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September 9, 2014<br>
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<b><big>Vancouver Canada Blocks Israeli Ship: Tremendous
Victory</big></b><br>
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In a four-day standoff pitting human rights groups and
organized labor against Israeli shipping giant Zim, the giant
was defeated today in Vancouver, Canada.<br>
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The huge container ship Zim Djibouti first docked at the
high-tech Deltaport facility on September 5, only to discover
that the workers had agreed to respect a picket line set up by
human rights advocates. The coalition of picketers, under the
name Block the Boat Vancouver, were trying to prevent the
unloading and loading of the ship, as a solidarity protest
against Israel's 47-year blockade of the port of Gaza and the
recent Israeli sttack on Gaza that killed more than 2000
Palestinians, mostly civilians, as well as 72 Israelis, almost
all soldiers.<br>
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The ship then returned to open water along the Pacific coast
and stayed there several days, until midnight last night. At
that time it set course for Port Angeles, on the US side of
the passage to Vancouver. By unloading at an unexpected US
port, the company apparently hoped to circumvent the blockade.<br>
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It didn't work. Perhaps the logistics of arranging passage by
land through another country for the hazardous cargo on board
was too much, or perhaps the docking facilities were
inadequate for the huge ship, but it turned back and returned
to the open sea. At the time of this report, it has still
failed to declare a new destination and arrival time.
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This is a huge victory for the Vancouver coalition,
undoubtedly costing Zim enormous sums in fuel, delays, and
having to carry excess cargo to unintended destinations,
impeding the other operations. It also continues the string
of Block the Boat actions at ports on the US west coast that
began with the August picket in Oakland, California of
another Zim ship that ended with similar results.<br>
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Let's all congratulate Vancouver and encourage ports all
over the world to refuse Israeli ships and ships from
Israeli companies. Customers will have to think twice about
using an Israeli line for their cargo, as delivery becomes
less certain. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a
world wide campaign against Zim and all other Israeli
shipping, until Israel reconsiders its policy of blocking
all shipping to and from Gaza.<br>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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