Cyprus Economy

With the participation of foreign commercial visitors from Cyprus, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Syria and Russia, as well as 150 major customers, who represent equivalent stores or retail businesses from the Greek Market, the 6th International Furniture Exhibition, FURNIDEC BUSINESS,... With the participation of foreign commercial visitors from ... (more)

The Cyprus economy needs a new strategic direction if it is to tackle the big challenges facing it in the coming years and the current crisis should be treated as an opportunity to do this.

The latest interim forecast of the European Commission, issued today, points to a stagnation of the EU economy and to a mild recession in the euro area. However, modest growth is predicted to return in the second half of the year. Against the backdrop of a waning growth momentum and continued low confidence, real GDP is expected to stagnate in the EU and to shrink by 0.3% in the euro area in 2012. The Maltese economy, however, is projected to grow by 1%, one of the best performers. Estonia and Slovakia and projected to be the best performers in the eurozone with growth of 1.2%. Divergences between Member States remain pronounced At the level of the individual Member States, growth divergences remain pronounced. In 2012, GDP growth is forecast to be positive in seventeen countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) stagnant in one (Czech Republic) and negative in nine countries (Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia). Growth will be highest in Poland (2.5%),...

Cyprus has launched a second licensing round for offshore exploratory drilling as hopes grow that potential fossil fuel deposit discoveries will buoy the eurozone country's sagging economy, even though the efforts are raising tensions with Turkey.

Cyprus has launched a second licensing round for offshore exploratory drilling as hopes grow that potential fossil fuel deposit discoveries will buoy the eurozone country's sagging economy, even though the efforts are raising tensions with Turkey.

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus - Cyprus has launched a second licensing round for offshore exploratory drilling as hopes grow that potential fossil fuel deposit discoveries will buoy the eurozone country's sagging economy, even though the efforts are raising tensions with Turkey.

The gross investment volume between Cyprus and Russia reached one hundred billion dollars over the last 20 years, while the value of economic and financial ties between the two countries reached 1.3 billion dollars in 2011, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cyprus Vyacheslav Shumskiy has said.

ServPRO, a company providing specialized quality services to International Business Companies and Individuals, establishes a new Business Centre in Nicosia, Cyprus.

ServPRO, a company providing specialized quality services to International Business Companies and Individuals, establishes a new Business Centre in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Cyprus has announced a major gas find which could help boost the country's struggling economy. President Dimitris Christofias said exploratory drilling had revealed a field containing between ...

Cyprus announces a major gas find which could help boost the country's struggling economy, but Turkey has opposed drilling.

NICOSIA, Cyprus - A field off Cyprus where U.S. firm Noble Energy is conducting exploratory drilling holds an estimated 5-8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, a significant find for the small island, the country's president announced Wednesday.

The Verkhovna Rada Chairman will also meet with President of the Cyprus-Ukraine Business Association and Cypriot businessmen.During a meeting between the Ukrainian Speaker and President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus , the sides will sign a memorandum of understanding and cooperation between the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ... (more)

The main challenge for the Cypriot economy, along with the issues of development, unemployment and the banking system, is to achieve fiscal consolidation, Minister of Finance Kikis Kazamias said Thursday, presenting the State Budget for 2012 to the House.

YEREVAN, December 1. /ARKA/. Ameria Group presented Armenian business structure optimization projects to Cypriot businessmen on Thursday at a conference focused on the Armenia-Cyprus agreement signed in Nicosia on January 17, 2011 to avoid double taxation, Ameriabank's press office reports.

Economy Minister Charbel Nahhas prepared for a visit next to Moscow week, discussed bilateral relations with the Cypriot ambassador, and headed a meeting to monitor foodstuff prices Wednesday.

The Cyprus based company H & Z Developments Limited has bought 60% of a Turkish company that deals with real estate investments.

The stagnant Cypriot economy -- weakened by falling revenues, credit ratings and banks exposed to Greek debt woes -- is in need of immediate measures, the IMF warned following an 11-day visit this month.

Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias has said that by supporting the bank system, the real economy of Cyprus and all other European Union countries is reinforced.

An official investigation into a deadly blast on Cyprus which killed 13 people and badly damaged the country's economy has found the Cypriot president bore "serious" personal...

An official investigation into a deadly blast on Cyprus which killed 13 people and badly damaged the country's economy has found the Cypriot president bore "serious" personal...

An official investigation into a deadly blast on Cyprus which killed 13 people and badly damaged the country's economy has found the Cypriot president bore "serious" personal...

An official investigation into a deadly blast on Cyprus which killed 13 people and badly damaged the country's economy has found the Cypriot president bore "serious" personal...

