanish embassy in Athens. Credit: Bego Astigarraga/IPS

The Gaza flotilla activists want Spain’s foreign minister, Trinidad Jiménez, to commit herself in writing to press the Greek authorities to lift the Jul. 1 ban on boats heading to Gaza, which the Greek government says is based on security concerns.

The occupation of the embassy is one of several actions being carried out in Greece to protest the ban which is confining to port 10 European, U.S. and Canadian ships carrying some 500 activists from 45 countries, along with 5,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza, that plan to attempt to breach the blockade of the occupied territory maintained by Israel since 2006.

A little over a year ago, the first Freedom Flotilla, made up of three cargo ships and five passenger boats with more than 700 people on board, was stormed by Israeli naval commandos, who killed nine Turkish activists and injured 30 other passengers, triggering international outrage.

“We have not broken any Greek law or compromised the government of this country, and we have met all of the port authority’s legal, technical and administrative requirements,” the activists declared in a statement to Spanish Ambassador Miguel Fuertes.

Spanish writer and political analyst Santiago Alba Rico, one of the activists in the Spanish embassy, told IPS that “in this irregular situation, basic rights contained in Europe’s legislation have been violated, and we feel completely abandoned by the Spanish government.

“The European governments have demonstrated a shameful relinquishment of their sovereignty, and part of the struggle should now focus on our governments,” he said. “More pressure must be brought to bear on them because they are currently suffering a great lack of credibility due to all of the protest movements in Europe.

“The EU has shown that it does not represent the majority of the people of Europe and that it puts spurious interests before democracy, international legislation and human rights,” Alba Rico said.

Although the Spanish government responded that “in line with the EU” it is “in favour of the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza and reiterates its commitment to the Palestinian people,” it insisted that the best alternative was the offer made to members of the flotilla to get the humanitarian aid to Gaza “through authorised channels.”

It added, in a communiqué issued by the foreign ministry, that the offer had the support of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The only boat in the flotilla that managed to set sail, the French yacht named Dignity that left Corsica 10 days ago, is in international waters on its way to Gaza.

The U.S. delegation reported that the captain of the U.S. Boat to Gaza, who was arrested Jul. 1 in Athens after the ship was intercepted two miles from the port of Piraeus, was released without charges Tuesday.

The Canadian ship Tahrir set out from a port in Crete Monday without a captain, but was intercepted shortly afterwards by the Greek authorities. The three people who were arrested have been released.

The arrests, the blockade of boats and reported incidents of sabotage of ships are, in the view of Spain’s Rumbo a Gaza campaign, violations of the Schengen Agreement signed by 23 of the 25 EU member states, with the exception of Ireland and the United Kingdom, which guarantees free movement in the European bloc.

The Greek government’s order to prevent the Freedom Flotilla II from sailing is “totally illegal,” Spanish European Parliament lawmaker Willy Meyer, a member of the expedition, told IPS.

“I don’t think the EU has behaved in accordance with international law, and we are hostages of a government that gave in to Israel’s pressure,” said the representative of Spain’s United Left party, who added in a press conference that he would urge the European Parliament and other EU bodies to clarify “this unusual situation.”

He added that the Greek decree that has immobilised the flotilla “is a violation of international law, Europe’s rules on free circulation, and the rights of citizens of the bloc to freely sail in the Mediterranean Sea.”

The Greek government’s argument that the ban is in response to a dangerous situation in a context of conflict “has no foundation,” he argued.

Meyer said “what the Palestinian people of Gaza are suffering is a blockade by Israel that has been condemned by the U.N. Security Council in 2008 and by Ban Ki-moon himself.”

He also criticised “the complicity of the EU and the diplomatic negotiations of its member states with the Israeli government to block the arrival of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“That complicity makes the EU an instrument lacking in the authority necessary to contribute to the creation of a Palestinian state and to the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Meyer said.

As the 10 ships of the Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human make their final preparations to set sail for the Gaza Strip, purported acts of sabotage have been added to threats from Israel.

From right to left: retired U.S. army colonel Ann Wright, Vangelis Pissias and Dror Feiler. Credit: Bego Astigarraga/IPS

The flotilla, which will attempt to break through Israel’s blockade of Gaza for the second year in a row, includes two cargo vessels carrying more than 5,000 tons of humanitarian aid, such as construction materials and medical and educational supplies.

One of the two participating French boats, the Dignity/Karama, is already in international waters, having set out from a port in Corsica on Jun. 25 to meet up with the rest of the convoy.

After the international coalition that is organising the flotilla gave a news briefing Monday Jun. 27 in Athens to journalists from around the world to announce its plans to depart on Thursday or Friday, the passenger boat Juliano belonging to the Ship to Gaza movement was sabotaged in the southeast Greek port of Piraeus.

