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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/08/20088231408112340.html
Boats reach Gaza despite blockade
Human rights activists reach Hamas-ruled strip by sea, despite Israeli blockade.
Last Modified: 25 Aug 2008 03:54
Two vessels carrying 46 international human rights activists have reached the Gaza Strip, despite Israel's strict 14-month siege of the Palestinian territory.
The end of the mission to symbolically break the siege came after Israel backed down from an earlier warning to the 'Free Gaza' protest group not to breach the blockade.
Al Jazeera's Ashraf Amritti in Gaza said: "The arrival of these two boats is a very symbolic gesture for the Palestinian cause, to end the siege, end the occupation.
In fact, those phrases are written across the peace boats which carry flags from more than 70 nationalities."
The boats set sail on Friday on a 370km voyage from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus carrying activists from 17 countries, including Israel, with the aim of drawing attention to Israel's blockade of Gaza and its affect on the people there.
The boats sailed through choppy waters into Gaza City's main port on Saturday, where they were greeted by thousands of people waving Palestinian flags, many of them sailing around the harbour in boats.
Unity call
Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader and dismissed Palestinian prime minster, called on the world to follow the example of the international activists movement and "break the siege on Gaza".
"We deeply appreciate and salute the activists on the two boats", Haniya told Al Jazeera in a phone interview.
Haniya said that it was time for Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing and end the siege once and for all.
Egypt reopened the crossing last January after Palestinians blew up part of the border barrier, allowing thousands to stock up on supplies from border towns.
Cairo sealed the crossing three days later under pressure from both the United States and the Israeli government, to "protect its own sovereignty."
Jibril al-Rjoub, a senior Fatah leader, also welcomed the "breach of the embargo", describing the international activists as "humanists".
"The two boats defiance the of the Israeli blockade is a glimmer of hope that could be an opening of an end of the siege", the former Palestinian security chief told Al Jazeera in an interview from the West Bank of Ramallah.
Rjoub called for both an immediate reconcilation between Fatah and Hamas to unite the efforts to restore national unity, and to forge ahead with efforts to alleviate Palestinian suffering.
'Overjoyed'
Local activists and charity workers had feared Israel's military would step in to prevent the activists from reaching their destination.
Andrew Mumcie, one of the activists on board one of the boats, told Al Jazeera he was "overjoyed" by their success in reaching Gaza's shore.
"Now we will go back to Cyprus and organise another trip," Mumcie said, adding the group would continue its activities until Israel's siege of Gaza was lifted.
Israel's foreign ministry said it had been closely monitoring the 21-metre-long "Free Gaza" and 18-metre-long "Liberty" boats after they left the Cypriot port of Larnaca.
Aviv Sharon, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, earlier said: "They want provocation at sea, but they won't get it.
"We know who the passengers are and what they are bringing with them, and so we have no problem letting them through."
'Death threats'
Sharon had said earlier in the day that "all options" were being considered to prevent the ships from entering embargoed waters.
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, a Jerusalem-based spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement which organised the event, said the boats' communications systems had been attacked by "electronic piracy" earlier in the day.
The activists' group was comprised of people between 22 and 81, included students, lawyers, doctors, journalists and an online poker player, organisers said.
Mostly American and British, they included Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is now a Middle East envoy.
Many of the activists said they had received death threats before they set sail, leading some to drop out.
Israel has tightened its blockade of Gaza since Hamas seized power in June 2007.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
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your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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