Hope for Gaza ~ Update

The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat of Freedom Flotilla II, is now sitting outside Athens while being held by Greek authorities. Some passenger members, including Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright, are still on board.

Benjamin and Wright say they are in dismal, restricted conditions. Benjamin wrote in an e-mail that they are enclosed by gates and razor wire and baking in 95-degree heat. She also said:

Press are not allowed in; visitors are restricted and must be pre-approved. Our Embassy has refused to help us. Worse yet, when we try to protest at our Embassy, the Greek police detain us and take us to jail — on orders, they tell us, from the U.S. Embassy.

Ann Wright along with Regina Carey put out an Action Alert on USTOGAZA:

Athens, July 12, 2011, At 10 am Greek time today, the shore electricity was cut off to the Audacity of Hope, the U.S. Boat to Gaza, leaving us with no power. The boat has been imprisoned at the US Embassy/Greek Coast Guard dock, near Piraeus, Greece, just outside of Athens, since we tried to sail to Gaza on July 1. The Greek Coast Guard intercepted our small boat and hauled us into this compound.

 It is over 100 degrees inside the boat, and a Russian ship is spewing grain and dust over the entire area as it unloads grain. In addition, the off-loading noise the ship is making is above environmentally acceptable limits, sounding like a bad rock concert playing at the back of our boat! Six women are staying on board to protect the Audacity of Hope, since two boats heading to Gaza were already sabotaged in an attempt to prevent us from sailing to Gaza. Four of us are over 60. The Greek naval facility is co-located with a U.S. Embassy compound, which has one warehouse exclusively for the U.S. government, as well as a ramp for loading vehicles onto a ship. It also has a parking area for the wrecked cars of Americans who have been involved in traffic accidents plus a secure warehouse compound behind the ubiquitous high fence topped with razor wire and signs printed in both English and Greek in the U.S. government block style lettering.

 The Greek Coast Guard is probably caught in the middle and may be ready to release us, but government politics seems to want to keep us in port to appease the Israeli government, since the occupation of Palestine has been outsourced to the Greeks.

Folks are being asked to contact the Greek Embassy and the U.S. State Department.

I find it despicable at how Palestinians are treated, including those of Gaza, and how those are treated who, in solidarity with them, are trying to help them. It seems to me that the tail of Israel is wagging the dog of the United States and against its own citizens.