Mon 7th: 3pm press conference with returned MV Rachel Corrie passengers

international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Sunday June 06, 2010 19:21 by Freda & Kev - IPSC

IPSC statement refutes Israeli propaganda on 'deal' and other issues

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) will be hosting a press conference at 3pm tomorrow, Monday 7th June, in the Central Hotel with the five Irish prisoners from the MV Rachel Corrie. The Rachel Corrie was hijacked at sea yesterday by Israeli forces, and all her passengers are due to be deported from Israel tomorrow morning, and the Irish deportees are due to arrive in Dublin airport at 11.20am tomorrow morning. There will be a welcoming committee to meet them and press conference to follow at 3pm in The Central Hotel, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

Also today, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign issued a statement refuting various Israeli accusations and propaganda talking points that have been circulating over the past two days.

Freda Hughes, spokesperson for the IPSC said: “First and foremost, we wish to counter the falsity that is being promulgated by the Israeli PR machine – namely that the Irish and Israeli government reached a deal which would see the MV Rachel Corrie docking in Ashdod. We want to state categorically that there was no such ‘deal’ reached. The Rachel Corrie put forth it’s suggestion that the UN inspect its cargo at sea and accompany it into port in Gaza. This was rejected by Israel, while those on the Rachel Corrie rejected Israel’s offer that it dock in Ashdod and its cargo would be checked and delivered over land to Gaza. Those on board the Rachel Corrie made it clear that to accept such an offer would be tantamount to accepting the legitimacy of the illegal Israeli siege.”

Ms. Hughes went on to say: "The significance of this flotilla of aid was two-fold; its intended purpose was to deliver much needed supplies to the people of Gaza and to break the ongoing illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. This blockade, which has gone on for over three years amounts to collective punishment of 1.5 million people - condemned to face enforced and avoidable poverty, human rights abuses and appalling hardships - often just because of where they were born. It is the duty of every right thinking individual of conscience to ensure that such inhuman treatment is no longer allowed and is no longer ignored by the world."

Ms Hughes continued: “The Rachel Corrie remained committed to this purpose and rightly rejected that Israeli offer to reroute to Ashdod, to accept this offer would be to legitimise the seige of Gaza. We call for an immediate lifting of the blockade and the granting of an autonomous sea port in Gaza that would allow the people of Gaza open and unfettered communication and access to the international community.”

”Earlier this week Irish parliament passed a unanimous motion stating that if the Rachel Corrie was not allowed safe passage to Gaza, the Irish government would take "further diplomatic measures" against Israel. We in the IPSC hope that the Irish government is as good as its word on this issue and immediately takes diplomatic action against the rogue state of Israel. There is a demonstration at 2pm in Dublin city centre today in solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla and the people of Palestine. We are calling for an immediate lifting of the blockade.”

“I would like to refute the false and unsubstantiated claim by Israeli spokespeople that other flotilla members were militants who attacked the IDF. This is untrue. All passengers were subject to screening before boarding the flotilla, all baggage was scanned just as in any airport of ferry port, all cargo was inspected by the governments of their countries of departure before setting sail. The items that have been described as weapons by Israeli spokespeople are standard items found on any ship such as galley knives and hammers. The fact remains that Israeli commandos attacked unarmed humanitarian aid workers in international waters and these people were within their rights to defend themselves and their ships. The assertion that violence only broke out on one ship is also untrue. It is laughable that Israel - the 4th biggest military power in the world - is trying to suggest that it was attacked by a UN approved flotilla of humanitarian aid workers.”

Ms Hughes concluded: “All passengers and cargo have been screened by the governments in their respective countries of departure. If senior Israeli government officials are suggesting that the Irish, Turkish and other governments have aided and abetted a potential terrorist attack against Israel, this is a very serious accusation, that has massive diplomatic consequences and is an issue that they should take up with the governments of these countries”.