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Exclusive Intifada Interview with Greta Berlin - Free Gaza Movement

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EH: Have there been any suits filed or are there plans for filing suits from countries or passengers of the Flotilla?

GB: Yes, and we are working on filing suits over the next few weeks

EH: Israel seized all cameras and communication equipment from flotilla passengers. Do you know of plans for getting personal property appropriated back from Israel?

GB: We have demanded all equipment and tapes be returned. They stole the equipment, ruined our cameras, shot several journalists who were trying to film the assault (killing one of them). We estimate that Israel stole over a million dollars of computers, cameras and phones. We also insist that our boats be returned. Israel still has our boat from last July when they hijacked it, kidnapped our passengers and hauled them into Israel for a week.

EH: Israel has announced it has eased the blockade on Gaza, Has the humanitarian Crises improved in Gaza, can you update on?

GB: Well, if you want ketchup and chocolate, then the blockade has been eased. If you want to rebuild your society, it has not. The people of Gaza want their freedom, not handouts from the international community. What right do they have to collectively punish a population of 1.5 million Palestinians for resisting occupation and for voting in one of the fairest elections held in the Middle East?

EH: Do you feel the Mainstream Media as a whole was fair in reporting the Israeli Israeli armed forces attack on the Gaza 'Freedom Flotilla?'

GB:
It was better than usual until the Israeli lobby started in on our occupied Congress. In Europe, everyone pretty much knows what Israel did was illegal. Unfortunately, Americans are still being lied to continuously.

EH: It seems pro-Israeli lobbies have succeeded in pressuring most members of U.S. Congress to declare that Israeli had a right to defend itself, despite the massacre of innocent civilians and violations of International law. Do human rights activists have an objective to get around the pro-Israeli support in Congress?

GB: We work on it all of the time. We had people show up at Brad Sherman's meeting in a Temple (he's the one who wants to arrest all of us). We had people show up in Congress dressed in prison garb ready to be arrested, people like Col. Ann Wright, Ramzi Kysia, Medea Benjamin. It will take a long time for Congress to shake itself loose from Zionist (both Christian and Jewish) influence.

EH:I read in witness Gaza.com that there is a Libyan boat headed for Gaza, do you have any new information on that Boat. Also are there any plans for a new flotilla in the near future?

GB: We do not have any connection to the Libyan boat since we do not deal with governments who want to send boats. Our organization is made up of people from civil society (although we certainly take members of Parliament) who work civilian to civilian. Yes, we are going again sometime in the fall.


E.H:Lastly, what gives you and all of those associated with The Free Gaza Movement so much courage to continue?

G.B
: Hmmmmmm. I always say, "Never underestimate the power of pissed off women." (but I suppose you want a better answer than that). Of the five founders, four are women. Of the nine members on the interim board, seven are women. Of the six people in the office in Cyprus when the massacres happened, five were women.
Women are a powerful force for justice and always have been.

EH:
Thank you Greta Berlin

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My name is Elias F.Harb, Born in Palestine, living in Mexico, and I am the Editor of Intifada Palestine Website. www.intifada-palestine.com. I started the Blog on January 11,2009 during the horrific Gaza Assault by Israeli armed forces. The blog (more...)
 
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