Free Gaza Ship rammed

Israeli vessel hits Gaza-bound boat

Onboard is Al-Jazeera reporter Sami al-Haj, former prisoner at Guantanamo Bay; Hon. Cynthia McKinney (former U.S. Congresswoman, 9/11 Truth activist) and three doctors

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
19:17 Mecca time, 16:17 GMT
News Middle East
Video of damage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7805075.stm

Israeli Gunboats Came out of the Darkness and Rammed us Three Times

Date : 12-30-2008

For more information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa +357 99 081 767 / lubnna@gmail.com
(Lebanon) Caoimhe Butterley +961 70 875 727 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.freegaza.org/
By Free Gaza
LEBANON (December 30) -- Today the Free Gaza ship "Dignity" carefully made its way to safe harbor in Tyre, Lebanon's southern-most port city, after receiving serious structural damage when Israeli warships rammed its bow and the port side. Waiting to greet the passengers and crew were thousands of Lebanese who came out to show their solidarity with this attempt to deliver volunteer doctors and desperately needed medical supplies to war-ravaged Gaza. The Lebanese government has pledged to provide a forensic analysis of what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives.

The Dignity, on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, was attacked by the Israeli Navy at approximately 6am (UST) in international waters, roughly 90 miles off the coast of Gaza. Several Israeli warships surrounded the small, human rights boat, firing live ammunition around it, then intentionally ramming it three times. According to ship's captain Denis Healy, the Israeli attack came, ""without any warning, or any provocation."

Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement, stated that, "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the life boats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."

Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, was traveling to Gaza aboard the Dignity in order to assess the impact of Israel's military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

According to McKinney, "Israeli patrol boats...tracked us for about 30 minutes ... and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side ... the Israelis indicated that [they felt] we were involved in terrorist activities."

The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29 December with a cargo of over 3 tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated to Gaza by the people of Cyprus. Three surgeons were also aboard, traveling to Gaza to volunteer in overwhelmed hospitals and clinics. The ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to departure, and its passenger list was made public.

Israel's deplorable attack on the unarmed Dignity is a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes."

Delivering doctors and urgently needed medical supplies to civilians is a just such a "peaceful purpose." Deliberately ramming a mercy ship and endangering its passengers is an act of terrorism.

CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking the civilian population of Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il
Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy at:
+ 972 5 781 86248
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
http://www.freegaza.org/

Atlanta Journal Constitution article
http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/12/29/cynthia_mckinney_gaza.html

News from Al-Jazeera

A small boat, damaged as it tried to break the Israeli blockade of the
Gaza Strip, has arrived in the Lebanese port of Tyre.

The Dignity started taking on water after it was hit by an Israeli naval
vessel as it approached the Israeli coast with its cargo of medical aid.

The Free Gaza Movement, which organised the attempt to reach the territory
, said their boat was "rammed" and shots were fired when at least four
Israeli vessels confronted them in international waters.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, denied there had
been any shooting but said that the ships had made "physical contact".

He said that the crew of the Dignity had failed to respond to Israeli
naval radio contact.

'Rammed'

Elize Ernshire, one of the activists onboard the boat, told Al Jazeera by
telephone that the boat was rammed twice from the front and then once from
the side.

"It has destroyed the front of the boat and the roof ... and has left the
cabin, the wheelhouse quite destroyed," she said.

" ... we were threatened directly by the Israeli navy that if we continued
on our course towards Gaza they would attack us again."

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said that the incident was
nothing more than a "propoganda stunt".

"Israel would never have done anything against international law, that is
inconceivable," he told Al Jazeera.

"These people just want a headline, they don't really want to help the
people of Gaza, if they wanted to help the people of Gaza they would be
asking Hamas why they initiated the violence."

Several small boats have arrived in the Gaza Strip carrying international
activists and medical aid since August in defiance of the Israeli siege.

Ernshire said that the incident would not stop the movement trying again
to take aid to the impoverished territory.

"The majority of passenger here are determined, once we reach Lebanon, to
keep continuing to organise such boats as these, to reach the people of
Gaza," she said.

Gaza's health system is struggling to cope with the casualties from four
consecutive days of aerial bombardment by Israeli warplanes and helicopter
gunships.

Shortages

Hospitals were already facing shortages of medicines and other medical
products due to the Israeli siege imposed after the Hamas government
seized full control of the territory in 2007.

As well as more than three tonnes of aid, the Dignity was carrying three
doctors to help treat the more than 1,600 wounded in recent days.

Avital Leibovitz, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said that humanitarian
aid was being allowed into the Gaza Strip and the medical supplies on the
boat would not have made much impact on the humanitarian situation.

"Lets not talk about a blockade because it does not exist, the
humanitarian corridor is active, alive and working," she told Al Jazeera.

"There are a numerous number of trucks enetring Gaza with food and
medicine according to the requests of the aid organisations."

Three Al Jazeera journalists were among the 15 people onboard the boat.

"Al Jazeera holds Israel responsible for the safety of the Al Jazeera
journalists and everyone on board the Dignity," Wadah Khanfar, director
general of the Al Jazeera network said in a statement.

"Al Jazeera's presence on the boat is to cover the expedition for news and
journalistic purposes. We are deeply concerned for the safety and well
being of our journalists."

'Protecting Rattlesnake Island' and Indigenous Roundtable Discussion

Update: Native radio journalists urge Bush war crime tribunal
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/12/native-radio-journalists-call-for-bush.htmlSPECIAL
Weekly shows can now be heard on the KPFK web site ( http://www.kpfk.org ) under "audio archives" located on the left. Scroll down and click on American Indian Airwaves.

