Greet Gaza Freedom Flotilla Organizer, Paul Larudee

Saturday June 5, 2010 Greet Gaza Freedom Flotilla Organizer, Paul Larudee

Bay Area Activist Paul Larudee Returns After Israeli Attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla - Let Us Welcome Him Home!

Larudee will be arriving at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, June 5 at 12:50 p.m. on Air France Flight #2333. A delegation will be meeting him to take him to the rally in San Francisco. Join us in welcoming Paul back to the Bay Area!

El Cerrito resident Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement and of the Free Palestine Movement, was aboard the Freedom Flotilla as it tried to deliver thousands of tons of humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza. He was injured by Israeli commandos when they attacked and seized the vessels of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31. Nine humanitarian aid workers were killed by the Israeli forces, including one American.

Larudee had sailed aboard the first ship that ran the Israeli blockade of Gaza with a load of humanitarian supplies in 2008. This was his second voyage running the blockade.

Larudee, a former St. Mary's College linguistics professor, has traveled to Gaza at least five times as a member of International Solidarity Movement delegations. He was shot in the leg during a trip in the late 1990s while defending Palestinian homes from Israeli bulldozers. He was imprisoned in Israel during one of the visits for two weeks.

A San Francisco Chronicle front page story discussed Larudee's experiences in the Israeli attack: