Israeli navy again attacks Palestinian fishermen off Gaza coast

Tuesday October 14, 2008 02:43 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

On Sunday, Israeli naval boats fired machine guns at Palestinian fishing boats operating within Gaza's supposedly protected sea space. The naval ships fired after circling the fleet of small fishing boats and demanding that they return to shore.

Fishing boats at Gaza port

The report came from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) , a Palestinian-led grassroots nonviolent movement that includes international non-violent activists stationed in Gaza. Over the last two months, the ISM has reported numerous incidents of Israeli naval ships firing at Palestinian fishermen.

Under international law and signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, Palestinian fishermen in Gaza are supposed to be able to fish in a restricted area off the Gaza coast. But in the last year, Israeli naval forces have prevented them from fishing at all, which has had a devastating impact on the Gazan economy. Since the arrival of several dozen international volunteers with the ISM on several small ships that broke the Israeli blockade in August, a number of internationals remain in Gaza, and accompany the fishing boats as they attempt to carry out their trade.

In the incidents on Sunday, Israeli naval ships began firing at fishing boats at around 8:45 am. According to ISM reports, by 10:30 sraeli ships returned to attack the fleet of eight small fishing boats again. They fired high-powered water cannons at the boats, significantly damaging one of them.

The Israeli naval vessels then approached a group of four fishing boats that were hauling in their nets, and fired the high-powered water cannon directly at them. One human rights observer aboard one of the fishing boats was almost knocked overboard. In addition, the force of the water cannon caused the fishing nets of several boats to get tangled.

The attacks continued through the afternoon, resulting in damage to a number of boats: two broken windows, several wooden panels broken from one boat's wheelhouse, and damage to another boat's wheelhouse.

The international human rights workers with the ISM condemned the attacks, as these types of attacks seriously endanger the lives of fishermen aboard their boats engaged in lawful activity. In addition, the use of the water cannon and bullets could cause the fishing boats to sink.

gaza strip | israeli attacks | news report saed at imemc dot org