After having broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza earlier this week, two boats filled with activists have left the Gaza Strip for Cyprus. Several Palestinians who have previously been denied exit visas by Israel have joined international human rights workers on the journey.

Among the Palestinians leaving are Saed Mosleh, age 10, of Beit Hanoun, Gaza.  Saed lost his leg due to an Israeli tank shell and is leaving Gaza with his father to seek medical treatment. Also on board are the Darwish family, who will finally be reunited with their relatives in Cyprus.   “I can't believe we’re finally able to leave for medical treatment,” said Khaled Mosleh, Saed’s father. “This is a miracle of God.”   Nine international human rights workers will remain in Gaza to do longer-term monitoring and accompaniment , and one, Dr. Bill Dienst of Omak, Washington, will attempt to cross over into Israel late Friday via the Erez crossing.   The group states in their press release that their action, carrying boatloads of medicine and humanitarian supplies to Gaza, "forced the Israeli government to issue a fundamental policy change regarding their military and economic blockade of Gaza. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs publicly announced that humanitarian and human rights missions to Gaza will no longer be stopped or threatened by Israel. With the end of the Israeli siege of Gaza, Palestinians should be free to exercise their rights without fear of being stopped or killed by the Israeli military."   Yvonne Ridley, a journalist and member for the Free Gaza Movement, summed up her experience in Gaza by saying, “I missed the start of the Berlin Wall coming down by just a few days, but now I know how people felt when they tore down those first few bricks. This has been a huge victory of people over power.”   Since the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement will not be entering Israeli territorial waters, and since they will request an inspection from both the Gaza Port Authority when they depart, and the Cypriot authorities upon their return, they expect no interference on the part of the Israeli authorities when they leave Gaza. By Israel’s own admission, it has no authority to inspect the boats or the passengers when they leave Gaza.

The group has promised to return to Gaza with another delegation, and they have encouraged the United Nations, Arab League and international community to organize similar human rights and humanitarian efforts. The Free Gaza Movement says that they will continue to work to ensure that safe passage between Gaza and the outside world will remain free and open.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday for continued 'peace talks', according to officials.

The talks come just days after a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in which little progress was made toward lifting the roadblocks to peace that Israeli leaders have imposed.

 

The timing also coincides with the release of a report by Reuters News Agency that the US government is providing tax breaks to organizations that fund illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, in direct violation of the statements made by Rice and George W. Bush.

 

According to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, the meeting will be to "review the negotiations and the final status issues".  Israel agreed in 2000 to stop the expansion of settlements on Palestinian land, as part of the peace talks at that time.  But since 2000, settlements have increased 20%, and the Israeli Wall has cemented the nation's claim to land seized from the Palestinians by force.

 

With little progress, and blatant violations of signed agreements by Israel, analysts predict little progress will be made by Sunday's talks.

 

Olmert, facing charges of corruption, may soon be forced to step down as Prime Minister.

Sources close to the Hamas movement reported on Friday that Palestinian security forces, loyal to president Mahmoud Abbas and his Fateh movement, arrested 11 members and supporters of Hamas in the West Bank.

In Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested Sameh Abu Shamt, Marwan Esteytiyya, Afeef Hbeisha, and Bilal Esthtiyya, all from Tal village, and also arrested Qasem Omar Sa’ada from Aseera Al Shimaliyya village.

In Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested Sheikh Izzat Shalda.

In Bethlehem, security forces arrested a journalist identified as Abdullah Adawi after he was ordered to head to a security center for interrogation.

In Qalqilia, in the northern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested Mohammad Yassin, and Sa’ad Hammad.

In Tubas, security forces arrested Bara’ Al Einabousy and Hamdan Abu Motawe’.

Moreover, Hamas sources said that the security forces are still holding captive Abdul-Rahman Ashour, Mohammad Abu Al Izz, and Nasr Al Beitawi, the son of legislator Hamid Al Beitawi. The three were arrested more than a month ago.

Palestinian journalist, Awad Rajoub, 30, was recently released from a Palestinian prison where he was detained and interrogated by Palestinian security forces. He said that he was subjected to mistreatment, and was facing harsh conditions for over a month.

Rajoub told reporters on Friday that he was in solitary confinement for more than fifteen days in a bad cell and that he had to use his own shoes as a pillow.

 He added that at one point during interrogation his head was covered with a bad-smelling sack which also barred him from seeing the interrogations and anybody around him.

Rajoub also said that he could hear other prisoners being tortured and that he knows that some of them were transferred to hospital due to torture.

 The reporter works with the Arabic news service of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera. He was charged with “writing provocative reports that are considered as undermining national interests”.

 “I was confronted with several reports that I wrote, they believed that these reports would indict me”, he said, “They just do not know how the press functions in a democratic society”.

He also said that Palestinian reporters are being arrested, harassed and threatened in broad daylight, adding that this issue indicates that “something wrong is happening”.

Rajoub also said that the interrogators said that he interviewed political leaders who have views that are not coherent with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah. He told the interrogators that as a journalist, he has to interview different people with different opinions and affiliations regardless of his own opinion.

 His family filed a petition to the Palestinian High Court in Ramallah last week and asked the court to order his release as his imprisonment is not legally justified and the security forces had no jurisdiction in civilian issues.

Lawyer Bothaina Doqmaq, head of the Mandela Institute in Palestine, reported on Friday that the detainees in several sections and in solitary confinement in Al Jalama Israeli prison and interrogation center started a hunger strike on Thursday in protest to the harsh living conditions and the administration’s rejection to move them to ordinary sections although they ended their interrogation period.

Doqmaq stated that the detainees held talks with the administration to remove them from their solitary confinement but to no avail.  

She added that the detainees are deprived from their visitation rights and cannot even meet with representatives of the Red Cross.

The detainees complained of bad treatment, bad food, and the lack of medical attention and treatment especially since there are several detainees who are sick and need urgent attention.

Doqmaq appealed international and human rights organizations, especially the Red Cross, to intervene and act to remove the detainees from solitary confinement.