FreePalestineMovement.org
Host: Jeannette LaFeve
Previously Aired On: Tuesday, June 8, 2010 – Listen to the Show!
Joe Meadors, Gene St. Onge, and Janet Kobren of the Free Palestine Movement organization were part of the U.S. Delegation Headed for Gaza with International Aid Flotilla in May of 2010. Ambassador Edward Peck and Dr. Paul Larudee completed the 5 member delgation.
When the flotilla came under attack by Israeli forces it made international news and incurred worldwide outrage.
The people of the Gaza Strip have been under Israeli occupation and barred from trading by sea for 43 years. Since 2006 the 25-mile-long enclave has been subject to an ever-tightening Israeli siege, which has permitted only a trickle of supplies to enter. After the devastating Israeli assault of December 2008-January 2009, which wrecked the territory’s infrastructure and economy, the international community pledged $4.5 billion in reconstruction assistance, but almost none of it has yet reached Gaza.
JANET KOBREN, co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement, is a Jewish American living in Oakland, California, a former public high school math teacher and information technology professional who has worked on numerous social justice, environmental, housing justice, democratic media, and human rights issues. She was a member of the Free Gaza Movement Steering Committee and worked behind-the-scenes on FGM’s first successful voyage by two small boats that broke the siege of Gaza in August 2008. 
JOE MEADORS resides in Corpus Christi, Texas and lived in Saudi Arabia for over 20 years. He is a survivor of the June 8, 1967 attack on the USS Liberty and for decades has been in the forefront of the effort to persuade the US government to conduct an investigation of the attack. The USS Liberty was a lightly armed US Navy spy ship and was attacked by Israeli unmarked aircraft who jammed the Liberty’s radios and by Israeli torpedo boats who deliberately machine gunned the Liberty’s life rafts that had been dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship. 
GENE ST. ONGE, Principal of St.Onge and Associates, is a Lebanese-American, licensed civil/structural engineer who lives and works in Oakland, California. He has over 30 years of experience with all types of structural building systems worldwide. Most recently, he has been involved with the Qatar Working Group (QWG), established by the Qatar Foundation, which is developing a program for rebuilding in Gaza. As part of his work with the QWG, once reaching Gaza with the flotilla, he is planning to meet with the lead UNRWA engineers in charge of reconstruction to better assess needs and resources. Gene is working with the QWG in exploring ways to use appropriate technology, i.e. local materials with green building systems, to substantially reduce cost and increase the use of locally trained labor. Gene is also co-founder of the Middle East Policy Advisory Committee (MEPAC), a consortium of over 15 peace and justice groups in the SF Bay Area, that works towards transforming US policy in the region to one based on respect for human rights and international law. 
