BILBAO, Spain (IPS) — As the second Freedom Flotilla, made
up of some 10 ships carrying 1,000 activists from 20 countries, gets ready to
sail for the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities are stepping up their
threats.

The Israeli government is putting pressure on other
Mediterranean countries from which the ships may sail late this month, although
the exact date and place have not yet been revealed for security reasons.

Israel has warned foreign diplomats in Tel Aviv to get ready
to “face the consequences,” says a statement issued by the Rumbo a
Gaza (Sailing to Gaza) Spanish civil society initiative.

The Israeli daily Haaretz revealed that the Israeli Defense
Forces held a large drill for special commandos and snipers to prepare to
intercept the flotilla.

Israel Navy commander Adm. Eliezer Marom said Jun. 19 that
“The Navy has prevented and will continue to prevent the arrival of the
‘hate flotilla’ whose only goals are to clash with IDF soldiers, create media
provocation and delegitimize the State of Israel.”

The boat that will carry 50 people from Spain – including
this reporter – was named Gernika and will carry to Gaza a loose interpretation
by Basque Country artists of the famous painting that Pablo Picasso painted in
1937 after German and Italian forces bombed the Basque village of Gernika (or
Guernica) in northern Spain.

The Spanish government has avoided making statements on the
issue. But Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez said the best way to help Gaza is
by means of diplomatic pressure, not flotillas.

“We strongly advise against taking part in the Rumbo a
Gaza initiative because of the grave danger that participants in the flotilla
could face,” says a warning on the Foreign Ministry web site.

Israel started tightening its stranglehold on the Gaza Strip
after Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian elections, and imposed a full
blockade in subsequent years, especially after the Operation Cast Lead military
offensive launched in late 2008.

Israel argues the blockade is necessary for security
reasons, while human rights groups counter that the siege amounts to collective
punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million mostly civilian residents and that it is
illegal under international law.

Israeli authorities have prepared prisons to hold the
participants of the flotilla, who will reportedly be arrested and thrown in
jail for violating the blockade.

“Last year, 15 days before setting sail, we knew that
if the international community did not act, a massacre would take place – which
ended up happening,” activist Manuel Tapial, coordinator of the Rumbo a
Gaza initiative in Spain and one of the participants in the 2010 flotilla, told
IPS.

In the early hours of the morning on May 31, 2010, Israeli
commandos firing machine guns air-dropped from helicopters onto the first
Freedom Flotilla’s flagship Mavi Marmara, killing nine and injuring over 50 of
the civilians on board.

The rest of the 600 passengers were arrested and held
without charges for a day and a half in Israel before they were deported.

There is no legal basis for Israel to intercept ships and
prevent them from delivering humanitarian supplies, say experts in
international law.

“Israel only has jurisdiction over its territorial
waters of 12 nautical miles, and neither the waters off Gaza nor international
waters are under its authority,” University of the Basque Country
professor of international law Juan Soroeta told IPS.

“No U.N. resolution authorizes the Gaza blockade,”
said Soroeta. “On the contrary, it is an illegal, unilateral measure
imposed by force by Israel in the context of an equally illegal occupation of
Palestinian territory.”

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1860, adopted on Jan. 8,
2009, calls for “the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza
of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment.”

But reports from the international humanitarian
organizations working on the ground there confirm that this point is not being
fulfilled.

“We have repeatedly urged our governments and
international bodies to use observers to inspect the ships and the humanitarian
cargo and passengers they are carrying, both at port and at sea, but no one has
yet responded to this proposal,” Tapial said.

The Mavi Marmara was expected to take part in Freedom
Flotilla II, but its owner, the Turkish Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), said
the repairs of damages caused last year have not been completed and the ship is
not in a condition to make the trip.

There has been speculation as to whether this decision has
anything to do with secret talks held by Turkey and Israel.

But the fact that the flotilla is going ahead undermines the
argument that the campaign was organized by the IHH, an Islamic charity, which
Israel accuses of having links to terrorism.

At the same time, within Israel, “a public debate is
taking place on what to do, with some arguing that we should be allowed in
because we are civilians only carrying humanitarian aid, while the blockade,
according to Israel, is only against weapons smuggling,” Tapial said.

Regardless of the difficulties, the Freedom Flotilla II –
Stay Human, named in honor of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni, who was
murdered in April in Gaza, aims to deliver its humanitarian aid, including
construction materials, medical supplies and educational materials.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)
“informed us in a letter that they could not receive our deliveries, so
that Israel could not accuse them of being part of the conflict,” Tapial
said.

“But if we make it there, I am confident that they will
accept the material, and that they will distribute it equitably,” he
added.

The 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid carried by the first
Freedom Flotilla was confiscated by Israel along with the personal effects of
the passengers and the reporters’ equipment.

None of the items were ever returned, making it “booty
in the best pirate tradition,” said Spanish lawyer Enrique Santiago, who
was involved in preparing the charges against Israel for the assault on the
flotilla in international waters.

International support for the second flotilla has only
grown, with backing from thousands of personalities from around the world, such
as Nobel Peace Prize-winners Rigoberta Menchú of Guatemala, Mairead Maguire of
Northern Ireland, Jody Williams of the United States and Shirin Ebadi of Iran.

The four prominent peace and human rights activists called on U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to urge the governments of the countries
concerned to take the necessary measures to guarantee the safety of those
taking part in the mission.