Irish Friends of Palestine Delegation at Gaza Seaport meeting Fishermen
Pat Fitzgerald is a Sinn Fein Councillor at Waterford County Council and John Hearne is a Sinn Fein Councillor at Waterford City Council. Both men were crew members on the Irish Ship to Gaza MV Saoirse,with Pat as the Ship’s Engineer. They both spent a week in Givon prison, in Israel, after their boat was captured in route to Gaza and boarded by the IOF Navy in 2011. Both men are professional Trawler fishermen in Ireland and members of the recent Irish Friends of Palestine Delegation to Gaza November 2012. As part of our Irish Delegation they held meetings and tours with Gaza fishermen and with Mahfouz Kabariti of the Gaza Fishermen Association. The Delegation made a presentation of engraved Derry Crystal to Mr. Kabariti and the Fisherman’s Association on behalf of Irish Friends of Palestine members who were part of the Irish Ship to Gaza Freedom Flotilla II Campaign. A personal report from Pat Fitzgerald is submitted below. For a full list of upcoming reports about our recent delegation go HEREA chairde, I consider myself honoured to have been part of the delegation that visited Gaza in early November 2012 just days after a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli government. The ceasefire agreement ended the latest 8 day round of aggression by Israel on the helpless, imprisoned, and oppressed population of Gaza during which they suffered aerial bombardment, shelling and the threat of invasion from thousands of Israeli troops amassed along the border of the enclave.
The trip was organized by the Irish Friends of Palestine. During the visit, which lasted six days, our delegation met with victims and relatives of victims killed and injured in the conflict, we also met with voluntary groups, governing officials, the United Nations envoy to Gaza, hospital staff, school teachers, pupils and the Fishermen’s Association of Gaza.
Presentation
to Mahfouz Kabariti (left) on behalf of the Irish Friends of Palestine
members of the Irish Ship to Gaza Freedom Flotilla II. An excerpt from
Irish Poet Seamus Heaney's poem "The Cure at Troy" was inscribed on the
crystal plaque: "History says, Don't hope on this side of the grave. But
then, once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise
up, and hope and history rhyme. So hope for a great sea-change on the
far side of revenge. Believe that a further shore is reachable from
here. Believe in miracles and cures and healing wells."
Delegation
of Irish Fishermen meeting with the Gaza Fishermen's Association.
Delegation members left to right: Clr Pat Fitzgerald, Clr John Hearne,
Ben Duggan, Ollie Stapleton, Diarmuid Murray, John Mallon, Phil
McCullough
Clr
John Hearne with fellow Delegation member Phil McCullough get report on
fishing situation in Gaza. Nets are often purposely destroyed by
Israeil Navy and difficult to repair or replace.
Palestinians are pushing for a complete rollback to the twenty mile limit of the Oslo Accord. On an almost daily basis, fishermen are subject to being shot at, which results in deaths and injuries among crew. Their vessels are often attacked with powerful water cannon, arrested, unnecessarily inspected, humiliated, and their boats and fishing equipment are often confiscated.
The Port of Gaza itself is a large well built port. It’s sheltered by two long breakwaters about a kilometre apart extending from the shore and almost enclosing a deep water basin. It has a narrow entrance on the northern side. The fishing fleet consists of approximately 500 vessels, 400 of which are small one man vessels. A further fifty are the slightly larger sardine type vessels, crewed by one sometimes two men. There is about twenty 14-16 metre vessels, these are sturdy wooden hulled boats with transom sterns and a large flared prow.
Palestinian fishing boats in Gaza Seaport
Palestine is a land which also has a long maritime tradition. Fifty years ago the Palestinian fishing fleet worked all over the eastern Mediterranean. Fish made up an important part of the diet of the Palestinian people. With their fishing fleet now hemmed into a sea area six miles wide and forty miles long the fishermen themselves are now reduced to just fishing to put what little fish they catch on their own family tables.
Gaza
fishermen try to survive as best they can. Due to fishing restrictions
illegally imposed by Israel, they waters are voer fished and the catch
is very small.
Clr
Pat Fitzgerald and Clr John Hearne with Mahfouz Kabariti (left) and
Mohammed Baker (center) Two of Mohammed's sons are fishermena and were
attacked with 12 other Fishermen by the Isreail Navy the day after
signing a ceasefire.
Clr's
Pat Fitzgerald and John Hearne take notes during reporton fishing
conditions from Mahfouz Kabariti of the Gaza Fishermen's Association.
Irish friends of Palestine
