Another ship poised to sail toward Gaza
Source: Agencies |
June 22, 2010, Tuesday
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ANOTHER blockade-busting ship with activists and aid on board could embark within days on a new attempt to reach Gaza after Lebanese authorities granted permission yesterday for it to sail first to Cyprus.
Israeli navy commandos raided a blockade-busting international flotilla bound for Gaza on May 31, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists. An international outcry over the raid pressured Israel to ease its three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory.
"We have been granted permission to go to Cyprus and we are now in the process of making final preparations," said Yasser Kashlak, a 39-year-old Syrian of Palestinian origin who heads the group organizing the trip, the Free Palestine Movement. He said the ship plans to sail in the next few days, but did not give an exact date because of security concerns.
The new challenge to the blockade comes just days after Israel eased its three-year ban on all but humanitarian goods for Gaza. Israel said on Sunday it will now allow in everything except weapons or other items deemed to have a military use.
Israel imposed the blockade of Gaza after Hamas militants overran Gaza in 2007. But the blockade did not achieve Israel's aims of keeping weapons out of the territory, pressuring Gazans to turn on their Hamas rulers or winning the release of an Israeli soldier held by militants for four years.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said the ship named "Julia" is now docked at the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli and can set sail once it is cleared by port authorities there. He said it would be allowed to sail to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and not directly to Gaza because Lebanon and Israel are technically in a state of war and Lebanon views Gaza as Israeli controlled.
The Cypriot government last month banned any vessel setting sail to Gaza from Cypriot shores. But the activists could skirt the ban by sailing to a port in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of the island, outside the effective control of the internationally recognized, Greek Cypriot-dominated government in the south.
Turkey was the unofficial sponsor of the flotilla in May and all of those killed in the clash were Turkish.
Israel has made clear that even though it has eased its land blockade of Gaza, it maintains a naval blockade and will not allow any ships to dock there for fear they could bring weapons to Hamas.
About a week after the deadly flotilla raid in May, Israeli forces seized another Gaza-bound ship with aid and activists on it without meeting resistance, preventing it from busting the blockade.
The Free Palestine Movement, which is organizing the ship from Lebanon, also participated in the international flotilla involved in the deadly raid.
Israeli navy commandos raided a blockade-busting international flotilla bound for Gaza on May 31, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists. An international outcry over the raid pressured Israel to ease its three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory.
"We have been granted permission to go to Cyprus and we are now in the process of making final preparations," said Yasser Kashlak, a 39-year-old Syrian of Palestinian origin who heads the group organizing the trip, the Free Palestine Movement. He said the ship plans to sail in the next few days, but did not give an exact date because of security concerns.
The new challenge to the blockade comes just days after Israel eased its three-year ban on all but humanitarian goods for Gaza. Israel said on Sunday it will now allow in everything except weapons or other items deemed to have a military use.
Israel imposed the blockade of Gaza after Hamas militants overran Gaza in 2007. But the blockade did not achieve Israel's aims of keeping weapons out of the territory, pressuring Gazans to turn on their Hamas rulers or winning the release of an Israeli soldier held by militants for four years.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said the ship named "Julia" is now docked at the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli and can set sail once it is cleared by port authorities there. He said it would be allowed to sail to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and not directly to Gaza because Lebanon and Israel are technically in a state of war and Lebanon views Gaza as Israeli controlled.
The Cypriot government last month banned any vessel setting sail to Gaza from Cypriot shores. But the activists could skirt the ban by sailing to a port in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of the island, outside the effective control of the internationally recognized, Greek Cypriot-dominated government in the south.
Turkey was the unofficial sponsor of the flotilla in May and all of those killed in the clash were Turkish.
Israel has made clear that even though it has eased its land blockade of Gaza, it maintains a naval blockade and will not allow any ships to dock there for fear they could bring weapons to Hamas.
About a week after the deadly flotilla raid in May, Israeli forces seized another Gaza-bound ship with aid and activists on it without meeting resistance, preventing it from busting the blockade.
The Free Palestine Movement, which is organizing the ship from Lebanon, also participated in the international flotilla involved in the deadly raid.
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