Elizabeth Murray
Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East in the National Intelligence Council
Message from the DWF President:
“Giving voice to the vulnerable and disenfranchised,” is part of our mission statement. That’s why this edition of DWF NEWS highlights Gaza. Palestinian protests for freedom and justice have brought a torrent of Israeli bullets against defenseless civilians. The annihilation of Gaza and its people is symptomatic of a larger truth: The UN lacks adequate authority to intervene.
The UN Charter is at fault. That’s why we introduce the Constitution for the Federation of Earth to our readers. The geopolitical UN system is rigged by the Permanent 5 Veto nations on the Security Council. The P-5 leaders and their allies are above the law. The International Criminal Court can’t do the job. The UN Charter must be transformed, or replaced. THE SAN FRANCISCO PROMISE is DWF’s call to review the UN Charter.
Source: Consortium News
“Islands Brygge,” an idyllic harbor park that stretches along the east bank of Copenhagen, was alive with a celebratory crowd on Monday as three ships were about to steam towards Gaza. The 2018 Freedom Flotilla—two ships from Sweden and one from Norway — will call at ports in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy before traveling through the Mediterranean Sea to its final destination: Gaza harbor.
Volunteer boat guides explained the history and mission of the Gaza Flotilla movement, which has organized a number of journeys to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Gaza and break the illegal economic siege. An independent U.N. panel and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)say the blockade violates the Geneva Conventions and is illegal. Israel dragged the last Israeli settlers from Gaza and withdrew the Israeli Defense Force in 2005. When the Palestinian Authority lost a 2006 election in Gaza to Hamas, Israel imposed the illegal blockade.
Al Awda (The Return): Ship Murray is sailing on to Gaza. (Photo: Elizabeth Murray)
A considerable number of young Danish people learned about Gaza for the first time and walked away with new political awareness of the injustices suffered by Gaza’s children, who are denied the same carefree life enjoyed by Danish children.
The upbeat music and offerings of traditional Palestinian falafel wraps washed down with Danish beer created a festive atmosphere at the Freedom Flotilla tent Passerby lined up to buy ‘Boat to Gaza’ T-shirts, Palestinian kaffiyehs (traditional checkered scarves) while a Palestinian musician strummed the oud (traditional Palestinian lute) and sang a song of sentimental love for his Palestinian homeland. A local Palestinian man danced and waved the Palestinian flag while the crowd clapped along.
I feel proud and privileged to join a group of international passengers aboard the Norwegian ship “Al Awda,” (“The Return” in Arabic) as we prepared to embark on the first leg of our journey. Along our route we hope to raise awareness and educate people about the plight of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, who are denied the basic freedoms and human rights the rest of us take for granted.
Earlier this month as Gazans held The Great March of Return to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (or the Catastrophe) — in which 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly driven from their land and homes by Israel in 1948 — Israeli snipers cut down peaceful demonstrators one by one, killing hundreds and maiming thousands, generating shock and outrage around the world and providing further incentive for people to support the burgeoning Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).
Targeting Athletes
Murray: Boarding her boat to Gaza.
Israel seems to have reserved a special brand of sadism for Gaza’s athletes — several promising young cyclists and soccer players have become amputees, since Israel refused to allow them to leave Gaza to obtain the necessary medical attention that would have saved their legs. Reports of such heinous acts — documented widely in social media posts by those on the ground in Gaza — have served to further isolate Israel internationally and alienate peace-loving people around the world, who deplore the moral depravity of its government.
Reaching the harbor of Gaza (which means “jewel” in Arabic) should be as simple and straightforward as entering any harbor in Germany, France or Spain. But instead, Israel has denied Gazans use of their own harbor for commerce, trade and travel, and has bombed it on numerous occasions, along with their electric power plants and sewage systems, making life miserable for the local population and rendering 97 percent of the drinking water toxic.
As the Freedom Flotilla embarks on its peace odyssey, it is our hope to bring a light of hope and solidarity to the people of Gaza, who deserve the peaceful, dignified and joyful existence that is their right.
Elizabeth Murray served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East in the National Intelligence Council before retiring after a 27-year career in the U.S. government, where she specialized in Middle Eastern political and media analysis. She is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted
and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new
to everything. Do you have any suggestions for
first-time blog writers? I’d really appreciate it.
This design is wicked! You most certainly know how to keep a
reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job.
I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.
Too cool!
I blog quite often and I really appreciate your
content. This great article has really peaked my interest. I will bookmark your blog and keep checking for new information about once per week.
I opted in for your RSS feed too.
wonderful publish, very informative. I’m wondering why the other experts
of this sector don’t notice this. You must continue your writing.
I’m confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!
