{"id":2572,"date":"2010-05-31T01:40:37","date_gmt":"2010-05-30T17:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/index.php\/2010\/05\/paul-mcgeough-on-board-mv-samoud\/"},"modified":"2010-05-31T01:40:37","modified_gmt":"2010-05-30T17:40:37","slug":"paul-mcgeough-on-board-mv-samoud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/paul-mcgeough-on-board-mv-samoud\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McGeough on board MV Samoud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><\/strong><strong>A global coalition of Palestinian support groups is attempting  to break Israel&#8217;s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Paul McGeough and  photographer Kate Geraghty are on board one of the vessel<\/p>\n<p><\/strong>The Israeli Navy last night engaged the Free Gaza  Flotilla, making a radio call to each ship or boat, warning the\u00a0  captains they were not welcome in Israeli waters, and that they were  putting themselves, their passengers and their vessels at risk by  attempting to proceed to Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>The first call came on a sultry  Mediterranean about 10.30pm, with a sky filled with stars and a stunning  orange moon reflected off oily waters as those on the ships sensed they  were being shadowed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11.45pm: <\/strong>For the past  hour, we have  been observing a series of lights  beyond the six sets of lights that  are the flotilla ships. Were they non-military sea traffic, or was the  Israeli Navy on top  of us? Kate Geraghty uses her biggest lens to  capture an image of what  we can&#8217;t really see. Blown up, it is too  grainy to publish, but at the  same time, clearly, it is a navy vessel.  There are two on either side of  the flotilla, at a distance of more  than one kilometre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.55pm<\/strong>: Reading the call as  intimidation, Free Gaza  Movement chairwoman Huwaida Arraf rejected it  out of hand.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n\n    delayedAds.push(function(){\n        FD.addExternalReferralsAd($merge(FD.baseAd, {\n            id: \"adspot-300x250-pos-3\",\n            iframeId: \"adspot-300x250-pos-3-iframe\",\n            params: $merge($merge(FD.baseAd.params, {\n                    pos: 3,\n                aamsz : \"300x250\"\n        }),getAdParams(\"300x250\"))\n\n            ,addSmall: true\n            ,smallText: \"Advertisement: Story continues below\"\n            })\n        );\n    }\n);\n\n]]><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- cT-imageLandscape --><\/p>\n<div class=\"cT-imageLandscape\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.smh.com.au\/2010\/05\/31\/1524025\/gaza2-420x0.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Activists sleep and pray on the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara  carrying 600 activists, part of the Freedom Flotilla headed to Gaza.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Activists sleep and pray on the Turkish passenger  ship Mavi Marmara carrying 600 activists, part of the Freedom Flotilla  headed to Gaza. <em>Photo: Kate Geraghty<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>10.50pm:<\/strong> The MV Challenger I, renamed  Samoud, which in  Arabic means steadfast, and on which myself and\u00a0  photographer Kate  Geraghty are travelling, received its own blunt  warning not to proceed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.25pm:<\/strong> The flotilla is still in  international waters  when the big Turkish passenger ferry &#8211; carrying  600 Turkish and other  national supporters of the Palestinian people, is  warned by a male  speaker who radios a demand for the nationality of  the ship and of its  passengers and its last port of call.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10pm:<\/strong> In Jerusalem, senior officials of  the Foreign Ministry meet to finalise their plans for dealing with the  flotilla which, the Israeli government has repeatedly warned, will not  be allowed into Gaza.<\/p>\n<p><!-- cT-imageLandscape --><\/p>\n<div class=\"cT-imageLandscape\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.smh.com.au\/2010\/05\/31\/1524026\/gaza3-420x0.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"A  crowd gathers for a meeting at the stern of the Mavi Marmara passenger  boat, part of the Freedom Flotilla.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A crowd gathers for a meeting at the stern of the  Mavi Marmara passenger boat, part of the Freedom Flotilla. <em>Photo:  Kate Geraghty<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>May 31, 2010: <\/strong>The protest business  requires patience &#8211; especially with a plan as audacious as  crashing a  fleet of ships through Israel&#8217;s naval blockade of Gaza. Inevitably, the  slowest boat sets the pace for all. Days at sea can be lost  to  mechanical failure or efforts to pressure governments into making it   difficult for celebrity activists and supporters to get on board. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/world\/tension-builds-as-flotilla-approaches-gaza-20100530-wnjb.html?autostart=1\"><strong>Full  report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>May 30, 2010<\/strong>: Turkish human rights  activist Bulent Yildirim is pleased with his floating  resistance camp  on the Mediterranean. Men dangle fishing rods over the rails; another  flies a kite. There is a  dodgy dealer direct from central casting, who  ambles the decks as he tests  foreign interest in a Turkish property  development. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/world\/protesters-bound-for-gaza-20100529-wmif.html?autostart=1\"><strong>Read  full report.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- cT-imageLandscape --><\/p>\n<div class=\"cT-imageLandscape\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.smh.com.au\/2010\/05\/31\/1524028\/gaza4-420x0.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Activists on the &quot;Amal&quot; passenger boat wave farewell as  they set sail from Aghios Nikolaos in Crete, Greece to join the Freedom  Flotilla bound for Gaza.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Activists on the &#8220;Amal&#8221; passenger boat wave farewell  as they set sail from Aghios Nikolaos in Crete, Greece to join the  Freedom Flotilla bound for Gaza. <em>Photo: Kate Geraghty<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A global coalition of Palestinian support groups is attempting to break Israel&#8217;s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Paul McGeough and photographer Kate Geraghty are on board one of the vessel The Israeli Navy last night engaged the Free Gaza Flotilla, making a radio call to each ship or boat, warning the\u00a0 captains they were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}