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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