Breaking the siege on Gaza
Riz speaks with two politicians who joined activists on a ‘blockade-busting’ boat.
The world’s attention has turned to Gaza, where Israel has launched an all-out assault that is now in its 12th day.
On Wednesday Riz speaks with two politicians who had been concerned about the mounting humanitarian crisis in the Strip long before the current war.
They had participated in a small effort set up by five American peace activists to take a boat carrying medical supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip starting last August.
The ‘Dignity’ was launched by the Free Gaza movement, which wanted to break the international siege on the Gaza Strip, imposed by Israel, the US, and the international community after Hamas took control of the Strip a year and a half ago.
British independent member of parliament, Clare Short, made the trip in November. She was secretary of state for international development in the cabinet of prime minister Tony Blair, until she resigned in 2003 in protest over the Iraq war.
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And former US congress woman Cynthia McKinney was on the boat on December 30, when the Israeli navy rammed the ‘Dignity’ – almost destroying it – and forced it away from Gaza.
McKinney ran for US president in November, representing the Green Party. She was the first black woman to have represented Georgia in the US congress.
This episode of the Riz Khan show aired from Wednesday, January 7, 2009.