An official investigation into a deadly blast on Cyprus which killed 13 people and badly damaged the country's economy has found the Cypriot president bore "serious" personal...

By Eric Walberg - Cairo

Turkey's foreign policy shift is now in full gear. Having kicked out the Israeli ambassador and rejected the UN Palmer Report, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says that Turkey plans to take its case against Israel’s blockade of Gaza to the International Court of Justice, not alone, but with the support of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union. “The process will probably reach a certain point in October and we will make our application.”

Israel’s refusal to say “I apologise” has already proved to be very expensive, and will continue to reverberate, not just in the hollow halls of the ICC, but off the shores of Israel itself, as Turkish warships accompany flotillas breaking the siege, and when Turkey begins drilling for gas in waters that Greek Cyprus and Israel claim for themselves. It will echo when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who US International Trade Undersecretary Francisco Sanchez said was “like a rock star”, crosses the Rafah border to visit Gaza. No one can mistake Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias for Elton John.

There are many reasons for the deterioration of the once smooth relations between Israel and Turkey. Firstly both nations have moved away from their secular roots -- Turkey with the return of Islam as a guiding principle in political life under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002, Israel with the rise of Likud in 1977 ending the long reign of Labour. Turkey is naturally returning to its traditional role under the Ottoman Caliphate as regional Muslim hegemon, while the Zionised version of Judaism has ended any pretence of the Jewish state being interested in making peace with the indigenous Muslims.

Israel’s relations with both Cyprus and brotherly Greece -- both longstanding foes of Turkey -- have warmed up considerably since Israel killed nine Turks last year and Turkish-Israeli relations plunged. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman became the first such Israeli official to visit Cyprus last September. Their Foreign Affairs people have been meeting regularly since, as it becomes clear that Israel is using Cyprus as its proxy in gas and oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

While no one was looking, Greek Cyprus began exploring for gas off the coast. The project by the Texas-based Noble Energy prompted Erdogan and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) President Dervis Eroglu to hurriedly sign an agreement last week on delineation of the continental shelf, while the leaders were attending the United Nations General Assembly meetings. Ankara announced Turkish Petroleum Corporation has commissioned a Norwegian oil and gas firm to set up its own oil and gas exploration rig nearby -- accompanied by a warship. In Nicosia, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Irsen Kucuk vowed “to make every effort and show every kind of resistance to protect our rights and interests”.

With the announcement of the exploration project, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz suggested the risks for Nobel are considerable. “I do not think they will undertake such a work in such a risky area, from a technical and a feasibility point of view.” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Turkey’s plans were “no bluff”. The US Israel Lobby’s Richard Stone called Turkey’s actions “a reason for war”.

The new friendship between Greece, Cyprus and Israel is a major headache for Turkey, but -- apart from possibly leading to war -- also has other drawbacks for the Greeks, their Cypriot cousins and the EU as a whole. The gas and oil drilling will put paid to the long-suffering attempt under UN auspices to reunite the island. Greek Cyprus has been divided since a Turkish intervention in 1974 triggered by a Greek-inspired coup. UN-sponsored peace talks between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots have stumbled since they were relaunched in 2008.

Davutoglu warned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last week that the Greek Cypriot drilling plan will doom the island to permanent division. “If they claim they have their own area where they can do whatever they want, then, by implication, they accept that Northern Cyprus has its own area as well. This is a shift to a two-state mentality.” In the latest move, the KKTC president proposed to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon this week that there be a mutual freeze in drilling or at least a joint committee to resolve the dispute. The Cypriot leaders will have a tripartite meeting with the Ban in New York at the end of October.

Hopes for Turkey’s accession to the EU are also dashed. Referring to Cyprus taking on the rotating presidency of the EU next summer, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said, “If the negotiations [on Cyprus] do not end positively and the EU hands over the presidency to southern Cyprus, we will freeze our relations with the EU.”

Cyprus says its hydrocarbon search is to the benefit of all Cypriots, but it fails to mention in its press releases that it is working jointly with Israel on this project. In effect, Israel is getting Cyprus to do its dirty work for it, as an Israeli-sponsored rig would be a red flag to the Muslim bull. This recapitulates the cozying up of Israel to Greece in the past year, their new military cooperation, and Israel’s use of Greece this summer to prevent the Freedom Flotilla from setting out from Greek ports to break the Gaza siege. Cypriot President Christofias accused Turkey of being a regional “troublemaker”, failing to point to the Israeli bull in the regional china shop.

