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For Immediate Release
June, 04 2010, 12:52pm EDT
Contact:
Greta Berlin, 00 357 99 18 72 75
Mary Hughes 00 357 6 38 38 09
Rachel Corrie on Her Way
CYPRUS
The Rachel Corrie is 150 miles away from Gaza in international waters
and on her way. They will arrive on Saturday morning. The 1200 ton
cargo ship is the last ship from the Freedom Flotilla and is loaded with
construction materials, 20 tons of paper and many other supplies that
Israel refuses to allow into the imprisoned people of Gaza.
Some of the High-Profile people on board:
Mairead Maguire from 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 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, from Ireland, a 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. 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.
Matthias Chang Wen Chieh 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 Fast Forward",
"Brainwashed for War, Programmed to Kill", and "The Shadow Money-Lenders
and the Global Financial Tsunami", published in the US and in Malaysia.
Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria,Perak, Malaysia, MP Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria is a
Member of the Malaysian Parliament.
In addition, there is a three-member camera crew on board from
Malaysia TV3 and journalis Shamsul Akmar bin Musa Kamal.
The passengers on board the ship have stated, "Communication is
difficult and sometimes impossible and there are many rumors out there
started by Israeli authorities, but there is no way we are going to
Ashdod. We are, for sure, on our way to Gaza."
Free Gaza is a human rights group founded in 2006. Our mission is to break the Israel's illegal siege on Gaza's 1.8 million civilians, since it inflicts collective punishment on the Palestinians who live there and has destroyed its economy. Free Gaza believes in direct action in confronting Israel's abuse of Palestinians using non-violent means and has found these voyages to be one of the most effective ways to alert the world to the prison-like conditions of Gaza. Ultimately, there is no better example of direct action than Free Gaza's sustained attempts to break the siege on Gaza which Israel claims it no longer occupies
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