By John Ballard
Richard Dana is a journalist/blogger based in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. At this writing he is on the US ship in the second Free Gaza Flotilla.
This post is my curating of his Twitter messages via Chirpstory..
Part One is here.
Stay tuned for everything that happens in Athens. I am now tweeting from the US boat to Gaza. The SAT communications are now online. Let's hope that it stays that way!
Media are inspecting the cargo of the US boat as we speak. The cargo is 1000s of letters from Americans to Gaza @USBOATTOGAZA If this Internet connection stays, I will be tweeting throughout the entire journey.
The press are turning this boat upside down. Right now I count about 15 journalists on the scene not including the embedded ones .Israeli channel ten is now doing an interview on the US boat to gaza. They have inspected the ship. I have also seen French and Greece press on boat surveying the boat and checking its cargo. I have done my first check of the boat and I have not seen any 'chemical substances' that they Israeli have claimed were on board
The Israeli TV crew has been the most through so far. Press conference to begin any media. The Israeli news crew has taken one passenger who is narrating the tour through the boat. They are now in the haul of the boat. 86 year old Holocaust survivor Heddy Epstein, who is traveling on the US boat to Gaza is about to go live on Democracy Now.
The boat is already rocking. I can just imagine the sea sickness. Press conference is going to begin in five minutes. Organiers appeal to Greek government to protect their boat from an act of 'terrorism" citing the Irish boats problems Organizers demand that their boat be allowed to sail from Athens in front of international pressure
Press conference ongoing. Stay tuned for more updates. I just filed a report with 972 from the boat. will be posted live soon with all details from the Press conference. For the record, I have not spoken with any of the Dutch journalists. The Dutch boat, I understand, is not in Athens. Organizers are worried now that the addressed of the US boat in Athens is public that any person with strong feelings could come here . I am on assignment with the US boat and I spend my time observing them. I have not had the chance to embed with other boats. I have had the chance to speech with organizers of the entire flotilla but my focus is on the US boat and what is happening in Athens.
Israeli PM is now confirming the Greek participation in pressuring the flotilla. Haaretz breaking the story and it is only in Hebrew http://t.co/UUSO2hh This is a very serious event. Israeli Prime Minister is confirming that the Greeks have pressured the flotilla ships in Greek ports.
The story about the US boat to gaza just keeps growing and growing http://t.co/eRZzpY9
AP is now breaking the story that the American boat may sail for Gaza without a Greek permit. Organizers on the boat were planning to leave port in Athens today during the press conference in order to have the media watching. However, the plan was scrapped moments before the press conference because of concerns raised by the Capitan. Greek harbor have expressed solidarity with the US boat according to organizers.
I am starting to think that this boat is not leaving port. The pressure on them is too strong that I think they might now leave tomorrow, US boat will hold a media event at their port in Athens None of the journalists are holding their breaths that we are leaving.
Well, I have to start looking for flight tickets back. I have been in Greece almost two weeks and the pressure on them to sail is growing I can't stay here forever. CNN and CBS are jumping ship tonight if nothing happens today. I assume the Times will follow suit Perhaps something interesting will take place today and no one will have to leave. I am going to the boat this afternoon for a press confer
To be clear, I have not left reporting on the US boat to Gaza just yet. I am only starting to think that the pressure has worked on the boat. I do not think that they are going to leave port and I am personally not going to sit here and watch a boat still in port. My decision will be later this afternoon as to whether I stay or whether I go. Organizers tell me 'surprises' will take place this afternoon I think that flotilla is going to be decided tonight. It is my feeling based on the air
I expected a lot of things before coming to Greece but to be honest I did not expect this type of pressure on the US boat. I am naive.
I am putting the finishing touches on my latest dispatch for @thenation Look for it sometime today, I believe Due to the up and down of news from Athens, I have done my best to bring some level thinking and comment to this Nation piece I do hope that you all will enjoy it and share with your friends on social networks.
?Excellent piece on Greece posted in @thenation Greece in Crisis: Protest, Violence and Necessity | The Nation http://bit.ly/k2SLIZ
?More great reporting from Greece in @thenation Greece in Debt, Eurozone in Crisis | The Nation http://bit.ly/krdJJe
?Amira has a good, up to date piece about the flotilla while in Greece http://t.co/q8ld1Cs
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A good thing for about this assignment has been to see the true colors of racism of so many in Israeli media/twitter world I can't tell you how many 'liberal Zionist/peace now' people have openly called for incitement against unarmed civilians and journalists It is a horrible commentary on the level of discourse inside the Israeli press and it is hardly surprising.
There is significant and understandably frustration among press here about information regarding departure from Athens. It changes everyday It has been interesting to watch the attacks on my develop on twitter throughout the week They started as somewhat coherent and now most attacks simply do not make sense. They all have no grounding and simple pathetic to read If an Israeli boat was attacked in port in Turkey, what would the reaction be? Imagine the rhetoric that would pour out of the US...
My point is that the ability to have rational debate about this Flotilla and the Israeli reaction is very difficult at this moment Israel says the flotilla activists are violent. Then military officials deny the allegations but everyone's mind is already made up. In Israel you can quote 'unnamed military sources' and the information is accepted as true fact. This is horribly unhealthy for a democracy.. Anyone that cares for Israeli democracy should be afraid at how the Israeli press has handled the flotilla. Right, left or center.
Keep in mind, I have been observing passengers on the US boat for the last week. I have been interviewing them and watching them mix So when reports about the boats went to press in Israel I was able to check with facts on the ground.
I just got word from ppl on the US boat that there is now a heavy police/coast guard presence around the US boat. I am going down there. Organizers believe that the Greeks have read yesterday's AP piece and they are going to physically block the boat at port. Yesterday, organizers announced that they would leave regardless of Greek approval b/c of the Israeli influence in Greece. If they try to leave, they are telling me that the Greeks might use force to stop the boat. Make sure to watch the news That is the update as it stands right now. Greek commandos are threatening the US boat with guns pointed at passengersthis afternoon
Naturally, I will be tweeting from the boat as well. If the Greeks use force against this boat it is going to be a story. A question for me: Why would Greek police use force to stop this boat? Where are the orders coming from?
OK, I am on my way down there now. Tweets to resume as soon. I have just arrived at the ship. The organizers are telling the truth. I can count two Greek coast boats roughly 100 meters from the ship. Showdown #athens. @USBOATTOGAZA passengers prepared to break the Greek blockade of their ship. They are making large signs now in Greek
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Sorry to leave you hanging, reader, but that's all I have at the moment.
Go here to catch up and continue the saga.
Joseph Dana's most recent Tweet...
That is the update as it stands right now.
Greek commandos are threatening the US
boat with guns pointed at passengers
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Update: Making a potentially long story short, Greek military units forced the ship back to port where it is being held for some reason or other.
But the situation is best summed up by two tweets.
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