While Cyprus and big guns such as Sarkozy and Merkel openly reject Turkey’s admission into the EU, playing to their rightwing anti-immigrant base, sensible voices can still be hear. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Throbjorn Jagland said that Turkey was important for Europe, and that Erdogan’s call in Cairo to create a secular constitution and order in Egypt and Middle East was "of utmost importance". At a Liberal Democratic Party meeting in Birmingham UK, Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said, “The EU needs Turkey if it wants to remain as an important actor. Turkey will help the Union become a global economic player.” Turkey’s economy grew 9 per cent in 2010 as Europe’s slid. Asked to describe the ruling AKP, Simsek said: “In issues such as family we are conservative. In economy and relations with the world we are liberal. And in social justice and poverty we are socialist.”

But already Turkish opinion is turning against kowtowing to Europe, just as kowtowing to the US and Israel is no longer acceptable. Erdogan’s spectacular reception on his visits to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya shows where Turkey is appreciated. It is the big winner in the Arab Spring, leaving the US, Israel and Europe to wonder where they fit in.

Hopes to turn a grateful Libya into a NATO base are vain, as Islamists immediately rose to prominence; much like the Communist resistance did in the aftermath to WWII, after bearing the brunt of the Nazi war machine. French President Nicolas Sarkozy should read his French history, including the humiliating consequences of France’s last dabbling in the region -- its invasion of Egypt in 1956.

Can the West reshape Libya as it did post-WWII Europe to meet its goals of neocolonial hegemony? Not likely, as Turkey was pragmatic enough to get in on the ground and will be able to ensure that Libyans are not duped by their clever Western advisers. Ditto Tunisia and Egypt. The forceful and principled foreign policy moves of Davitoglu are leaving the West and Israel breathless in the new Bermuda Triangle.

Israeli whining about their trashed embassy in Cairo or their unceremonious expulsion from Ankara can impress no one. Just imagine the scenario if Cyprus is replaced by Egypt in the Bermuda Triangle, and a Turkish-Egyptian alliance decides to take on Israel. The current blockade of Gaza will look like child’s play. Egypt controls the Suez Canal, and Turkey -- the eastern Mediterranean. One can only marvel that it has taken over 60 years for Israel’s powerful neighbours -- with 20 times the population of Israel -- to realise their collective power and ability to impose a just regional order without any kowtowing to Washington.

What is surprising is that the AKP faces no domestic opposition to its policy with either Israel, Cyprus or the EU. The Republican People’s Party is even competing with the AKP on who is more anti-Israel, protesting against plans to install a NATO early warning radar. The once-feared Islamists clearly represent the overwhelming Turkish sentiment, and geopolitical dictates are creating a fait accompli.

Willingness to stand up for the nation’s rights, and to stare down the Israeli enemy and the Islamophobic Euros is where it’s at, and there is little the increasingly powerless US can do about it. The US better wake up soon or, like the EU, it will lose its true ally in the Middle East, and will merely speed up the consolidation of a pax turkana, a latter-day caliphate once again led by Turkey.

- Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly - http://weekly.ahram.org.eg. His Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games is available at www.claritypress.com/Walberg.html. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact him at: http://ericwalberg.com.

Ester Levanon, CEO of the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange, will be the main speaker at the annual business lunch hosted by Cyprus-Israel Business Association and the Embassy of Israel in Nicosia at the Hilton Hotel at 1 pm on Monday.

NICOSIA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias on Wednesday promised a parliamentary committee to prepare a second austerity package in an effort to win opposition support for the first one. The Cypriot government on Aug. 10 approved an austerity package plan to shore up the island's flagging economy and ward off bailout by the European Union (EU). Kazamias detailed before the Finance Committee of Parliament his second package, prompting opposition parties to accuse th ...

Nicosia and other cities in Cyprus have seen an influx of some 1,500 Greek companies over the last 20 months, largely a result of the financial crisis in Greece, as the island country grows into an attractive destination for Greek firms and job seekers.

Cyprus will not need a European Union bailout by the European Stability Mechanism, Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said during a Press conference held in Nicosia Thursday, while expressing his disappointment over the rationale of the latest downgrading of Cyprus' economy by Fitch ratings agency.

The European Commission said today there was no discussion on a bailout for Cyprus, after Fitch ratings agency said the country may need financial aid from eurozone partners. "The situation for us has not changed," said Chantal Hughes, spokeswoman for EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. "No aid plan has been discussed," she said. Hughes told a news briefing in Brussels that the Cyprus economy was "fundamentally sound" and that while Nicosia had "decisions to take on reforms," there was "no change in the fundamentals." Her comments came amid a stock-markets downturn pinned on rising expectations of a double-dip global recession fueled by the debt-ridden European and US economies. Credit rating agencies have shown little mercy on Cyprus, a euro currency island struggling to overcome political and financial turmoil after a July munitions blast knocked out the island's biggest power plant, leading to rolling daily power cuts, economic disruption and public uproar. Cyprus, which was already struggling to get its finances in order, was left reeling after the explosion, which all but crushed any hopes of economic...

