NEW YORK – While May’s deadly Israeli attacks on a multinational flotilla of aid ships in international waters on activists bound for the Gaza Strip has helped spread awareness internationally about the urgent need to end the Israeli siege, many feel that there is still much work to be done to inform Americans.

It is with this goal in mind that several U.S groups have come together to raise money in order to send a boat from the country along with others from Europe, Canada, India, South Africa, and parts of the Middle East that are expected to set sail in September or October of this year. The flotilla of boats will be separate from the one that former British member of parliament George Galloway announced at a recent American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) dinner in Livonia.

The organization, which has launched a website at //ustogaza.org/, is hoping to raise $370,000 for the ship and recently held a fundraiser in New York City. Thus far, they’ve raised about $163,000 and are expected to hold more fundraisers in cities across the country. The ship is expected to seat around 40 to 60 people and dozens of people have already expressed interest about making the trip despite the potential dangers illustrated by the last flotilla.  Its name will be “The Audacity of Hope” in reference to the title of U.S. President Barack Obama’s popular book, although organizer Jane Hirschman said that her peers have issues with the way he has handled the situation in Palestine.

“The next international flotilla will be leaving this fall and we think it’s very important that there will be a U.S. presence,” Hirschman said.

“There’s never been a U.S. boat and we think it’s time we stand up to our government and hold them accountable for what has happened; (Gaza is) an open air prison.”

Hirschman said the groups, which include the Free Gaza Movement, Jews Say No, American Jews for a Just Peace, Jewish Voices for Peace, AMP, and others are hoping to draw attention to the United States’ recently passed 10-year, 30-billion appropriations for the Israeli military as well as the suffering of the Gaza Strip’s population of about 1.5 million people.

The New York City fundraiser circled the Hudson River while passing the Statue of Liberty and was decked out with signs and a 30-foot banner declaring the ship’s intention to help break the siege, creating awareness.

U.S. to Gaza adviser, filmmaker, and Free Gaza organizer Adam Shapiro is hoping that awareness continues to grow. He said the organization hopes that politicians and other well known public figures will make it onto the boat and Hirschman is planning to make the ship a cross-section of the American population as well.

“One of the main motivating factors for the group that came together is how important it is for the U.S. delegation to have prominent figures involved to raise awareness so we can get the story told in the U.S. media,” Shapiro said.

“We need this as an effort for reaching out for support from groups around the country to help put this together and once the ship sails, it’s important to mobilize networks and communities to spread awareness.”

Awareness is already beginning to spread about the ship’s expected journey as the New York Times and Washington Post have both written about it on their Internet blogs.

Donations have been strong but the group still has a long way to go. Hirschman recalled one particular donation that stood out during a recent event at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit.

“We were raising money and taking donations in buckets that look like what you would find on a boat when two 13-year-old Gaza girls who were on a speaking tour came over and threw 40 dollars into them,” she said.

“I told them that they should take the money out because of how much they need it but they said “no, you don’t understand how important it is to have a U.S. boat come and break the siege.'”

For more information or to donate, visit the U.S. to Gaza website at //ustogaza.org/.

PHOTO: The New York City-based U.S. to Gaza project was started by numerous organizations in the area with the goal of purchasing a boat to join an expected multinational fall flotilla. They recently held a fundraiser in New York City, proceeding up and down the Hudson River while flying banners in support of the besieged Gaza Strip.    Photo courtesy of U.S. to Gaza