Statement of Purpose by Hedy Epstein

It has been 63 years since Israel has controlled the Palestinian people. It has been 44 years since the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.  It has been 4 years since the hermetic closure of Gaza.   It is one year since Israel attacked Flotilla 1 in international waters, on its way to Gaza.

In a few short weeks - near the end of June 2011, Flotilla 2 will be on its way to Gaza - 10 or more ships from many countries, including the U.S. Boat to Gaza, with approximately 1,000 passengers from all over the world, will sail to Gaza from ports in the Mediterranean.

I will be on the U.S. Boat to Gaza - named the Audacity of Hope - together with about 50 other U.S. citizens.  This will be my fifth attempt to reach Gaza, all others having failed for a variety of reasons.  Why is it so important for me to get to Gaza and stand with the long suffering Gazan people?  Because I …...cannot stand idly by...... (Leviticus 19:3).

Israel has controlled and humiliated the Palestinian people for 63 years.  Since then more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes or fled out of fear following the creation of Israel in 1948.  That control intensified in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.  Although Israel withdrew its settlers from Gaza in 2005, it has continued to control the inhabitants’ lives since 2007.  It has prevented most human traffic in and out of the densely populated Gaza Strip, has restricted imports and banning virtually all exports.  The impact:  More than 75% of Palestinians in Gaza live under the poverty line.

“There is nothing in international law that supports Israel’s four-year blockade of Gaza, or  its attack on humanitarian shipments in international or Palestinian waters.“  In fact, as stated by the normally neutral International Committee of the Red Cross, “Israel’s collective punishment of the residents of Gaza is itself a clear violation of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

In his book, Palestine Peace not Apartheid, former President Jimmy Carter wrote,”Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land.  In order to perpetuate the occupation, Israeli forces have deprived their unwilling subjects of basic human rights.  No objective person could personally observe existing conditions.....and dispute these statements.”

Having been to the Israeli occupied West Bank five times since 2003, I agree with Jimmy Carter.  Seeing is believing. 

The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories, including Gaza, deserves no applause, as was given by members of Congress in response to Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to both houses earlier this week.  When world governments,   including our own U.S. government, do not act, civilians, civil society, has to step in, and that exactly is what Flotilla 2 is all about.  I believe our mission will succeed because it is an act of faith in the validity of a righteous moral act.