Tabitha Morgan reports on the power shortages that are compounding existing economic problems in Cyprus.

New Delhi: Investments from tax havens such as Mauritius, Cayman Islands and Cyprus are set to be treated on par with those in sensitive sectors like telecom from the regulatory perspective.

Cyprus . The country's beleaguered leader was scrambling today to form a government amid speculation that the island's ailing economy may soon need to be rescued by the EU.Barely a week ...

Measure is part of cabinet reshuffle after public outcry over deadly blast and declining economy

Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias has asked his ministers to resign as part of a major Cabinet reshuffling prompted by a deadly munitions blast and sour economy.

Over 80 companies invested in countries like Mauritius, British Virgin Islands and Cyprus - popularly known for their liberal taxation regimes, where usually not many questions are asked about investments to and from these markets.

Over 80 companies invested in countries like Mauritius, British Virgin Islands and Cyprus - popularly known for their liberal taxation regimes, where usually not many questions are asked about investments to and from these markets.

By Stuart Reigeluth

There is no lack of creativity, viciousness and connivance in Israeli and European attempts to dissuade and discourage the "Freedom Flotilla II" from leaving Greece for Gaza.

The list is long, too long to enumerate here, of blatant Israeli instances of grotesque repression against Palestinian identity, culture and livelihood. Two of the most famous Palestinian non-violent activists to be killed were the political cartoonist, Naji Ali, shot in the back in London in July 1987 and the short story writer, Gassan Kanafani, killed in a car bomb in Beirut in July 1972.

Then there was the destruction of the Palestinian Research Centre in Beirut in 1982 by the Israelis. Twenty years later in September 2002, the Israeli army destroyed the newly rebuilt Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah. And in December 2008-January 2009, Israel flattened the American International School in Gaza (as well as many other less prestigious buildings)…

Israeli aggression against the Palestinians is therefore a common theme, from the founding Zionist massacres of Palestinians and the razing of hundreds of their villages, to the targeted assassinations of Palestinian intellectuals and politicians throughout the Palestinian era in Lebanon and in Tunisia in the 1970s and 1980s, through the Oslo and post-Oslo years of the 1990s and early 2000s. But now it is different. Although the killing of nine human rights activists in international waters on the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010 was a gross demonstration that things may not be all that different when it comes to Israel's ‘security' and right to ‘self-defence', we can only hope now that Israel will not kill international activists like the renowned US writer, Alice Walker, who has joined the flotilla.

Now things are different — whether because the activists include Palestinians and others that hail from Europe and the United States. Killing some Turks is one thing for Israel and Europe, but killing Pulitzer-prize winners is another entirely. The Palestinians have been effective in putting this in the international media limelight and Israel knows that it cannot get away with another flotilla fiasco.

Or could it? Israel probably could, but would rather avoid the diplomatic and international uproar, so sabotage is the name of the game; sabotage the boats so they don't leave Greece in the first place — hence the unknown scuba-divers that tinkered with the propellers of a Norwegian/Swedish boat and an Irish vessel in the same manner, rendering them ‘un-operational' by international standards.

Though this may be illegal — and cause enough to file for vandalism of European property, for these boats are owned by Europeans — this also shows the restrictions of Israeli actions. Israel may wish the boats would just disappear or suddenly sink in the Greek and Turkish ports, but they can't very well torpedo them. Israel has to resort to other means of intimidation and dissuasion.

The Israeli propaganda machine went into full effect as well and threatened that any journalist that joined the "Freedom Flotilla II" would not be allowed to enter Israel thereafter. It is hard to repress a sardonic smirk at Israeli methods — anyway, CNN, NBC, Al Jazeera and many others are already in company of the international and Palestinian activists.

But there is another tool in Israel's inventory that is perhaps the most effective in persuading European officials to not endorse the departure of the 10-vessel flotilla bound for Gaza and that is the trump card of offering the potential to procure for Europe much-coveted natural gas from sources discovered by Israel in its territorial Mediterranean waters.

