Facing Down Israel With the Spirit of Vittorio Arrigoni

"I found my self standing on the front of the boat, holding my weapon — a cameraphone!"

Photo of Noor Harazeen: taken last summer by the ISM camera when we were onboard the Oliva.

(GAZA) - (We learned this week conclusively that Israel will not hold any of its own accountable. The verdict in the cruel, bulldozer-inflicted crushing death of Rachel Corrie in 2003 is the final chapter. So it is a good time to remind our readers of other similar occurrences that take place in Gaza as a matter of course. Fishermen there have been targeted by the Israeli navy for generations. Our friend Noor Harazeen in Gaza, takes us back to a day when the Israeli military attacked the peace boat Oliva; which our friend and fellow writer, Vittorio Arrigoni, who was murdered in April 2011, was involved in promoting.
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A week before we lost Vittorio Arrigoni, he called me, asking to join him on the Oliva (the CPS Boat that protects Palestinian Fishermen from the Israeli Navy attacks), but I was busy and couldn't join him. After he was killed, I was determined that i will go on the Oliva, to be one of the few who had enough courage like Vik did!!

So I Woke up 7am and joined the amazing International Solidarity Movement crew. I got a call from some fishermen that the Navy was shooting and... attacking them. We went and get stuck in between two Israeli Navy ships, circling us, shooting cold dirty water and trying to sink our boat.

"There are British and American Citizens on the boat! Stop Shooting!", A British friend said to the Navy ship. And they continued as the Palestinian CPS boat's Captain tried to fix the boat's generator.

I didn't get scared or start crying, even while half of the boat was full of water: I found my self standing on the front of the boat, holding my weapon — a cameraphone! — and videoing the shameful Israeli act against us and the fishermen.

It all took place inside the 3 mile limit that they have imposed on us Gazans. And today when I saw this video, I thought I would share it with you with my own story... Watch and see how the fishermen suffer every single day to provide food for their families and for Gazans in general!