Divers cut the propeller shaft and destroyed the prop house, Ship to Gaza said, adding that its own divers had documented the sabotage on camera and that an initial inspection had been carried out with a view to repairing the damage before the planned departure date. “It’s one thing for a foreign power to press the Greek government to delay our voyage with red tape. It is quite another thing for enemy agents to operate on Greek territory,” said Ship to Gaza Sweden spokesman Mattias Gardell.

The Juliano, which is jointly owned by the Ship to Gaza organisations in Sweden, Norway and Greece, is named after Israeli actor and director Juliano Meir Khamis of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, who was murdered Apr. 4 in that West Bank city.

Israel started tightening its stranglehold on the Gaza Strip after the radical Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian elections, and imposed a full blockade in subsequent years, especially after the Operation Cast Lead military offensive launched in late 2008.

Israel argues the blockade is necessary for security reasons, while human rights groups counter that the siege amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million mostly civilian residents and that it is illegal under international law.

The Free Gaza Movement, which is organising the second flotilla, said Monday that Israel’s threats will not stand in the way of the humanitarian convoy.

“We will not be frightened by Israel, and we are going to continue. Our friends from all around the world are with us, and we are all going to Gaza,” said one of the flotilla organisers, Dror Feiler, an Israeli-born activist and musician from Sweden.

Greece is under pressure from Israel to keep the boats from setting sail, at a time of great vulnerability for the southern European country due to the spiralling economic and political crisis.

Vangelis Pissias, an organiser with the Greek delegation, urged the Greek government in a statement not to “become complicit in Israel’s illegal actions by succumbing to this pressure.”

“Israel’s best efforts to stop our boats at port, including pressure on governments, threats against insurance and communications companies, intimidation of human rights defenders, frivolous lawsuits and other underhanded tactics, have thus far failed,” the Free Gaza Movement said in a communiqué.

On Monday, the Israeli security cabinet ordered the navy to stop the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that forces would be ordered to do so “with minimal confrontation, as far as possible, with those on board the ships.”

Israeli public radio reported that the government had reached an agreement with Egypt to allow the flotilla to unload its cargo of humanitarian aid at the port of El Arish, to later be taken by land to Gaza after undergoing security checks.

Senior Israeli officials claim to have received information that there are “extremists” participating in the flotilla who intend to “shed the blood of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers” using chemical substances, when Israeli troops attempt to board the ships.

They also say that despite earlier reports, the ships will be carrying members of the Turkish Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), which organised last year’s flotilla, and members of Hamas – both of which Israel considers terrorist organisations.

The Israeli government’s statements came the day after Foreign Ministry officials informed the cabinet that there was no information about members of “terrorist groups” planning to take part in the flotilla.

Israel used similar arguments before and after the May 31, 2010 assault launched by IDF commandos on the Mavi Marmara, the first freedom flotilla’s flagship, in international waters as it headed towards Gaza. Nine Turkish activists were killed in the military operation, and over 50 of the civilians on board were injured.

A representative of the relatives of the victims killed on the Mavi Marmara, which this year pulled out of the flotilla for “technical reasons,” will travel in the Spanish boat Gernika along with 45 Spanish activists, political representatives and journalists.

“Gernika will carry the spirit of our murdered companions,” Manual Tapial, coordinator of the Rumbo a Gaza initiative in Spain, told IPS. “It’s a show of solidarity with those who aren’t able to travel this year.”

Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Trinidad Jiménez urged the Israeli authorities to act with “prudence and restraint” towards the second flotilla.

The flotilla will carry 50 journalists from around the world – including this reporter – who were warned Sunday by Israel that they would face a 10-year ban on re-entering that country, although later the government backtracked on the threat.

The countries where participating activists are from include Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A boat carrying participants from several Arab nations may also join from Jordan in the next few days.

Some 500 activists and civil society personalities are ready to sail. But there are worries that the Israeli forces will assault the boats using tear gas, water cannons, taser guns, stink and sound bombs and attack dogs.

As the second Freedom Flotilla, made up of some 10 ships carrying 1,000 activists from 20 countries, gets ready to sail for the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities are stepping up their threats.

Ceremony presenting loose reproduction of Picasso's famous Guernica painting to three Basque activists taking part in the humanitarian convoy. Credit: Bego Astigarraga/IPS

The Israeli government is putting pressure on other Mediterranean countries from which the ships may sail late this month, although the exact date and place have not yet been revealed for security reasons.