Israel is offering to transport the natural gas via underwater pipelines to Cyprus and Greece. This alternative source of energy is much heralded by the Europeans that want to avoid more dependency on Russia, and soon Turkey with the South-Stream and Nabucco pipelines being built. Israeli gas sources fit neatly into Europe's diversification schemes to meet its energy needs. The Tamar gas field off the Haifa coast discovered in April 2009 could provide Israel with enough energy until 2030; then there is the massive Leviathan field that could provide enough energy for the next 60 years, the surplus could be traded and sold to Europe quite easily. And this ties in closely with the European economic crisis and the crumbling Greek economy.

How effective this energy card actually is in deterring the current ‘Freedom Flotilla II' from actually leaving Greece is unclear since the underwater pipeline has yet to be built, but one thing is for sure: Israel does not want those boats sailing for Gaza. In the meantime, the challenges confronting the flotilla depict the entire absurdity and counterproductive actions of Israel and Europe.

For why should international boats not be allowed to travel to Gaza? Wouldn't Europe benefit now of all times from more trade and maritime commerce, even with Gaza — this great historic crossroads of regional traffic? Wouldn't Israel benefit in its security concerns from a more prosperous Gaza? It is so painfully obvious, and yet Gaza remains an international anomaly.

- Stuart Reigeluth is managing editor of REVOLVE magazine. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (This article was first published in Gulf News - gulfnews.com – on July 4, 2011.)

By Charlotte Kates

It has been widely reported and speculated that the reason for Greece's participation in the suppression of Freedom Flotilla Two may be found in its own economic situation - that the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, pushing a devastating IMF/EU austerity plan on the Greek people against their will, is so desperate for international financial and economic support that it is willing to serve as the enforcement arm for Israel's illegal siege on Gaza.

Yesterday, in Vancouver, Canada, a Greek consular official, Georgios Ayfantis, confirmed that this is indeed the case.

In a conversation with a delegation of activists supporting the Tahrir, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, who entered the consulate demanding a meeting about the Freedom Flotilla, Ayfantis asserted that Greece's economic interests were at stake in stopping the Flotilla, saying that an undersea natural gas pipeline and a natural gas liquidizing plant in Crete were at stake.

The offer Netanyahu made followed on Papandreou's visit to Israel in July 2010 - the first visit of a Greek Prime Minister in decades - and is sharply at odds with both the growing movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions from Israel, and Greek public opinion, which even the World Jewish Congress concedes is "clearly pro-Palestinian."

Ayfantis further asserted that the Papandreou government's enforcement of the Israeli siege was about "interests," that Greece was afraid of Israel, and that the U.S. - and the Canadian government of Stephen Harper - is backing Israel completely.

The Papandreou government, of course, is no stranger to representing the interests of the International Monetary Fund and the United States (and its ally and partner Israel) at the expense of the Greek people. Greek social movements have been directly involved in supporting the flotilla, negotiating with police, and raising the cause of Gaza, the Flotilla, and Palestine at the mass protests in Syntagma Square against the Papandreou government and IMF-imposed austerity. Greek trade unionists and shipbuilders are working now to repair the Tahrir, which was damaged by the Greek Coast Guard when slammed into a concrete pier after being boarded and commandeered and returned to shore earlier today. Earlier, stevedores working to load the flotilla's boats were the only workers exempt from the general strike called by Greek trade unions in the last week of June. Greek activists are currently sitting dockside to guard the flotilla's boats from sabotage.

Derrick O’Keefe, one of the Vancouver organizers of the Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign, led a chant at a weekend emergency demonstration, “Solidarity, Not Austerity!” prompting cheers for Greek workers who were participating in support actions for the flotilla in defiance of the Papandreou government.

Indeed, Syntagma Square, which has become the center of the Greek workers' movement, hosted a mass protest for the Flotilla on July 3. The Square has faced severe police violence and brutality, as well as the massive use of tear gas and chemical gases, mainly purchased from Israel, against protesters. With as little regard as the Greek government has shown for Greek laws and the rights of its people, it is of no great surprise that this same government has seen fit to sell out international law, the right to travel, and the humanity of Palestinians in Gaza for a potential pipeline and natural gas liquidizing plant.

However, wrote Foula Farmakides, "If my experience this week shows me one thing, it is that the authorities are afraid of what has happened in Syntagma Square and in other Greek neighbourhoods over the last 35 days. They do not like the fact that people gather and talk about democracy and the economy, issues that are currently under their control. They don't want us to share opinions, instead of just accepting the media propaganda. They do not like the fact that in spite of their aggressive efforts, the demonstrators are showing no signs of intimidation....The Greek people will not give up until the government, IMF and ECB leave their country. Less than 12 hours after we were beaten by the police, we reoccupied Syntagma Square."

