Paul Larudee

Paul Larudee
Born	April 25th, 1946 Iran
Education	Ph.D. in Linguistics
Alma mater	Georgetown
Occupation	Piano Tuner
Known for	Activism in Palestine, and on board the freedom flotilla
Home town	El Cerrito, CA
Spouse	Betty Larudee
Website
http://www.sharpeandflatte.com/

Paul Larudee, PhD (born April 25, 1946) is a San Francisco Bay Area human rights advocate for justice in Israel and Palestine. He works with the International Solidarity Movement and the Free Palestine Movement, and was cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement. He was on board the Sfendoni, a ship of the Freedom flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid and contraband items to Gaza, when the ship was intercepted by Israeli forces. His ship was not the Mavi Marmara, of which 9 people were killed. Larudee enacted civil disobedience by jumping into the water, and was pulled back aboard after an hour and a half. Because of this non-violent resistance and for refusing to sign any papers without his lawyer, he claims he was hit and physically restrained by the Israelis. He was then kept in prison for two days at Givon Prison, Ramle, Israel.

Early life

He was born to an Iranian Presbyterian minister and his American missionary spouse in 1946 and grew up in the American Midwest. He has a Ph.D. in linguistics from Georgetown University and spent 14 years in Arab countries as a contracted U.S. government advisor, Fulbright-Hays exchange lecturer, teacher, training administrator and graduate student.

Paul has visited the Palestinian region many times since 1965, including four times with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement that applies nonviolent principles to resist Israeli actions. Paul was among seven ISM volunteers wounded by Israeli gunfire in April, 2002 in an attempt to help Palestinian families. In 2006, was caught after a tipoff by journalist Lee Kaplan that he was trying to enter Israel under a false identity and he was held in detention for two weeks while unsuccessfully appealing a decision to deny him entry to Israel by the Israeli Supreme Court. [6], [7] He next served as a human shield for Hezbollah in Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli invasion. He is one of the founders of the Free Gaza Movement,[8] whose boats, on August 23, 2008, became the first in 41 years to enter Gaza by sea, breaking the Israeli naval blockade. He is also a founder of the Free Palestine Movement, which also seeks to challenge Israel’s blockade and denial of access to all of Palestine by sea, air and land.

See also

• Freedom flotilla
• International Solidarity Movement
• Free Gaza Movement

References

[6] http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127400

[7] http://www.dafka.org/news/index.php?pid=4&id=727

[8] http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/The%20ISM%20Goes%20to%20Sea.html

External links

• first interview with Paul after he was released, unedited from KTVU
• Richmond Confidential article on Paul and Betty
• "The hijacking of the truth: Film evidence 'destroyed'"
• "The Lebanese Nakba and Israeli Ambitions"
• Witness Gaza
• NorCal International Solidarity Movement
• NorCal ISM Facebook
• "East Bay Palestine activists may be on the way home"
• AP Photo: Paul at demonstration in Greece with bruising
• AP Photo: Paul's wife during follow up to flotilla raid
• "El Cerrito man beaten in assault on Gaza aid flotilla"
• "Deadly Israeli Raid Draws Condemnation"
• "East Bay Citizens Condemn Israel Attack on Gaza Aid Flotilla"
• "Deadly Israeli raid on aid fleet"
• "Putting Names to Faces"
• "Non-violent Pacifist Badly Beaten by Israeli Commandos"
• "Israelis beat my husband"
• "Rogues Gallery"