In 2008 Israel Agreed to a Protocol for the Port of Gaza
Why not now?
by Paul Larudee
In August, 2008, I and forty-three other participants motored into Gaza by sea in two converted fishing boats, becoming the first to openly succeed in doing so since 1967. The entry stamp in our passports reads “Gaza port” and was created for the occasion. We carried a modest cargo of hearing aids for the children of the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children.
Israel tried multiple means of preventing us from succeeding, including threats, jamming of communications, and pressure on the Greek and Cypriot governments, but it did not send naval or coast guard vessels to intercept us, and did not attack us or block our way.
Why not? According to Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeserson Arye Mekel, “Because we know who is on the boats and what they contain … we will allow them to land.”
How did they know? Because we put all of that information on our website and because the government of Cyprus made extraordinary security arrangements, inspecting our boats inside and out and even under the hull, and placing us in a separate section of the port where we were the only vessels.
Three days after our arrival in Gaza, the boats returned to Cyprus, leaving some of the volunteers behind and taking on some Palestinian passengers. Israel threatened to stop us and remove the Palestinians, but in an interview with Israel National Radio only hours before departure, I pointed out that these passengers had been approved by Cyprus and that in any case they would be screened by Cypriot authorities in Larnaca upon arrival. If they trusted Cypriot security on departure, why would they not trust them upon return? In the event, Israel again did not obstruct us.
