The European Campaign to End the Siege On Gaza (ECESG) has announced that “Women for Gaza”, the ECESG womens’ affiliate, has plans for its own ship to Gaza which will sail in the next weeks:
The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza , based in Brussels , announced that it had been communicating with “Women for Gaza” EU based organisation , to set a new women aid ship on sail to Gaza from Europe . The ship is going to be loaded with humanitarian aids and medications in need by women and children in the Gaza strip . ECESG said , one of the founders of the Freedom Fleet Coalition , in a statement today : ” a new ship boarded by women mostly from the EU is likely to sail to Gaza , in an effort to break the siege imposed on the Gaza strip for the fourth year in a row ” , it added that sailing to the Gaza strip is scheduled in the coming few weeks . A women’s initiative group , member of ECESG , appealed to women across the globe who refuse to subdue to oppression and tyranny to join the ship , it also called upon ” all women , who are willing to make their voices heard , to support this ship by all means” . ….The ship , named “Mary” , is going to carry on board tens of Muslim and Christian arab and non-arab women
The website of Women For Gaza indicates that one of its organizers is Heba Alhelbawi, possibly a relative of Kamal El-Helbawi a Muslim Brotherhood leader living in the U.K.
A NEFA Foundation report documents the numerous ties between the ECESG and the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), essentially the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. In addition to his role as charman of the ECESG, Arafat Madi (aka Arafat Madi Shoukri) is the executive director of the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) which has also strong ties to the global Muslim Brotherhood. Two PRC directors are also directors of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), generally regarded as part of the UK. Muslim Brotherhood. PRC director Ghassan Four is also a Trustee of INTERPAL, a key member of the Union of Good and part of the Muslim Brotherhood Hamas fund-raising network . PRC director Zaher Birawi is a Trustee of Education Aid for Palestine (EAP), also a part of the Union of Good. Mr. Birawi is also head of programming for Al-Hiwar TV which frequently features MB/Hamas individuals and organizations and was founded by Azzam Al-Tamimi, a U.K Muslim Brotherhood leader and close to Hamas. An Israeli web site, known to be close to Israeli military intelligence, has reported that Mr. Birawi, along with another PRC Trustee, are “past Hamas operatives who found refuge in Britain in the early nineties.”
The PRC has also been the co-sponsor of several conferences in Europe associated with Hamas. For example, the PRC was the co-sponsor of the Sixth Palestinians In Europe Conference which featured Nihad Awad of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), former US. Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammad Akram Al-Adlouni, and Raed Salah, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel and close to Hamas. The 2009 conference was addressed via video link by Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.