Freedom Flotilla II
"Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human" was a flotilla that planned to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel by sailing to Gaza on 5 July 2011. Ultimately, the sailing did not take place.
The flotilla was organized by a coalition of 22 NGOs. Its name refers to the May 2010 sailing of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which had been raided by Israeli forces, killing a number of activists. Their stated goal was to end the blockade of Gaza "completely and permanently". Initially, 10 ships, with 1,000 activists were set to sail for Gaza, but by 28 June 2011, the number of expected participants had decreased to fewer than 300, plus a few dozen journalists, and by 7 July all but a few dozen activists had returned home.
The flotilla was publicly opposed by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, the Middle East Quartet, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. It was publicly supported by Hamas.
Activists on two ships, one in Greece and one in Turkey, found similar damage to their propeller shafts, and claimed that the ships had been sabotaged by Israel. It was reported that the investigation by Turkish authorities on one of the ships determined that there may have been no sabotage at all, and that any damage happened before the boat arrived in Turkey, but these media reports appeared prior to the formal investigation beginning and the Turkish coastguard enquiry has yet to announce its findings. The media reports were disputed by Irish Ship to Gaza, the owner of the vessel. Greece forbade the vessels from leaving its ports, citing safety concerns, but offered to instead send any humanitarian aid to Gaza in its own vessels, under United Nations supervision. Greece's offer was supported by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the United Nations, but rejected by the flotilla activists. Subsequently, two flotilla ships, the Audacity of Hope and Tahrir, disobeyed Greece's orders. They were intercepted by the Greek coast guard, brought back to shore, and a few activists were arrested. Activists responded by occupying the Spanish embassy in Athens.
Only the French ship Dignité Al Karama managed to approach Gaza. They advised the Greek authorities that their destination was the Egyptian port of Alexandria, and then turned toward Gaza. On 19 July, the ship was intercepted and boarded without incident by Israeli commandos and escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Background
After the 2007 Fatah–Hamas conflict, Israel and Egypt closed off their respective borders with Gaza, preventing most goods and nearly all people from going in and out.At the end of May 2010 a flotilla of six ships left from Turkey towards the Gaza Strip. The main purpose of the flotilla, according to its organizers, was to bring humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. On 31 May 2010 the Israeli navy raided the ships some 40 kilometres away from Gaza shores. During the takeover, a violent confrontation occurred in which nine activists were killed on one of the ships and several Israeli soldiers were injured as well as dozens of passengers from several ships. At the end of the operation the ships were seized by the Israeli navy and taken to the port of Ashdod.
Following the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, international outrage contributed to a shift in Israeli policy. Both Israel and Egypt eased their blockade, letting in more goods over land. In June 2010 Egypt decided to open the land crossings between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to transfer a minimal amount of supplies.
After the events of the 2011 flotilla raid, organizations from several countries declared their intention to send more ships to break the blockade on Gaza. As a result, the Israeli government announced that the any ships attempting to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip would be arrested.
Opinions on the legality of Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip, as well as on the use of force in international waters to maintain the blockade, are divided.
On 3 July 2011, the Greek government offered to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza themselves, but Greece's offer was turned down by the activists.