Everything is very open with a really clear description of the issues.
It was truly informative. Your site is very useful.
Thanks for sharing!
Hello there I am so happy I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while I was looking
on Google for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just
like to say thanks a lot for a marvelous post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love
the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added
your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the fantastic work.
Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and
I’m inspired! Very useful info particularly the
closing part 🙂 I care for such information much.
I used to be looking for this certain information for a very long time.
Thank you and best of luck.
Hello this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if
blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
Any help would be enormously appreciated!
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road.
Many thanks
Hi there to every one, the contents existing at this website
are really remarkable for people experience, well, keep up the good
work fellows.
When someone writes an article he/she maintains the thought of a user
in his/her brain that how a user can know it. Therefore that’s why this
paragraph is outstdanding. Thanks!
Fastidious answers in return of this matter with real arguments and describing the whole thing
about that.
Heya! I realize this is sort of off-topic however I needed to ask.
Does operating a well-established blog like yours require a lot of work?
I’m completely new to blogging but I do write in my
journal every day. I’d like to start a blog so I can share my
experience and feelings online. Please let me know if you have any kind of recommendations or tips for brand new aspiring blog owners.
Appreciate it!
Hello colleagues, its wonderful post regarding educationand fully explained, keep it up all
the time.
Great delivery. Sound arguments. Keep up the good work.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to understand a lot about
this, such as you wrote the ebook in it or something.
I feel that you just can do with a few p.c. to force
the message home a bit, but other than that,
that is excellent blog. A great read. I will definitely
be back.
Your style is very unique compared to other people I have read stuff from.
Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this blog.
You could certainly see your enthusiasm within the work
you write. The arena hopes for even more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to
mention how they believe. Always go after your heart.
I think that everything posted was actually very logical.
But, what about this? what if you added a little information? I mean, I don’t wish to
tell you how to run your blog, but what if you added a title that makes people
want more? I mean A New Flotilla Steams Towards Gaza | Democratic World Federalists is
kinda vanilla. You might look at Yahoo’s front page and see how they create article headlines to grab people to click.
You might add a related video or a related picture or two to grab readers interested about everything’ve written. Just my opinion, it would bring
your website a little livelier.
Thankfulness to my father who informed me on the topic of
this website, this blog is in fact amazing.
For hottest news you have to pay a visit world-wide-web and on web I found this site as a best web site for
most up-to-date updates.
Keep this going please, great job!
Howdy great blog! Does running a blog such as this require a lot of work?
I’ve virtually no understanding of coding however I was hoping to start
my own blog soon. Anyhow, should you have any suggestions
or tips for new blog owners please share.
I understand this is off subject however I just had to ask.
Kudos!
Hello there! I simply wish to give you a big thumbs up for your excellent information you
have got right here on this post. I will be returning to your blog for more soon.
It’s remarkable in favor of me to have a web site, which is good
designed for my knowledge. thanks admin
Just desire to say your article is as amazing.
The clarity in your post is just excellent and i
can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with
your permission allow me to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work.
This is really attention-grabbing, You’re an excessively skilled blogger.
I’ve joined your rss feed and look forward to in search of more of your
great post. Additionally, I have shared your site in my social
networks
I’m extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it
yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it
is rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d definitely donate to
this excellent blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS
feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this website with my
Facebook group. Chat soon!
I wanted to thank you for this very good read!! I certainly loved
every little bit of it. I’ve got you book-marked to check out new things you post…
I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here.
The sketch is attractive, your authored material
stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an shakiness over that you wish be delivering the following.
unwell unquestionably come more formerly again as exactly the same nearly very
often inside case you shield this hike.
It is in point of fact a great and useful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful information with us.
Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Very great post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your weblog posts.
After all I will be subscribing on your feed and I hope you write once more very soon!
Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I had written and say,
I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to
the whole thing. Do you have any tips for first-time blog
writers? I’d certainly appreciate it.
Found this on bing and I’m happy I did. Well written article.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your blog.
You have some really good posts and I think I would be a good asset.
If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some content for
your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please send me an email if interested.
Kudos!
I really like what you guys are usually up too. Such clever work and
coverage! Keep up the good works guys I’ve added
you guys to my blogroll.
I have learn a few just right stuff here. Definitely value bookmarking for revisiting.
I wonder how so much attempt you place to make the sort of wonderful informative web site.
Wow! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much
the same page layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!
When I initially left a comment I appear to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now whenever a
comment is added I receive 4 emails with the same comment.
Perhaps there is an easy method you are able to remove me from that service?
Many thanks!
Piece of writing writing is also a fun, if you be familiar with afterward you can write or else it is complicated to write.
This info is priceless. Where can I find out more?
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
Many thanks