Stop Shipment of arms to Israel

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:07

by Miriam

A massive cache of weaponry is on its way to Israel - via the Greek port of Astakos. Efforts are being made internationally to stop the shipment at the port. The report below will hopefully be up on Indymedia Athens soon, but if anybody has any contacts in Greece please ask them to do what they can to alert people and organise some effective but peaceful attempt to stop this shipment - which may well be used to kill more Palestinainas and possibly to assist in a further assault on Lebanon.

Global Research article here - essential reading:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11743

Here is the call from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - a controversial group but nevertheless appropriately concerned about the slaughter these arms are intended to cause:

"Urgent Call To The People Of Greece: Block The Shipment of US Arms To Israel Through Greek port!
Posted by: BirchBricker

In lieu of not being able to post tonight, I am posting this bit of information now. There is a huge shipment of American arms heading to Israel for use in Gaza... I & many others feel that this shipment should be stopped. Israel acts a a bratty younger brother & needs to stand on it's own if it wishes to act as the neighborhood bully. If the American government continues to work against the peoples wishes, then we have no choice but to demand the workers take matters into their own hands & act accordingly. We are the hands & feet of this & other countries & We have the means to stop production & shipment if necessary. Here is the statement:

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine calls upon the Greek movement, the Greek people and all international progressive forces to halt the planned shipment of U.S. arms to Israel from the Greek port of Astakos. International media reports have revealed that the U.S. Navy is attempting to ship 325 20-foot containers of ammunition, over 3000 tons, in an emergency shipment of arms to aid the occupation in its ongoing war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The PFLP is calling upon the people of the world, and particularly the Greek movement to act to stop this shipment of arms. The U.S. has been attempting to hire a merchant ship to transport the weaponry to the Israelis at Asdud port in mid- to late January. This weaponry must not be allowed to enter the hands of the Israelis, where it will be used to massacre our people in Gaza! It must be stopped by all means!

These bombs are going to be used in Israel's wars - against Palestinians, Lebanese, Arabs, Iranians, and the people of the region. This emergency shipment indicates that the occupier is demanding ever more weaponry in its futile war of massacres against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.

The demand of the Palestinian people, the Arab people, and all progressive forces - including the progressive forces in the U.S. - is the international isolation and the end of all U.S. aid to Israel. The U.S. government, however is Israel's strategic partner, and is committed to partnering with Israel in its massacres and crimes against our people. If they will not stop the arms shipment, the people of Greece and the people of the world must stop it for them!

The PFLP salutes the Greek people - your unconditional solidarity and your mass demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people have sent a strong and powerful message of support, combined with aid, volunteers, and action on the ground. Your own courageous struggles for justice have inspired us and people around the world.

We are calling upon:

1. All Greek companies and all shipping companies to refuse to carry any shipment of arms to Israel. Any shipping company who carries these weapons has the blood of the people of Gaza on its hands!

2. Greek workers and all port workers to refuse to load the cargo for any shipment of arms to Israel. The strong hands of Greek workers and Greek labor should not be sullied with this dangerous cargo!

3. The Greek government to prohibit the use of its port to ship arms to the occupation state massacring our people!

4. The Greek people, the Greek movement, and all international and progressive forces to take action to stop any such shipment from loading or leaving the port of Astakos!

The PFLP is calling for your continuing unconditional solidarity and support to prevent the U.S. and Israel from using the land and ports of the Greek people a supply base for occupation, massacres, and crimes.

The Greek people have a proud history and present of struggle. The relationship between the Arab people and the Greek people is strong and powerful and we call upon you today to march with us once again toward victory and justice for the Palestinian people and block this arms shipment!

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

January 10, 2009

http://www.rosevillept.com/detail/103096.html "

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Comments (7 of 7)

Other reports at this google search link

Tue Jan 13, 2009 02:13

http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/01/09/us-says-arms-shipmen...gaza/

Israel using Gaza as weapons test ground

Tue Jan 13, 2009 07:47

On Al Jazeera English from Washington last night they had live coverage including phone calls to residents of Gaza, one of whom, clearly very distressed and with the sound of explosions going off in the background, told how some sort of poison gas was being dropped and that children in his vicinity had been dying within five minutes of exposure to it.

From ukurnet (which Google has stopped indexing)

"Israel using Gaza as 'test laboratory' for new weapon: medics
AFP

OSLO (AFP) – Israel is testing a new "extremely nasty" type of weapon in Gaza, two medics charged as they returned home to Norway Monday after spending 10 days working at a hospital in the war-torn Palestinian territory.

"There's a very strong suspicion I think that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons," Mads Gilbert told reporters at Oslo's Gardermoen airport, commenting on the kinds of injuries he and his colleague Erik Fosse had seen while working at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

The two medics, who were sent into the war zone by the pro-Palestinian aid organisation NORWAC on December 31, said they had seen clear signs that Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME), an experimental kind of explosive, were being used in Gaza.

"This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres (16-98 feet)," said Gilbert, 61.

"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations... without shrapnel injuries which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons," he added.

The weapon "causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different," said Fosse, 58.

"If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it's like your legs get torn off. It's an enormous pressure wave and there is no shrapnel," he explained.

Gilbert also accused Israel of having used the weapon in the 2006 Lebanon war and previously in Gaza, and referred to studies showing wounds from the explosive could cause lethal forms of cancer within just four to six months.

"Israel should disclose what weapons they use and the international community should make an investigation," he said, stressing the amount of damage apparently caused by the new form of explosive.

"We are not soft-skinned when it comes to war injuries, but these amputations are really extremely nasty and for many of the patients not survivable," he said.

Link: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m50742&hd=&size=1&l=e"

DIME are actually more "humane" that conventional bombs

by Jim

Tue Jan 13, 2009 14:53

Upon detonation of the explosive, the casing disintegrates into extremely small particles (vs. the shrapnel which results from the fragmentation of a metal shell casing). The HMTA powder acts as micro-shrapnel which is very lethal at close range (about 4 meters or 13 feet), but loses momentum very quickly due to air resistance, coming to a halt within approximately 40 times the diameter of the charge. This increases the probability of killing people within a few meters of the explosion while reducing the probability of causing death and injuries or damage further away. Survivors close to the lethal zone may have their limbs amputated (as the micro shrapnel can slice through soft tissue and bone) and may subsequently contract cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma) from the HMTA micro-shrapnel embedded in their body tissue.

IMC Athens

Tue Jan 13, 2009 16:17

According to a poster there Greek people are mobilising to stop The Ship of Death which is due to call to the port of Astakos on 15th January. Hope there is a massive turnout though how exactly they might be able to stop it, I can't imagine.

Two ships on the high seas at the moment - one bearing aid and humanitarian relief which is in danger of being attacked; the other bearing arms and death which it may be impossible to stop.

Crazy world.

Thanks to Greece, for Stop the weapons ship!!!

by Humanation

Wed Jan 14, 2009 04:34

Thanks to the to greece people,,, thanks for all who insist to stop this Dark ship!!! the ship wich was sent to kill Children in Gaza,,, Thank you all,,,,

Stop the ship of death

Fri Jan 16, 2009 13:57

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=558

Have the Greeks refused the ship a port of call?

Mon Jan 19, 2009 03:00

http://palestinian.ning.com/forum/topics/greeks-are-urg...block

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