User:AdamTurnbull/sandbox

Gaza’s Ark is an international grassroots civil society campaign challenging the challenging the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip (which has been declared illegal by the International Committee of the Red Cross and by a number of other international bodies  ) through nonviolent direct action, by sailing from Palestine with export products. The campaign's goals include empowering Palestinians through a focus on the export economy and trade rather than a dependency on aid. The campaign funded the rebuilding of a former fishing boat in the port of Gaza to enable it to undertake a sea voyage from the only Mediterranean port closed to commercial navigation. At the same time, Gaza's Ark arranged sales contracts for Palestinian export products, whereby buyers in Europe, North America and Australia paid Palestinian producers in Gaza for their export products. The initiative includes participation from Palestinian civil society in Gaza as well as international solidarity activists from Free Gaza Australia, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, and Americans affiliated with the organizing committees for the US Boat to Gaza and the Gaza Freedom March. Gaza's Ark is part of the ongoing international Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has sent boats to challenge the blockade of Gaza from the outside.

Gaza's Ark has been endorsed by a number of internationally prominent figures including Alice Walker, Desmond Tutu, Vandana Shiva and Noam Chomsky as well as hundreds of other individuals and organizations.

History and timeline

 * May 2012 Gaza's Ark campaign launched, began raising funds and awareness.
 * Summer 2012 campaign endorsed and adopted by Freedom Flotilla Coalition
 * November 2012 Campaign launched publicly in Gaza
 * April 2013 former fishing boat purchased in Gaza
 * Spring 2014: Gaza's Ark announced it would be ready to sail by mid-2014
 * April 2014: Gaza's Ark sabotaged by an underwater bomb attack. Sailing postponed until fall 2014 to allow for repair work.
 * July 7, 2014: Palestinian producers begin to receive payments for Gaza Ark exports.
 * July 11, 2014: Gaza's Ark targeted and destroyed by a navy shelling during an attack on the port of Gaza.
 * September-November 2014: Payments continue to producers for export products ordered via Gaza's Ark.
 * December 2014: Foodstuffs worth more than $14 000, purchased via Gaza's Ark export contracts, are donated and distributed to needy Palestinian families in Gaza