In much the same way, Israel fears the flotilla deeply - because the flotilla is a popular representation of international solidarity with Palestinian steadfastness and resistance. For over sixty-three years, Israel has engaged in ethnic cleansing, apartheid, home demolitions, bombings, all-out wars, raids, siege, blockade, mass imprisonment, harsh brutality, and worse. And yet, despite all of these efforts, Palestinians insist on living, on existing, on struggling and resisting. Palestinian refugees insist upon returning home. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza struggle to tear down walls and break sieges. Palestinians inside Israel fight to end apartheid and dismantle the structures of a state based on the denial of their existence and identity.

The flotilla symbolizes growing international solidarity with that steadfastness and creativity. Indeed, the flotilla is so threatening because it is not, fundamentally, a humanitarian aid flotilla - it is a material statement of solidarity and support for Palestinian sovereignty over Palestine's borders, coasts and ports. It is not a gesture of charity, but a clear statement that the siege will fall, and will be broken. Joe Catron, writing from Gaza, said, "Ties between Palestinian organizers and the global network of activists supporting them will emerge stronger than ever before. And the siege – along with the colonial project imposing it – will be pushed one big step closer to their final end."

Indeed, this is not the first time that Israel's desperation to prevent any such assertion of the illegitimacy of their occupation of Palestine's land, seas, and borders from taking place has become visible, nor was last year's massacre on the Mavi Marmara, in which nine activists, including 8 Turkish activists and one American student, were killed in an armed military commando raid on the civilian boat. In 1988, during the first Intifada, Egyptian, Syrian and other Arab actors and artists had joined together with 131 Palestinian deportees forced from Palestine for their organizing in the Intifada, to sail a "ship of Return," named "Al-Awda," to the port of Haifa. The ship was sunk in port in Cyprus on  and three Palestinian leaders, Abu Hassan Qasim, Hamdi Sultan and Marwan al-Kayyali, who had worked on the project were assassinated on the same day, February 16, 1988.

While those who planned to sail on Al-Awda were Arab artists and Palestinian deportees, the name of the ship - "Al-Awda" - and its destination - Haifa - evoked the inalienable, fundamental Palestinian right of return, and the reality that Israel's foundation as a "Jewish state" was built on the bedrock of a stolen Palestinian land and a displaced Palestinian people. In much the same way, the marches of Return on Nakba Day (May 15) and Naksa Day (June 5) this year, mass marches to the borders of Palestine from Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, demanding the right of return of Palestinian refugees, were met with harsh and violent repression, with 20 protesters - simply demanding their right to return to their lands and homes - killed by the Israeli military on each day.

The Flotilla is part of the resilience of the Palestinian people - reflected in the global solidarity movement - that despite nakba after nakba, the struggle and the resistance will continue until the siege is broken, the wall falls, refugees return, Palestine is liberated. And thus, like the general strikes and mass protests of Greece's workers, it strikes fear in the heart of those who would rule through the power of capital and the force of arms – and inspiration in the hearts of those who would see justice and liberation for Greece, Palestine and the world.

- Charlotte Kates is a Palestine solidarity activist in Vancouver, Canada. She is a member of the Organizing Committee of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (www.usacbi.org) and is active with Al-Awda the Palestine Right to Return Coalition - NY (www.al-awdany.org) and the National Lawyers Guild (www.nlginternational.org). She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

By Richard Lightbown

In order to set the context I would like to begin by stating a few facts about Gaza:

- The UNRWA annual report for 2010 found that the unemployment rate in Gaza is 45.2 per cent, which is believed to be the highest in the world.

- For those in work the purchasing power of average monthly wages fell by 7.9 per cent during the last half of 2010. Purchasing power of workers has declined by 34.5 per cent since 2006.

- It is estimated by OCHA that 300,000 Gazans live in abject poverty, subsisting on less than $1 per day.

- Ninety-five per cent of the water supply is considered unsafe for human consumption.

- In June 2011 the Deputy Health Minister of Gaza reported a major crisis in the health service of the territory which was receiving only one third of the required medicines and medical supplies. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported that 178 types of medication including many necessary antibiotics have run out and that 123 types of necessary medical supplies were unavailable to various departments. On 13 June 2011 it reported that the Gaza Strip had not been supplied with medications and medical needs since the previous February. A Norwegian study in that month found that 100 out of 260 cancer patients were unable to receive treatment because the necessary drugs were unavailable.

- Electricity supply is insufficient for the territory, resulting in frequent blackouts. OCHA reported in mid-2010 that less than half of the primary health centres were equipped with back-up generators: three of which were out of commission and while a further eight centres were frequently out of fuel. This left a total of 15 centres out of 57 with back-up electricity supply. This situation is particularly dangerous for dialysis patients who have to be urgently disconnected from treatment during power cuts in order to avoid the formation of blood clots.