Structure
Name
The flotilla was named in memory of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian reporter and activist whose killing by suspected members of a Palestinian Salafist group in Gaza in April 2011 "left the Palestinian activist community stunned." His favourite expression was "Stay Human".Ships
Originally it was thought that the MV Mavi Marmara would lead the flotilla, but in mid-June, IHH announced that the ship would be unable to sail due to technical issues. As of 10 July 2011, the following ships had planned on sailing to reach Gaza:| Boat | Country of origin | No. passengers |
| Dignité Al Karama | France | 6 |
The following boats did not set sail:
| Boat | Country of origin | No. passengers |
| MV Mavi Marmara | Comoros | -- |
| MV Saoirse | Ireland | 25 |
| Tahrir | Canada | 43 |
| Louise Michel | France | -- |
| Stefano Chiarini | Italy | -- |
| Gernika | Spain | 50 |
| The Audacity of Hope | United States | 50 |
| Eleftheri Mesogeios | Greece, Sweden, Norway | -- |
| Juliano | Greece, Sweden | 20 |
Participants
Initially, 10 ships, with 1,000 activists from 20 countries were said to be set to sail for Gaza from various European ports, with humanitarian aid, during the last days of June, or few days of July 2011. As of 28 June 2011, however, the number of expected participants had decreased to 350, plus a few dozen journalists. By 7 July, all but a few dozen activists had returned home.Organizers
The flotilla was organized by various NGOs:- Canadian Boat to Gaza
- European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
- Free Gaza Movement
- Free Palestine Movement
- IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation
- Irish Ship to Gaza
- Rumbo a Gaza
- Ship to Gaza Greece
- Ship to Gaza Sweden
- The International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza
- Un bateau français pour Gaza
- US Boat to Gaza
Events
Preparations
The IHH announced plans for the new flotilla, again led by the MV Mavi Marmara to depart for Gaza in June 2011. IHH President Fehmi Bülent Yıldırım said "Even if we sacrifice shahids for this cause, we will be on the side of justice." In June 2011, the IHH conveyed a message to the Israeli government through Turkish Jews that the organization was not interested in another clash with Israel, and a proposal that the ships be inspected in a third-party country, such as Cyprus, before being allowed into Gaza.Plans for the new flotilla were met with international opposition. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Mediterranean governments to discourage the new flotilla and send aid through "legitimate crossings and established channels", the United States warned against the flotilla reportedly considered asking Turkey to host a peace summit between Israel and the Palestinian Authority provided that it stop it, and Canada warned its nationals not to participate in the flotilla and called it "provocative". Turkey urged activists to reconsider the need for a flotilla in light of the newly opened Rafah crossing, but also urged Israel to act wisely and avoid past mistakes.
Several Dutch journalists who were due to travel in the flotilla backed out in late June, accusing the organizers of non-transparency, particularly with regard to their relations with Hamas, restrictiveness, dishonesty and "shocking" gullibility. Journalist Eric Beauchemin said, "never have I seen a more closed organization. When we would ask critical questions they would accuse us of being unprofessional. Restrictions were imposed on us that hadn't been agreed upon beforehand."
In France, a ship purchased for the flotilla was prevented from sailing after being denied permission to dock in Marseille. The move followed intense political pressure by the Jewish community on members of Parliament, political parties, and organizations, which in turn pressured insurance companies and authorities. A day before, the IHH had announced that was rethinking its participation in the flotilla and might withdraw from the initiative. On 17 June, İHH announced that they are still part of the flotilla movement, though the Mavi Marmara pulled out from the flotilla because, according to Yıldırım, president of IHH, "after the damage caused to the Mavi Marmara , we are not in a position to go to sea".
Initial leg
Two of the vessels taking part in the flotilla set sail from the French island of Corsica to Greece, to meet up with the other vessels. The vessels docked in Piraeus. However, the French vessel Dignité – Al Karama did not dock, and proceeded directly towards the Gaza Strip.Vessels damaged
On 27 June 2011, activists announced that they had discovered damage to two of the vessels, the Juliano and MV Saoirse. Both the vessels had their propellers and pipes leading to their engines damaged. According to Flotilla spokesman Dror Feiler, there was no direct evidence Israel was involved, and he estimated the damage would take several days to repair. Other flotilla organizers suspected that the damage was the result of a sabotage operation by Israeli naval divers, and demanded that the Greek police and port authorities provide security for the vessels. Some activists announced that they themselves planned to guard the vessels. On 29 June, the MV Saoirse sustained damage while docked in Turkey. Activists claimed that the damage was caused by Israeli divers, who were able to avoid detection by guards stationed on the vessel.A number of passengers on the flotilla said they had been mugged on the streets near the port and had mobile phones stolen, and that suspicious "fishermen" had been sighted near the ships, loitering without bait or buckets, by waters that are known to be contaminated.
Israel flatly rejected the accusations as "paranoid" and accused the activists of "living in a James Bond film."
Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said that an investigation by Turkish authorities determined that there was no act of sabotage on the Irish ship, which had been docked in the Turkish port of Gocek. These claims have been disputed by Activists who called for an independent investigation into how the MV Saoirse was damaged.
Due to the damage, the MV Saoirse's plans to join the flotilla were cancelled but several Irish activists went to Corfu to join the Italian/Dutch ship, the MV Stefano Chiarini.
The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign later repaired the MV Saoirse and in November 2011, joined by the Canadian ship, the MV Tahrir, it slipped out of Turkey and sailed for Gaza. This sailing was called the "Freedom Waves to Gaza" flotilla. Both ships were intercepted by Israeli warships some 50 miles from Gaza. Both ships and 27 activists and crew – 14 Irish citizens and 13 Canadian, Australian, US and Greek citizens – were brought by force to Ashdod, imprisoned for a week and then expelled from Israel.