05.23.10
Aid to Gaza?
People never cease to amaze me. Life, it seems, really is a struggle between good and evil. The trick these days is being able to identify which is good and which is evil. Our news outlets, be it with misinformation or lack of information, makes that task difficult at times. But since the Bible tells us that there’s no law against love and that it is the first and foremost commandment, and that we are nothing without love, then I would assume that charities and humanitarian aid to the needy is a good thing. So I’m kinda excited about the news that the Freedom Flotilla has finally hit the seas after years of planning.
Only a few more days and the Freedom Flotilla should be arriving at Gaza. The convoy of nine ships, both cargo and passenger ships is from the UK, Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey, and is comprised of 800 people from 50 nationalities. They are carrying humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza in hopes of helping the Gazans as well as breaking the almost three year long siege. In response to their efforts, Israelis have claimed that they will dispatch two boats to coastal areas around Gaza in order to prevent a convoy as they claim that this “aid” is against Israeli law.
Israel claims that they are concerned that the aid could fall into the hands of Hamas, but some of the items listed as “banned” for entry are things like crayons, nuts, fabric, many building materials such as cement and wood, plus water purifiers, generators, and other necessities for rebuilding the damaged neighborhoods in Gaza. Sure Hamas might get a hold of some of those items, but they are necessary for the civilians, too, especially the crayons. . . No doubt this type of ban would severely affect the normal lives of civilians since it would make it extremely difficult to rebuild their damaged city. I believe there are about 2000 items on the banned list. Here’s a small YouTube clip that lists a few more of the items on the banned list.
And here’s a short clip of the Rachel Corrie (one of the ships in the flotilla named after the U.S. gal who was run over and killed with a bulldozer as she tried to help protect/save a Palestinian home), which left around the 14th of May from Ireland and shows more of the humanitarian supplies they are carrying to Gaza.
I’m hoping that all works out well, and hope that there won’t be any harm done as a result of the “standoff” these people are likely to face with the Israeli Navy and Israeli protesters. According to this article titled, Israel’ navy will have it’s work cut out, this flotilla is taking along two months supply of food for everyone on board in case it takes that long to get the supplies in to Gaza. They are anticipating they might meet resistance before they can deliver their goods. They are also hoping for more international recognition, so hopefully that will make their plight safer and successful. Now let’s see if our mainstream media even bothers to give them any air time.
Marlakins
