In May 2010 the Free Gaza Movement launched a flotilla to deliver
humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and challenge Israel’s blockade of
the strip. This was the ninth mission the Free Gaza Movement had
launched, although the last three missions had been blocked by the
Israeli Navy. This flotilla included eight ships, while the past
flotillas had only included one or two.
On 28 February 2012, two Palestinian prisoners began a hunger strike. Bilala Diab and Thaer Halahleh, both accused by Israel’s government of working with Islamic Jihad (a group responsible for firing rockets into Israel from Gaza), were in Israeli prisons. Israel was holding Diab and Halahleh under administrative detention, meaning that they were imprisoned without being charged. The maximum period for administrative detainment was six months, but a military judge could renew such detainment indefinitely.
The history of Israel-Palestine relations since 1987 can be marked by a series of Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation (for more information see the BBC’s timeline of the First Intifada and its causes- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/israel_at_50/history/82302.stm). In 2002, the Israeli government began construction of a wall to separate Israel from the West Bank territories. The government justified the barrier as a necessary security measure to shield communities from terrorist threats.
In an effort to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from entering its borders, the State of Israel began constructing a 425-mile separation barrier along its border with the West Bank in June 2002. The separation barrier, known to Israelis as the “Security Barrier” and to Palestinians as the “Apartheid Separation Wall”, extends beyond Israel’s internationally recognized borders and weaves through Palestinian territory, often cutting through Palestinian farmland and dividing villages.
