Protesters in Oakland said they had successfully prevented the ship from being unloaded, but subsequent media reports suggested the ship had feigned a return to sea before returning to dock where its cargo was unloaded overnight.
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| Photo: Dean J. Koepfler/AP |
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By Renee Lewis | August 25, 2014
Palestinian rights activists in Seattle plan to picket the Port of Tacoma on Monday in an attempt to block a commercial Israeli cargo ship from unloading its merchandise.
The action follows a similar protest last week that managed to prevent the delivery of good for days from a vessel seeking to dock in Oakland, California.
Block the Boat organizers said the Seattle-bound ship, which is owned by Israel’s largest shipping company Zim, is schedule to arrive in the Port of Tacoma on Monday afternoon. Activists plan to block dockworkers from entering the port and prevent the ship from unloading, they said.
Organizers said the action is part of a wider Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement, modeled after a similar effort targeting South Africa under apartheid. In a press release, they describe the actions as economic sanctions imposed in response to the current siege of the Gaza Strip and the ongoing occupation of Palestine.
Over 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on Gaza, most of them civilians and many of them young.
Further south, Oakland activists began their blockade on Aug. 16 and prevented the unloading of a Zim ship for days. Activists said their aim is to shut down all West coast ports to Israeli shipping; with activists in Oakland, Seattle, and Vancouver taking part in their own blockades.
Protesters in Oakland said they had successfully prevented the ship from being unloaded, but subsequent media reports suggested the ship had feigned a return to sea before returning to dock where its cargo was unloaded overnight.
Seattle organizers, aware of that tactic, said that they would have overlapping shifts of activists waiting at the Tacoma port in case the ship docked off-schedule, with the first protesters slated to arrive at 4 p.m. Monday with shifts continuing overnight.
“In Oakland, Zim released a false press release in order to redirect protesters — instead of moving to the port of Long Beach as stated the Zim Piraeus returned to the port of Oakland at a different terminal,” Block the Boat organizers said in the release.
“We are checking multiple sources of information trying to update with the most accurate information, but we know they are actively trying to deceive us.”
In 2010, Seattle protesters managed to block a Zim cargo ship — an action organized in response to Israel’s deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-led humanitarian flotilla aimed at delivering aid to the occupied Gaza Strip. Israeli naval commandos killed 10 people in the mission meant to stop the aid from entering Israeli-controlled waters around the besieged territory.
Zim Shipping did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment. Al Jazeera also reached out to The Anti-Defamation League and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) but did not receive comment at the time of publishing.
Read original post here: Seattle protesters aim to block Israeli cargo ship over Gaza siege
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