Dakota 38 horseback ride to Mankato photos

Dakota 38 plus 2 Ride photos from South Dakota to Mankato. Photos by Dave Murray. Thank you!

http://www.dakota382008.com/

By Dakota 38 Riders
MANKATO, Minn. -- Twenty-eight years before the Massacre at Wounded Knee, and 14 years before the Legendary Battle at Little Bighorn, was Minnesota’s Dakota Sioux Uprising of 1862.

It began on August 17, 1862 and ended with the largest mass execution ever recorded in U.S. History.

By order of Abraham Lincoln, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota on December 26, 1862.

Unbeknownst to the masses, the very next day two more Dakota men were also executed. Four months later, in April of 1863 Congress enacted a law providing for the removal of all Dakota people from Minnesota. Three hundred families were held in a concentration camp at Fort Snelling then most of the Dakota Community was moved by river boats to a desolate prairie at Crow Creek, South Dakota.

The convicted prisoners of the war who were not executed, were then moved from Ft. Snelling, Minnesota to Camp McClellan, near Davenport, Iowa. It wasn’t until three years later, President Andrew Johnson ordered a release of the 177 surviving prisoners.

In the spring of 2005, Jim Miller, a descendent of the Dakota People who were displaced after 1863, courageously stepped forward and acknowledged his dream with the people. Miller dreamt of a series of horseback rides that would bring, not just the Dakota people together, but all whose hearts are affected by this tragic history.

Jim’s vision is for horseback riders from all Dakota tribes to ride in December over 330 miles from Lower Brule Sioux Reservation to the site of the mass hanging in Mankato, Minnesota. This is to commemorate the men, women, and children who were forced to march across the cold winter prairies either to the mass hanging in Mankato or to the large concentration camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota (present day St. Paul.) The ride coincides with the anniversary of the hangings on December 26, 1862.

Four years are required to address this vision, as of 2008, the first three years have been completed. In the past three years, the riders left from the Lower Sioux Indian Community, near Morton, Minnesota and rode down to Mankato, Minnesota.

Because this is the last year and the completion of Miller’s vision, the riders began their new starting point from Lower Brule, SD to Mankato.

His overall vision is to raise awareness about how this historical grief has impacted us from the mass hanging to the surrounding events. In the end, the final outcome of his vision is to bring reconciliation among all people of the region so that we may move forward and live in a good way. Miller is a Vietnam Veteran, an enrolled member of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and a

leader in traditional spiritual practices.

Honoring Floyd Westerman and the Miwok Youths

Listen to Censored Blog Talk Radio
Honoring the land, honoring the youths
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell

Article and photos by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/


Censored Blog Talk Radio offers a tribute to Floyd Red Crow Westerman, sharing his songs and words. The show is also a tribute to the Miwok youth singers, with a special message on the Longest Walk for respect for Mother Earth from the Six Nations on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol.
Westerman speaks on the Spirit World and what is happening to Mother Earth.
"America is dying from within, because they forgot the instructions of how to live on earth," Westerman said. He said without the understanding of the spritiual reality of living on earth, "It is likely you will not make it."
"We are here on earth only a few winters, then we go to the Spirit World."
Westerman describes how the United States is creating monstrous conglomerates to facilitate energy for America, polluting sacred water and sacred mountains to do it.
America is destroying itself, but Native people will live on.
"We will outlive their ways. Our ways will outlive America's ways. It is because we regard the earth as sacred," Westerman says in the series of recordings.
"Our Mother is a sacred entity."
Westerman said it is important to educate people that the people coming across the border are Indian people. Speaking on broken treaties, Westerman said, "The United States of America is an occupation of Indian land."
With warnings for America and its spiritual state, he said, "You shouldn't let the dollar control what you are doing."
"America, you won't be here long."
Westerman said great changes are coming and when one looks at evolution, one knows, "It is time."
Censored News also honors the Native American youths on the Longest Walk, with traditional songs and conversations with the Miwok youths from Shingle Springs, California, Daniel, Junior and Vinny, with Everett, Washo. The Miwok youths sing with clapper sticks made from elderberry branches.
On the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol at Harrisburg, Mohawk and Tuscarora welcome the Longest Walk to the east with songs and prayers. Jerry McDonald, Mohawk, speaks of respecting and honoring Mother Earth and of universal peace. Longest Walk Carl Bad Bear Sampson also speaks at the gathering, where the Pennsylvania governor's representative heralds the Long Walk for honoring the earth and protecting sacred sites.
Longest Walk recordings by Earthcycles on the Longest Walk.
Listen to Floyd Westerman and Miwok youths at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
November radio show, including AIM West and Alcatraz programs:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/page/1
Photos: Floyd Westerman with the International Indian Treaty Council at the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit of the Americas in San Xavier, Arizona, on the Tohono O'odham Nation in 2006. Photo Brenda Norrell.
Photo 2: Daniel and Junior on the Longest Walk in Eureka, Nevada, after singing Miwok songs for Western Shoshone Carrie Dann in the spring of 2008. Photo Brenda Norrell
Photo 3: Vinny, Miwok walker and runner, at the Indigenous Environmental Network's annual Honoring Mother Earth Conference, held this year on Western Shoshone land in Southfork, Nevada, in July 2008. Photo Brenda Norrell.