American Press · 29 November 2008

CP-2008-021

Motley crew comes to aid of blockaded Gazan residents

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Transcribed from the clipping

KHUZAA, Gaza Strip (AP) — A tattooed Italian trucker, middle-aged twin sisters from San Jose, Calif., a polite Scottish couple and a solemn-faced Greek hailed a cab in Gaza City, drawing stares from passers-by unused to visitors. The party was off to southern Gaza to plant wheat with Palestinian farmers in a dangerous area near an Israeli-patrolled border.

They were among some 80 foreign volunteers who have sailed across the Mediterranean to Gaza in three trips since August, defying a closure of the Hamas-ruled territory imposed by Israel and Egypt. The blockade-runners from the Free Gaza Movement are a motley bunch.

They have included physicians, lawmakers and Yvonne Ridley, a British woman who was kidnapped by the Taliban and afterward converted to Islam. One high-profile volunteer was Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is now the international community’s Mideast peace envoy.

They bring medicines, accompany fishermen and farmers to dangerous areas, and say they want to draw attention to the hardship the blockade has inflicted on 1.4 million Gazans. “Governments in the West are asleep,” said Vittorio Arrigoni, 33, the trucker, whose black cap featured the face of Che Guevara.

Activists accompany Gaza fishermen beyond the 3-mile limit enforced by the Israeli navy. They also escort farmers to border area fields that Israel has declared off-limits because militants have launched rockets from there. Israel’s navy has not tried to stop the boats, apparently to avoid unwanted publicity.

“The entry of a few people doesn’t mean the blockade is off,” said Andy David, a Foreign Ministry official. Israel’s patience is clearly limited. On Nov. 18, a week after their wheat-planting effort, Arrigoni and two others were arrested for going to sea with Palestinian fishermen.

Activists say they are focused on the plight of ordinary Palestinians, but are aware Hamas is using their presence to legitimize its rule.

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