Kia Ora Gaza

Media release
24 January 2011

Kiwi convoyers gear up in wake
of Israel's 'whitewash' report

Yesterday the Israeli government's hand-picked Turkel Commission claimed that last May's Israeli commando assault on the Gaza aid vessel Mavi Marmara, which left nine civilians shot dead and over 50 wounded, was consistent with international law. So too was Israel's naval closure of Gaza, asserted the commission.

"Israel's whitewash is in total opposition to eyewitness accounts by civilians aboard the Gaza aid ship," noted Roger Fowler, co-organiser of Kia Ora Gaza. "Tel Aviv politicians are claiming that their commandos used lethal force only in self-defence, yet a previous UN committee found that some of the slain civilians were executed in a likely war crime."

One eyewitness, Kevin Ovenden of UK charity Viva Palestina, reports that "the two men immediately to the left and right of me... were shot from above. No Israeli commando was in sight of us when the bullets rang out." (For full statement, go to http://www.vivapalestina.org/home.htm.)

Gisha, the Israel-based legal centre for freedom of movement, reports that Israel's siege of Gaza amounts to "collective punishment of a civilian population" which is illegal under international law. (For full statement, go to http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=1960&intSiteSN=113.)

"In response to Israel's murderous attack on the freedom flotilla, a six-person Kia Ora Gaza team led by myself joined the biggest international aid convoy to successfully enter Gaza in 2010," reported Mr Fowler. "Our 400 volunteers from 30 countries drove 150 vehicles into Gaza to break the Israeli siege and deliver NZ$7 million of medical supplies and other humanitarian aid."

"In 2011, Kia Ora Gaza plans to join another international mission to Gaza. We have begun collecting donations, and hopefully will receive more than last year's $100,000. Half-a-dozen Kiwis have already volunteered to go on the next convoy. More information should soon be up on our website kiaoragaza.net."

"Kia Ora Gaza and similar humanitarian movements around the world will continue to take convoys to Gaza until Israel's illegal and inhumane siege is totally broken," Mr Fowler concluded.

ends

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