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This week on Uprising:

* In-Depth Conversation with Huwaida Arraf, Chair of the Free Gaza Movement
* Black Agenda Report on Public Housing and Obama

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A deadly raid by Israeli Defense Forces of aid-bearing ships headed for Gaza resulted in the killings of at least nine activists and possibly as many as twenty. The Freedom Flotilla of boats organized by the Free Gaza movement and the Turkish Relief Foundation is the latest of several ships carrying aid and other supplies to symbolically attempt to break the 3 year Israeli blockade of Gaza by boat. Earlier in the week, a ship bearing the Turkish flag called the Mavi Marmara was boarded by Israeli troops resulting in fatal clashes including the death of a 19 year old Turkish American named Furkan Dogan who was shot in the head four times. Eight other deaths, all of Turkish citizens, have been identified. Turkey, which had enjoyed the best relations with Israel of all Muslim nations is threatening to break off most ties in the wake of the raid. There have been protests all week in Turkey as well as in numerous US cities over the Israeli action. Among the hundreds of people on board the flotilla of ships hailing from 32 different countries are a number of notables including former US Ambassador Edward Peck and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Macguire. Meanwhile Israel, which has still not officially released all the names of the dead as of this recording, has been ensuring its version of the events dominate the mainstream media. On Wednesday the Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, wrote an Op-ed in the New York Times, claiming that Israeli soldiers were the ones assaulted on board the Mavi Marmara, and that “religious extremists” intent on aiding Hamas were embedded on the boats. Here in the US, there is mounting pressure on the Obama administration to use the raid to seriously push for Israel to end the blockade of Gaza. President Obama has called the incident “tragic” and acknowledged that the blockade is harming the economic opportunities of the people of Gaza.

Meanwhile, a ship named the Rachel Corrie which was part of the original Freedom Flotilla is expected to reach Gaza shores by Saturday. The ship is named after an American activist who more than 7 years ago was killed in Gaza while attempting to defend a Palestinian home from being bull dozed. Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli Defense Forces bulldozer. She had been present in the Palestinian territories as part of the International Solidarity Movement. A trial on a wrongful death lawsuit brought by her parents began in Haifa, Israel earlier this year. While Israel has said that it does not want a violent confrontation with the ship it has said it will refuse to allow it to dock. The ship is carrying school supplies, printing paper, children’s shoes, wheelchairs, sports equipment and fire extinguishers, all of which are banned from entering Gaza by Israel. Israel is reportedly reviewing its policy in light of the international outrage over the raid of the Mavi Marmara.

The Free Gaza movement began its attempts to break the siege in August 2008 when activists sailed the first international boats to land in Gaza’s port in 41 years. Since then, the activists have had subsequent attempts thwarted by Israel. I spoke recently with Palestinian American activist Huwaida Arraf who was briefly in the US this past March, visiting from the Palestinian territories where she lives full time. Huwaida is one of the co-founders of the International Solidarity Movement and currently the chair of the Free Gaza Movement and I began by asking her to explain how it all started.

GUEST: Huwaida Arraf, long-time Palestinian American activist, chair of the Free Gaza Movement

Black Agenda Report on Obama and Public Housing

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on Obama and Public Housing.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.” — Clarence Darrow