- On 23 June 2011 the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that “The easing of the closure in June 2010 has had little impact on the daily lives of the residents in Gaza who continue to face many challenges as a result of the collapse of previously prosperous branches of the economy.”

This extreme situation has been brought about by the Israeli closure policy on the Gaza Strip, to which the response of the international community has been woefully inadequate. On 2 July for example the Middle East Quartet merely described the desperate humanitarian crisis in Gaza as “unsustainable conditions facing the civilian population”. The statement went on to note the “improved conditions over the last year, including a marked increase in the range and scope of goods and materials moving into Gaza, an increase in international project activity, and the facilitation of some exports.”

“Some exports” indeed! The Gisha organization reported on 29 June that not a single truckload of export goods had left Gaza since 12 May. This is despite Israel being a signatory to the 2005 Crossings Agreement providing for up to 400 truckloads of Gazan exports per day to be processed through the Karni Crossing by the end of 2006. In other words, the Crossings Agreement had anticipated that Gaza would have been able to export up to 19,000 truckloads of produce (amounting  perhaps to in excess of 250,000 tons) during this recent 48 day period during which no exports have in fact been permitted.

Meanwhile the total amount of goods passing into Gaza via Kerom Shalom Crossing has been the equivalent of about 2.6 kilograms per person per day for the twelve months since restrictions were eased in August 2010. Not only is this “unsustainable“, but it is totally insufficient for the maintenance of a healthy economy, which has been the intention of the Israeli Government all along of course.

This is the reality, denied by world political leaders who know the facts better than anyone, that has led to the formation of yet another flotilla for Gaza. The response to this initiative has been both nefarious yet predictable. Israeli Government spokespersons have described the Gaza-bound flotilla aid ships as being intended to undermine Israel’s right to defend itself, and a violation of Israeli law. Victoria Nuland from the US State Department called the organizer’s actions “irresponsible and provocative”. The British Foreign Secretary William Hague also called the flotilla “provocative” in a parliamentary reply on 29 June. The Middle East Quartet and the UN Secretary-General suggested that assistance and goods for Gaza should be channelled through “legitimate crossings” and “established channels“.

But to what end would they do this Mr Ban? It would appear that all the construction materials from the last flotilla, amounting to more than half of the 10,000 ton cargo, has never arrived in Gaza. Some of the cargo from that flotilla was reported to have been sent to landfill in the Negev Desert. It would also appear that the sewage pipes which the MV ‘Spirit of Rachel Corrie’ tried to deliver to Gaza are lying in a warehouse in Egypt instead . Meanwhile spare parts legally purchased by Palestinian utilities for the electricity, sewage and water systems in Gaza are deliberately delayed by Israeli bureaucrats at these “legitimate crossings“, while insult is added to injury by charging for the storage of the same items in Israeli warehouses. Where is the “legitimacy” of any of this?

And why do the Quartet and EU Foreign Affairs Representative Baroness Ashdown insist on linking the Gaza flotilla to appeals for the release of Gilad Shalit? The Israeli prisoner of war has indeed been deprived of his human rights for a very long time now. Mr Shalit however is not a child, neither has there ever been any suggestion that he has been tortured or sexually abused. In October 2010 the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner’s Affairs reported that 6,700 Palestinians were held in Israeli custody, of whom 283 were children and 35 were women. A total of 192 were imprisoned without charge, while 820 were serving life sentences. A long catalogue of institutional abuse reported by DCI/Palestine includes sexual abuse and electric shock treatment used against Palestinian children in Israeli custody. (On 29 June 2011 at a meeting in the British House of Commons, Lord Alf Dubs was heckled by a journalist from Israel Radio when he described personally seeing two teenage boys, one of them bewildered and crying, in leg shackles, without legal representation or family support, being brought before a high security military court in the West Bank.) Where is the reference to any of this in international diplomatic comment on the Gaza flotilla?

The flotilla is in fact being demonised and harassed by an orchestrated campaign from Israel that is seriously worried that the bad publicity of last year will be repeated this time around. Then, in a psychopathic attack on the last flotilla the Israeli government managed to do what the Free Gaza Movement had failed to do for two years, by publicising the attempts to break the illegal siege of Gaza across the front pages of the world’s media. Attempts to stop the current flotilla have been more subtle, and so far more successful. Techniques used on the ‘Rachel Corrie’ to disable the propeller have again been used against the ships from Ireland and Sweden. Lies have been put about by Israeli diplomats and others, asserting that there are links between the flotilla and terrorism, that the flotilla is unnecessary, that Israel is the victim in all this and is only doing what any reasonable state would do in the same circumstances. The bigger the lie the better of course.  Thus the Consul General in New York for example declared to Amy Goodman that the entire southern region of Israel has been paralysed by 45,000 rockets that have been fired at it since 2005. At the same time he responded to several questions by saying that he did not have details of events happening in the Mediterranean, and cut short the interview to conveniently go to another appointment.

