[Peace-discuss] Press Release: Freedom Flotilla III : 47 Participants on Four Boats Sailing Now

[Robert Naiman]

https://freedomflotilla.org/coalition-statements/22-freedomflotilla-iii-47-participants-on-four-boats-sailing-now-nextportgaza
For immediate release:
Freedom Flotilla III : 47 Participants on Four Boats Sailing Now

Freedom Flotilla III, consisting of four boats, the converted fishing
trawler "Marianne of Gothenburg" and the supporting sailing vessels “Rachel”,
“Vittorio” and “Juliano II”, carrying 47 people from 17 countries, has been
sailing since Saturday morning (Gaza time) to challenge the blockade of 1.8
million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Our primary goal is to break the
illegal and inhumane blockade of Gaza and to call on opening the port of
Gaza, the port of Palestine to the world.

Three sailing vessels are accompanying the Marianne, her freedom sailors
and cargo
<https://ff3.freedomflotilla.org/freedom-flotilla-iii-sets-sail-nextportgaza/>
on her way to Gaza. Their names (Rachel, Vittorio and Juliano II) were
given in memory of peace activists Rachel Corrie, Vittorio Arrigoni and
Juliano Mer-Khamis, while Juliano II also recalls the Juliano, another boat
that was about to leave port but had to stay, due to technical reasons. It
is not yet clear whether this boat has been sabotaged, as happened in 2011,
and this suspicious case is still under investigation.

While the Flotilla bears much-needed aid, our main cargo is, as always,
human solidarity and non-violent direct action for the respect of human
rights.

Since Saturday, the Marianne has been under surveillance
<https://ff3.freedomflotilla.org/unidentified-vessel-and-military-reconnaissance-plane-near-marianne/>
by what crew described as military vessels and reconnaissance airplanes,
without changing direction or plans. Currently the Marianne is
approximately 170 nautical miles from the port of Gaza and could reach its
destination within one to two days.

>From the beginning of this campaign, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has
been constantly evaluating the prospects for small sailing vessels like
Rachel, Vittorio and Juliano II to reach their destination or to return to
their ports of origin. In order to increase the international presence in
this Flotilla we decided to also have boats that would have a different
strategy and final destination. The participants on these sailing boats
bear witness to the Flotilla and help focus the world's attention not only
on Israeli state piracy against civil society activism, but also to the
more than eight years of suffering and arrested development in blockaded
Gaza. See ff3.freedomflotilla.org  for updates on boats' positions and
itineraries.

During recent days, political support for our challenge to the blockade has
been building in Israel
<https://ff3.freedomflotilla.org/palestinian-and-jewish-organizations-and-activists-in-israel-welcome-the-freedom-flotilla-and-call-to-end-the-siege-on-gaza/>
and throughout the world
<http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/johnkerry-ensure-safe?source=c.em&r_by=1135580>.
The Flotilla has for years continuously put pressure on this illegal  and
inhuman blockade. We are renewing our strategies while staying true to our
history of sailing to restore international law in the eastern
Mediterranean. More international figures are standing by, prepared to
participate in Freedom Flotilla III. By land and by sea, and with one
common goal, we will continue until Israel’s illegal blockade is lifted,
Egypt stops the arbitrary closures of the Rafah crossing, and Gaza’s port
is fully open for both people and products

The 47 participants on board at this time include:

MARIANNE AV GÖTEBORG (Swedish flag, 18 people)
Dror Feiler                         Sweden       Musician & composer
Bassel Ghattas                 Israel           Member of Israeli Knesset,
Palestinian politician
Dr. Moncef Marzuki          Tunisia        Human Rights activist,
Ex-President of Tunisia
Ana Miranda                     Spain           Member of the European
Parliament (BNG)
Nadya Kevorkova             Russia         Journalist
Kajsa Ekis Ekman             Sweden       Journalist, Author
Robert Lovelace                Canada       University Professor & retired
Algonquin Chief
Joel Opperdoes              Sweden       Crew
Gustave Bergstrom          Sweden
Herman Reksten           Norway
Kevin Neish                   Canada
Jonas Karlin                   Sweden
Charlie Andreasson          Sweden
Ammar Al-Hamdan           Norway       Aljazeera Arabic
Mohammed El Bakkali     Morroco      Aljazeera Arabic
Ohad Hemo                      Israel           Channel 2  Israeli TV Ruwani
Perera                 New Zealand MaoriTV Jacob Bryant                    New
Zealand MaoriTV

RACHEL (Greek flag, 8 people)
Ehab Lotayef                     Canada
Christian Martel                Canada       Retired Québec trade-unionist
Anouar Gharbi                  Tunisia        Founding member of the ECESG
Yannis Vaitsis                    Greece      Doctor K      Greece
         Crew X  Greece    Crew Marietta Simegiakou          Greece Aissa
Boukanoun              France           Euronews Arabic

VITTORIO (Greek flag, 9 people)
Ann Wright                        USA            ret. U.S. Army colonel &
fmr. State Dept. Official Nasser Hamdaduche           Algeria        MP D
                                Greece    Crew L
    Greece
        Doctor Gerd von der Lippe       Norway       Professor in Sports
Sociology & Author N         Greece          Crew Wellu Koivisto
                   Finland Achilleas Karaklis               Greece Abdel
Lateef Belkaim       Algeria        Shourouk TV

JULIANO II (Greek flag) 12 people
Martin Lejeune                  Germany     Freelance journalist Zohar
Chamberlain           Israel           Rumbo a Gaza M          Greece
           Crew Claudio Tamaglini             Italy             International
Solidarity Movement Anas Nairoukh                  Jordan Lennart Berggren
          Sweden Freelance journalist Abouzaid El Mokrie El Idrissi Morocco
          MP, ruling party Odysseas Voudouris              Greece
            Surgeon, ex president of MSF-Greece, ex MP Iasonas Voudouris
           Greece N                                     Greece
           Crew M                               Greece Crew Tayfun Jalci
                      Turkey        Anadolu news agency
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