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FREEDOM FLOTILLA 2

HEY ISRAEL....GUESS WHAT? WE'RE COMING!!

THE IRISH ARE COMING TO GAZA BY BOAT!!

Message to Israel:
Are you looking around you? Can you see outside of your self made walled and heavily armed prison? Have you noticed anything? Can you see it? There is a revolution taking place, a worldwide revolution against YOU and your terrorist actions. It comes from all walks of life, all countries, all nationalities, including some of your own people. You murdered some of our brothers already, but you didn't get all of us. Guess what? Now the Irish are coming, we are coming to break the siege by boat. We are coming, we are on the way..........

Remember this Israel; You can kill the revolutionary, But you can't kill the revolution! The siege WILL be broken, and we will KEEP coming until Gaza is free from YOU!

The MV Rachel Corrie is an Irish ship named after the 23 year old American student and member of the International Solidarity Movement who was killed by the Israeli army in March 2003 as she attempted to prevent the Israeli army demolishing a home in the Gaza Strip.

The Rachel Corrie is currently en route to Gaza. The ship was slightly behind the rest of the flotilla due to having to dock in Malta to undergo some engine repairs. It was further delayed on hearing the news of the attack on the Mavi Marmara but made the decision to continue their journey to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Those sailing on the Rachel Corrie are very clear that they are not seeking a confrontation; they seek only to deliver their cargo and bring hope to the people of Gaza.

[Figures below in tons and not kilos]



5 PASSENGERS FROM IRELAND

Mairead Maguire (66) [Belfast, Ireland]
A Nobel Peace Laureate (l976) and Co-founder of Peace People, Northern Ireland, She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace and a nonviolent solution to the Ethnic/political conflict in Northern Ireland. Mairead has travelled many times to the occupied territories of Palestine to support the nonviolent peoples’ movement for Human Rights, International Law, and Self Determination of the Palestinian people. Maguire was shot with a plastic bullet whilst participating with Palestinians/Israelis/Internationals in a peaceful protest March to the Wall in Bilin, in April, 2007. Mairead went on the maiden Voyage of Dignity in October, 2008, the second successful voyage for the Free Gaza Movement. She was also on Board ‘Spirit’ when Israel hijacked the Boat in International Waters, taking all 2l humanitarian passengers to Israel, where they were arrested, detained for a week in an Israeli prison and then deported.

Denis Halliday [Manhattan, NYC and Connemara, Ireland]
UN Assistant Secretary-General from 1994-98. Appointed by SG Boutros Ghali, he served as ASG UN Human Resources Management in New York and in mid 1997 to end 1998 as Head, Humanitarian Programme in Iraq to support the Iraqi people struggling under the genocidal impact of UN Sanctions. Prior to that, as a development manager, Halliday served UNDP from 1964-94 in Iran, New York Hqts, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Samoa, New York again and finally as head of the UNDP Regional Office in Thailand. Since resigning from the UN in 1998, Halliday has delivered numerous parliamentary briefings, provided extensive media inputs and has given public/university lectures on Iraq, human rights, and the UN, in particular its reform. He was a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and teaches/speaks at universities in Ireland, Canada, UK and USA. Halliday is a graduate of TCD, has an honorary PhD, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was awarded the UK Gandhi Peace Prize.

Derek Graham [Ballina, County Mayo]
Derek has been a qualified electrician for 20 years. He was a member of the reserve defence forces in Ireland for 21 years and was the first member of the reserves to make the Army sailing team. He has been sailing all of his life and is a crew member on the MV Rachel Corrie. He has participated in many previous Free Gaza boat trips to Gaza and has been on four of the five voyages that landed in Gaza. He is married to Jenny, who is also on the MV Rachel Corrie.

Jenny Graham [County Mayo]
A member of the Free Gaza Movement, Jenny has participated in previous boat trips to Gaza and is a member of the crew of the MV Rachel Corrie. She is married to Derek Graham.

Fiona Thompson [ Dundalk] Film maker


5 PASSENGERS FROM MALAYSIA

Matthias Chang Wen Chieh (60) [Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia]
Matthias Chang is a Malaysian of Chinese descent. He is a Barrister of 32 years standing and once served as the Political Secretary to the Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. He is the author of three bestsellers, “Future FastForward”, “Brainwashed for War, Programmed to Kill”, and “The Shadow Money-Lenders and the Global Financial Tsunami”, published in the US and in Malaysia. Since his student days in England in the late 1960s, he was and still is, actively involved in the anti-war movement spanning a period of 41 years. He is a Catholic but enjoins all to promote inter-faith understanding.

Abdul Halim Bin Mohamed (29) [Selangor, Malaysia]
Abdul Halim is a broadcast journalist for news and current affairs Malaysia TV3

Mohd Jufri Bin Mohd Judin (33) [Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia]
Mohd Jufri is a cameraman for news and current affairs Malaysia TV3.

Shamsul Akmar bin Musa Kamal (46) [Selangor, Malaysia]
Mr. Shamsul Akmar bin Musa Kamal is a journalist for over two decades, Columnist for The New Straits Times and The Star newspapers and is currently the Special Officer to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He holds a Masters Degree in War Studies from King's College, University of London.

Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria (41) [Perak, Malaysia]
MP Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria is a Member of the Malaysian Parliament.

IRELAND TELLS ISRAEL "DON'T ATTACK OUR BOAT"

link IRELAND’S AMBASSADOR to Israel has urged the Israeli authorities to take every precaution to ensure the safety of Irish citizens travelling aboard aid boats heading for Gaza.

The plea from ambassador Briefne O’Reilly came during a meeting at the foreign ministry in Jerusalem on Monday where he was informed by the ministry’s director of European affairs, Naor Gilon, that Irish peace activists, together with other European participants in the “freedom flotilla”, will be turned back by Israeli naval patrols before they reach the shores of Gaza.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and urge restraint on all sides,” Mr O’Reilly said. “We need to avoid escalation or confrontation to ensure a peaceful outcome which will enable the safe delivery of these humanitarian supplies.”

The Israeli foreign ministry also called in the ambassadors of Turkey, Greece and Sweden. Mr Gilon condemned the latest attempt to bypass Israel’s blockade on Gaza as “a provocation and a breach of Israeli law”. Activists aboard the 1,200-ton cargo ship Rachel Corrie, named after an American who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, have vowed to defy the Israeli blockade.

The vessel set sail from Dundalk at the weekend, and will be joined by three ships from Turkey and five from Greece, co-ordinated by the Free Gaza Movement, when it arrives in Cyprus.

The nine boats are due to arrive in Gaza next week with 5,000 tons of reconstruction material, medical equipment and school supplies.