The Meir Amit
Intelligence and Terrorism
Information Center October 5, 2010
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/ipc_e131.htm

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is an anti-Israel,
pro-Hamas umbrella organization which participated in the Mavi Marmara
flotilla. The ECESG is currently involved in organizing an upgraded
flotilla, and in other projects to further isolate Israel, part of the
campaign to delegitimize it.

Overview

1. The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is an anti-Israel,
pro Hamas umbrella organization operating in Europe. It participated in the
last flotilla (which ended with a violent confrontation aboard the Mavi
Marmara) along with a coalition of four other anti-Israel organizations led
by the Turkish IHH. Since then the ECESG and the other coalition members
have been intensively promoting new programs with the objective of
embarrassing Israel and deepening its isolation. The coalition projects
include an upgraded flotilla which has been organizing for several months as
Freedom Fleet 2 (its organizers hope to include more than 20 ships from
various countries), and sending a plane to the Gaza Strip.

2. The ECESG was founded in 2007, the same year as Hamas' violent takeover
of the Fatah and Palestinian Authority institutions in the Gaza Strip. Its
declared objectives are "the complete lifting" of the so-called Israeli
"siege" of the Gaza Strip and bringing humanitarian assistance to its
residents. However, beyond that goal, which is supported by Western human
rights organizations and activists, lie hidden its undeclared political
objectives. They include strengthening the de facto Hamas administration in
the Gaza Strip and making it difficult for Israel (and Egypt) to achieve
effective oversight of arms smuggling and the infiltration of terrorist
operatives into the Gaza Strip through the land crossings and by sea. While
the ECESG advances its support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, there is no
mention on the organization's website or in statements made by its senior
members of similar support for the Palestinian Authority in Judea and
Samaria (focusing on the Gaza Strip is characteristic of pro-Hamas
organizations which do not publicly admit their intention to support it).

3. From the organizational point of view, the ECESG is an umbrella
organization which links more than 30 pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas
organizations in various European countries. Some of them actually exist,
and undertake broad anti-Israel activities, and some of them are virtual and
even imaginary (See Appendix). The ECESG is officially based in Brussels but
most of its activity takes place in Britain (a focal point for Hamas and the
Muslim Brotherhood's European activities).

4. The ECESG represents itself as a European organization operating from
Brussels, but an examination of its senior staff reveals that it is headed
by a number of Palestinian activists, some from the Gaza Strip, most of whom
live in and operate from London. In addition there are two British subjects,
one the organization's spokesman and the other a woman member of the British
Parliament and former Minister, who represents the ECESG in meetings with
world leaders. Some of the Palestinian ECESG senior figures are also active
in other anti-Israel organizations, the most important of which is the
Palestinian Return Centre (PRC).

5. In addition to the organizations within the ECESG, it is supported by
more than 40 individual activists ("VIPs," according to its website) who do
not belong to any particular one. There are members of Parliament,
especially those from the Labour Party and the leftist parties in Britain,
Scotland and Ireland, as well as the green parties and environmentalists
(See Appendix IV).

6. According to our information:

A. Organizationally, the ECESG is an umbrella organization composed of
NGOs from various European countries. Some of them have their own networks
and others have only a small number of activists, or even do not exist at
all (some of them do not have an Internet presence and no information about
them can be ascertained). The ECESG sometimes does not operate by itself,
preferring to join forces with other pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas
organizations (such as Viva Palestina and the Free Gaza Movement).

B. Ideologically, the ECESG is heterogeneous, and had activists who are
Islamist, leftist (especially from the extreme left), human rights
activists, labor union members and even ecologists. However, in our
assessment, the central factors behind it are organizations and activists
affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas (although they are careful
not to admit it). Their common denominator is their fierce opposition to
Israel's policies and in certain instances - although not all - their
rejection of the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel as an
independent Jewish state and homeland of the Jewish people.1

C. The ECESG hides its true intentions. The ECESG and the various
organizations operating within it represent themselves as promoting the
so-called "Palestinian rights," and make extensive use of the terminology
used by human rights organizations, but its main objectives are really
political, and include the defamation of Israel, eroding its legitimacy as
an independent Jewish national state and strengthening the de facto Hamas
administration in the Gaza Strip. It is not clear whether and to what degree
the human rights activists who support the ECESG are fully aware of the
organization's Islamist agenda.

D. The nature of its activities: ECESG and the organizations affiliated
with it conduct a variety of activities. They organize land and sea convoys
which bring equipment and money for the de facto Hamas administration in the
Gaza Strip; lead boycotts of Israeli products, institutions and figures;
promote the demand for the Palestinian refugees' so-called "right to return"
as a way of causing difficulties for the peace process; influence political
institutions and public opinion through demonstrations and disseminating
"information;" hold seminars and transfer funds to Hamas institutions (some
of the organizations and senior figures in the ECESG also have had ties to
the Union of Good).

7. This report contains the following appendices:

A. Appendix I - The senior ECESG activists.

B. Appendix II - Past and present ECESG activity.

C. Appendix III - Organizations participating in the ECESG
campaign.

D. Appendix IV - "VIPs" who support the ECESG.

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http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ipc_e131.pdf

1 Radical Muslim ideology was apparent among individuals and organizations
aboard the Mavi Marmara, where the Muslim Brotherhood was well represented.
For further information see the October 5, 2010 bulletin, "Conspicuous
among the passengers and organizations aboard the Mavi Marmara were Turkish
and Arab Islamic extremists led by IHH." at
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ipc_e127.pdf.