Op-Ed: New Zealand Human Rights Worker on Gaza

When I was kidnapped in Iraq in 2005, virtually all of Palestine called for my release, and Israeli and Jewish groups expressed concern for my well-being in private.

My involvement in the Israel-Palestine conflict began when I accepted a role as a software engineer at a New Zealand ‘defence’ contractor. I was assigned to work on a contract to supply the Israel Defense Forces with infantry training and simulation equipment. The New Zealand Government denied the company an export order on the grounds that the export might increase human rights violations and exacerbate regional tensions. The company simply bypassed New Zealand export law by electronically transferring its intellectual property to its parent company in the United States, which in turn manufactured the equipment for export to Israel.

With a measure of irony, I travelled to Israel during my annual leave to receive training in human rights work from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). I will never forget walking through a sea of smiling kindergarten children in Nablus cradled by bullet-ridden street façades. Having come to appreciate the nature of Israel’s military occupation, not only did I then know that I had to resign, but also that I had to atone for my choices.

While attempting to return to the OPT in 2008 to undertake further human rights work with ISM, I was refused entry into Israel, held incommunicado, denied consular and legal representation, and removed by the Israeli authorities on the pretext of being a “threat to the security of the State of Israel”. One of my injuries, a torn tendon, took several months to heal. Even though Canadian Government described the details of my mistreatment as “troubling”, they appear to have done nothing more than inform Israeli authorities of their concerns surrounding the case.

Upon returning home, I was invited to take part in the very first boat-to-Gaza initiative organised by the Free Gaza Movement, but still recovering from the ordeal I was unable to take up the offer. And so, it was with a sense of honour that I accepted the invitation to join the Canada Boat to Gaza as a participant of Freedom Flotilla 2 (FF2), an extraordinary global effort to challenge Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza.

A maritime blockade is an act of war, as Israel more than any other country insists. Israel initiated two wars, in 1956 and 1967, charging that it was defending itself from a very limited blockade—nothing remotely resembling the cruel and savage blockade of Gaza—initiated when Palestinians committed the crime of voting ‘the wrong way’ in a free election in January 2006. The ICRC has declared the blockade “constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law”, and according to the Goldstone Report it is a possible crime against humanity.

The blockade is part of an overarching policy to achieve the total separation the Gaza Strip from the West Bank in order to prevent a solution based on international consensus, but instead to dictate an arrangement based on Israel’s military prowess. The blockade not only entails the suffering of the Palestinians of Gaza, but also the murder of Palestinian statehood.

The political will of governments to enforce international law is lacking in this case. Through the act of attempting to breach the Israeli naval blockade, FF2 aims to create political will by raising international public awareness public pressure. Additionally, primarily as a symbolic gesture, the Canada Boat to Gaza will be conveying medicines and human rights defenders to Gaza, and if successful in reaching Gaza, exporting Gazan goods.

Our training and preparation for the flotilla has been thorough but emotionally taxing. I do not want to be kidnapped in international waters and beaten, or worse, murdered. Despite that, I will be accompanying individuals for whom I have the deepest respect and admiration for their perseverance and dedication to social justice for all: Israeli journalist Amira Hass, and Kevin Neish and journalist Hassan Ghani, survivors of the first flotilla raid, New Zealander Vivienne Porzsolt and many others.

We have learned from Australian sources that several embassies in Tel Aviv, possibly New Zealand officials as well, met with Israeli authorities on 15 June. At this meeting Israeli authorities announced that any vessel intending to breach the Israeli naval blockade will be seized even if in international waters and forcibly taken to Ashdod Port. Ashdod Port will be declared a closed military zone and no consular access will be permitted. FF2 participants will either be deported or transferred to a prison. Limited consular access will be afforded to participants at the prison but no consular access will be permitted at the airport prior to deportation. The Israeli Government is unlikely to return our belongings, including any evidence of human rights violations. Israel like New Zealand has a duty to defend its citizens, but Israel has no right to raid our ships to enforce an unlawful blockade.

Nevertheless, the success of the upcoming flotilla and those to follow will be measured not by whether we reach Gaza, but by the actions of New Zealanders at home to resist our Government’s support of Israel’s crimes and to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Harmeet Singh Sooden is a graduate of the University of Auckland and a licensed professional engineer. He works in New Zealand as a technical writer for a software development company in the healthcare sector. In 2005, he was kidnapped while on an international human rights delegation in Iraq and held for nearly four months. He has joined the Canada Boat to Gaza (www.tahrir.ca), the Canadian contingent in Freedom Flotilla 2.

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