This time around there has also been more subtle harassment, although an attempt to frighten off journalists by threatening them with a ten-year expulsion from Israel was quickly retracted as a counterproductive measure. More insidious however has been the activities of Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center which is being backed by the Christian Zionist leader John Hagee (who on his own account has sent letters to Americans travelling to Gaza to tell them their voyage could be in violation of US criminal law). Shurat HaDin claims to be a civil rights organization and a world leader in combating terrorist organizations, although Israeli state terror does not seem to one of its targeted activities. Instead the centre has targeted maritime insurance companies, informing them that they could be legally liable for any future terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas. It also submitted a claim to the Greek Coast Guard suggesting that seven of the ships might have been lacking insurance or were improperly registered. (One French company is understood to have declined to insure a boat that was due to join the flotilla from Marseilles, as a result of this mischief.) The global satellite company INMARSAT was also told that is might be liable to massive damages and criminal prosecution if it were to provide “communication services to ships used by suspected terror organizations in the Gaza flotilla”.

But the biggest difficulties faced so far by the ships has been the activities of the Greek and Turkish governments along with those of the Republic of Cyprus. Or as Foreign Minister Lieberman put it “the Quartet, the governments of Greece and Cyprus object to the flotilla, understand the needs of Israel, and are acting effectively.“ Exactly what manoeuvres have occurred behind the scenes can only be speculated on. In the case of Turkey the charity IHH withdrew its support and its ships in June citing more urgent concerns in Syria resulting from the unrest there. Political input has almost certainly been involved here although rumours that the ruling AKP party has been bribed by American inducements to support Turkey as mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks sound far-fetched. Reports in Debkafile that Turkey may be considering an invasion of western Syria in order to set up refugee camps there and prevent the influx of more than 100,000 refugees fleeing persecution in Syria sound more credible. There are already in the region of 30,000 people in Turkey who have fled Syria and creating a safe haven for them in their own country would be an easier proposition for Turkey to deal with. However invading the sovereign territory of another country would need the support of powerful friends, particularly that of the United States, and this would inevitably come at a price. So it would seem possible that the sudden withdrawal of the Mavi Marmara from the flotilla did indeed have some connection with events in Syria and humanitarian concerns for the people there.

The behaviour of Greece has been easier to decipher. The economic problems besetting the country mean that the government there is unlikely to want to fall foul of Israel or its friends in North America and Europe. Natural antipathy between Turkey and Greece have also meant that as Turkish relations with Israel have cooled in the last two years, diplomatic opportunities for Greece have improved. In response the government of Mr Netanyahu has been making overtures to European leaders asking them to provide financial aid to their new ally. As a result Mr Netanyahu was able to learn on Thursday that the Greek government would be imposing a ban the following day preventing the flotilla from sailing to Gaza from its ports. The threatened use of Greek commandos against the rebellion of the US ship ‘The Audacity of Hope’ and the mistreatment of her master John Klusmer, who is reported to be held in shocking conditions in jail while being denied food and water and a visit from the US embassy, indicate that the Greek government is serious in applying this ban.

The compromise offer to ship the cargos in Greek ships to a port in either Israel or Egypt for shipment to Gaza under UN supervision is not an attractive one. While warmly embraced by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem it does not address the siege of Gaza and would merely let Israel off the hook. It is unlikely to be accepted, and a better alternative may yet be available possibly through a legal challenge. Professor Richard Falk, the specialist in international law has declared "Greece has no right to detain foreign-flagged ships in its ports other than for purposes of assuring seaworthiness via timely inspection. And they cannot interfere with 'innocent passage' through their territorial waters, and this passage is definitely innocent."

With ships threatening to run for the high seas (possibly aided by sympathetic harbour masters),the possibility of a legal challenge, and one French boat already on the high seas, destination Gaza, the game of chess may not yet be over. Mr Netanyahu may have won the first round, but his government faces determined opponents who are not only convinced of the righteousness of their cause, but also backed by an increasing body of public opinion that is likely to favour the courageous underdog. The spectre of an Israeli public relations disaster may not yet be over, and the hope still remains that the bureaucrats in the US and Europe may be shown that power of the people can still be a match for immoral political expediency.

- Richard Lightbown is a researcher and writer. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

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