Ships Headed For Gaza Aid Mission Delayed In Turkey, Israeli Pressure To Blame

A flotilla of vessels is set to depart on Friday for the Gaza Strip to deliver aid to the Palestinians stranded in Turkey owing to administrative roadblocks, as the organisers say that Israel has been putting political pressure to impede this journey.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition notified that Israel was pressuring the Republic of Guinea Bissau to withdraw the flag from the lead vessel, the Akdeniz. This triggered a proposal for an additional examination by the flag state.

Ann Wright, a retired US Army colonel, one of the Flotilla’s organisers, and a State Department official, said the vessel had passed necessary inspections in Turkey and was prepared to set sail.

The additional checks urged by Guinea Bissau were a political play by Israel to stall the departure of the three-vessel convoy, which was loaded with 5,000 tons of aid and had over 500 participants from 40 nations on board.

The International Court of Justice (abbreviated as the ICJ) has ordered unhindered access for aid delivery to Gaza twice as part of provisional measures to prevent genocide — of which Israel is accused in a case brought about by South Africa.

Yet, an Israeli blockade restricts the entrance of UN-led food convoys to the enclave as the famine looms.

While the humanitarian impact of the Flotilla cannot be understated, organisers say that its main objective is to cut the siege of Gaza by breaking a blockade imposed in 2007 and intensified since Hamas’ 7 October assault.

The mission carries a high level of personal risk for those involved, such as veterans, media representatives, activists, and individuals from all walks of life who decided to join the grassroots movement.

Huwaida Arraf, an international lawyer and Palestinian-American activist, has left a nine-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son behind to board the Freedom Flotilla, which is heading for the Gaza Strip to deliver aid to Palestinians and break through an Israeli obstruction on humanitarian entry to the war-torn enclave.

In May 2010, the Israeli navy intercepted the six-vessel Freedom Flotilla I, and Israeli commandos took over the Turkish lead vessel, the Mavi Marmara, began fire and took the lives of nine protestors.

However, the volunteers aboard today continue to be determined.

Arraf, who has been on earlier flotillas to Gaza and co-founded the nonviolent International Solidarity Movement, claims that the Flotilla’s primary goal is to challenge the realities of politics that leave Palestinians in need of aid by breaking through the blockade, which started in 2007 and has gotten stricter since October 7.

She contends that breaking such an illegal barricade cannot be considered unlawful.

Only weeks prior, seven World Central Kitchen relief workers lost their lives in brutal Israeli assaults, exposing the risks of carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Israeli military stated the April 1 attacks that took the lives of the WCK staff were a mistake.

Since October 2023, over 200 assistance workers have lost their lives in Gaza, which renders it one of the most hazardous locations in the world to work.

Another mother on board is Wynd Kaufmyn, a retired lecturer associated with a Jewish-American university in engineering who‘s taking this mission seriously but expects to be back in one piece.

Her daughter, Kaufmyn informs Al Jazeera she lost her father four years ago, and she doesn’t want her to be bereaved once again. But her heart goes out to the people in Gaza who lost their families and loved ones.

They are hungry and suffering, and she is trying to do what she considers the best to help cease this genocide, the 66-year-old lady says.

She added that she knows that there is the possibility that Israel’s military will board them and take control of the vessel to deport them, and she is also not expecting the military personnel to treat them gently in the process. Even though she knows it is scary, this is where she needs to be.

Participants were instructed to take non-violent training before the departure to empower them to respond peacefully to the scenario. Kaufmyn’s pro-Palestinian activism has come at incredible personal cost.

She was brought up in Detroit, in the Jewish community of Michigan, where the support for Israel is uncompromising. In 2002, after the second Intifada, Kaufmyn stopped skirting the topic of Palestine and travelled to the region. She said that she herself saw what was going on and could not turn away.

She embarked on the mission of activism that transformed her into an anti-Zionist Jew, but her choice unlocked a rift with her deceased parents, her favourite uncle, and two sisters.

Kaufmyn said that a few nights ago, as she was embarking on this journey, she gave a ring to her twin sister, referring to her decision to join the Freedom Flotilla.

Her sister said she does not understand why she wants to annihilate Israel. Her twin’s rebuke was painful yet served as a stark reminder of the polarising narrative revolving around the ongoing war in Gaza that‘s dividing the US. She is determined to try and cease genocide and get food to starving people; it has nothing to do with the annihilation of anyone.

Organizers say that diplomatic efforts on the part of Western governments to deter the flotilla’s departure, initially scheduled for mid-April, have included endeavours to force Turkey into denying permission to leave the port. Ambassador Elizabeth Richard, the US Department of State coordinator for counterterrorism, was present in Ankara this week.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German President, visited the Turkish capital on a three-day stop. Wright, who resigned from her State Department position in opposition to the 2003 US-headed invasion of Iraq, informed Al Jazeera that the governments of the UK, the US, and Germany had compelled Turkey to block the departure.

The governments think they have to safeguard Israel, she added. There is a long-term guilt from almost 75 years ago, and, for the US, there is an ongoing campaign by the Zionists as well as other supporters of the State of Israel to maintain the US government’s support.

Through a meeting with Steinmeier on Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s President, repeated the accusation that the West has been disregarding the suffering of the civilians in Gaza. Wright said that they don’t intend to harm the Israelis and instead intend to highlight the fact that Israel continues to commit genocide and that the US is cooperating.

Reference: Aljazeera

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