Israel has warned foreign diplomats in Tel Aviv to get ready to “face the consequences,” says a statement issued by the Rumbo a Gaza (Sailing to Gaza) Spanish civil society initiative.

The Israeli daily Haaretz revealed that the Israeli Defence Forces held a large drill for special commandos and snipers to prepare to intercept the flotilla.

Israel Navy commander Adm. Eliezer Marom said Jun. 19 that “The Navy has prevented and will continue to prevent the arrival of the ‘hate flotilla’ whose only goals are to clash with IDF soldiers, create media provocation and delegitimise the State of Israel.”

The boat that will carry 50 people from Spain – including this reporter – was named Gernika and will carry to Gaza a loose interpretation by Basque Country artists of the famous painting that Pablo Picasso painted in 1937 after German and Italian forces bombed the Basque village of Gernika (or Guernica) in northern Spain.

The Spanish government has avoided making statements on the issue. But Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez said the best way to help Gaza is by means of diplomatic pressure, not flotillas.

“We strongly advise against taking part in the Rumbo a Gaza initiative because of the grave danger that participants in the flotilla could face,” says a warning on the Foreign Ministry web site.

Israel started tightening its stranglehold on the Gaza Strip after Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian elections, and imposed a full blockade in subsequent years, especially after the Operation Cast Lead military offensive launched in late 2008.

Israel argues the blockade is necessary for security reasons, while human rights groups counter that the siege amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million mostly civilian residents and that it is illegal under international law.

Israeli authorities have prepared prisons to hold the participants of the flotilla, who will reportedly be arrested and thrown in jail for violating the blockade.

“Last year, 15 days before setting sail, we knew that if the international community did not act, a massacre would take place – which ended up happening,” activist Manuel Tapial, coordinator of the Rumbo a Gaza initiative in Spain and one of the participants in the 2010 flotilla, told IPS.

In the early hours of the morning on May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos firing machine guns air-dropped from helicopters onto the first Freedom Flotilla’s flagship Mavi Marmara, killing nine and injuring over 50 of the civilians on board.

The rest of the 600 passengers were arrested and held without charges for a day and a half in Israel before they were deported.

There is no legal basis for Israel to intercept ships and prevent them from delivering humanitarian supplies, say experts in international law.

“Israel only has jurisdiction over its territorial waters of 12 nautical miles, and neither the waters off Gaza nor international waters are under its authority,” University of the Basque Country professor of international law Juan Soroeta told IPS.

“No U.N. resolution authorises the Gaza blockade,” said Soroeta. “On the contrary, it is an illegal, unilateral measure imposed by force by Israel in the context of an equally illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.”

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1860, adopted on Jan. 8, 2009, calls for “the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment”.

But reports from the international humanitarian organisations working on the ground there confirm that this point is not being fulfilled.

“We have repeatedly urged our governments and international bodies to use observers to inspect the ships and the humanitarian cargo and passengers they are carrying, both at port and at sea, but no one has yet responded to this proposal,” Tapial said.

The Mavi Marmara was expected to take part in Freedom Flotilla II, but its owner, the Turkish Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), said the repairs of damages caused last year have not been completed and the ship is not in a condition to make the trip.

There has been speculation as to whether this decision has anything to do with secret talks held by Turkey and Israel.

But the fact that the flotilla is going ahead undermines the argument that the campaign was organised by the IHH, an Islamic charity, which Israel accuses of having links to terrorism.

At the same time, within Israel, “a public debate is taking place on what to do, with some arguing that we should be allowed in because we are civilians only carrying humanitarian aid, while the blockade, according to Israel, is only against weapons smuggling,” Tapial said.

Regardless of the difficulties, the Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human, named in honour of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni, who was murdered in April in Gaza, aims to deliver its humanitarian aid, including construction materials, medical supplies and educational materials.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) “informed us in a letter that they could not receive our deliveries, so that Israel could not accuse them of being part of the conflict,” Tapial said.

“But if we make it there, I am confident that they will accept the material, and that they will distribute it equitably,” he added.

The 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid carried by the first Freedom Flotilla was confiscated by Israel along with the personal effects of the passengers and the reporters’ equipment.

None of the items were ever returned, making it “booty in the best pirate tradition,” said Spanish lawyer Enrique Santiago, who was involved in preparing the charges against Israel for the assault on the flotilla in international waters.

International support for the second flotilla has only grown, with backing from thousands of personalities from around the world, such as Nobel Peace Prize-winners Rigoberta Menchú of Guatemala, Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Jody Williams of the United States and Shirin Ebadi of Iran.

The four prominent peace and human rights activists called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to urge the governments of the countries concerned to take the necessary measures to guarantee the safety of those taking part in the mission.