International ship sets sail to monitor Israeli 'pirates'

EXCLUSIVE PICTURES

A ship carrying a number of international peace activists set sail from Gaza on Wednesday to monitor maritime aggression by the Israeli navy against Palestinian fishermen, who are subjected to daily attacks, intimidation and arrests.

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The team’s main aim is to monitor the violations and communicate directly with their operations personnel back in the port of Gaza, to help the fishermen freely fish in their waters. As part of the Oslo agreement, Palestinians were granted freedom of movement at a distance of 20 miles off the shore of Gaza, but as with everything else, Israel has continued to deprive the Palestinians and have reduced the distance to three miles. This enormously limits the quality and quantity of fish available for the Palestinian fishermen, forcing some of them to smuggle fish from the Republic of Egypt.

There are more than 4,000 fishermen currently in the Gaza Strip, 90% of whom are unable to make an adequate enough living to support their families.

MEMO Photographer: Mohammed Asad