MNeagle
25th May 2010, 07:36 AM
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Israel won’t allow an international flotilla to reach the Gaza Strip with construction materials and humanitarian supplies, an official said, calling the shipment a provocative stunt.
While the Free Gaza Movement, the group behind the shipments, has “wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, they are engaging in political propaganda and not in pro-Palestinian aid,†Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said today in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.
The eight vessels, carrying 10,000 tons of cargo and some 550 pro-Palestinian activists through the Mediterranean Sea, will probably reach the coastal waters of Gaza by May 28 or 29, Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, said by satellite phone from aboard the Swedish-Greek ship Sofia.
Israel has restricted entry of people and goods into Gaza since it was taken over by the militant Hamas movement in 2007, allowing in only a limited range of supplies including food, clothing and medicine in truck convoys. Israeli Navy ships have stopped three previous efforts by the Free Gaza Movement, an international group formed in 2008 to deliver aid, to reach the territory by sea.
The ships set sail from Ireland, Sweden, Turkey and Greece, Feiler said. Some are carrying television crews that plan to broadcast live any confrontation between Israeli forces and the activists.
“This is not going to look good on television,†said 58-year-old Feiler, an Israeli-born resident of Sweden. “We’re on a peaceful mission to help end the misery of the people in Gaza and it’s going to be very ugly if Israeli soldiers try to take over our ships.â€
Gaza War
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and European Union. Israel fought a three-week war in Gaza starting in December 2008 that it said was meant to stop Hamas and other militant groups from firing rockets into its territory. It has been negotiating a prisoner swap with Hamas to exchange a captive Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for about 1,000 jailed Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s decision to stop the ships.
“This is part of the Israeli policy of suffocating Gaza’s population of 1.5 million people by tightening the blockade,†spokesman Ghassan Khatib said in a telephone interview from Ramallah in the West Bank.
Along with medical and school supplies, the ships this time are carrying cement, iron rods and other construction material that Israel has banned from entering Gaza, and that are needed to rebuild homes and other buildings destroyed in the war, Feiler said.
Making Bombs
Such materials are used by Hamas “for developing its arsenal, building bunkers and launching sites, and making rockets and mortars,†according to a statement e-mailed by the Israeli army.
The ships can unload their cargo at Ashdod port, north of Gaza, and Israel will determine which supplies can be trucked in, Shlomo Dror, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anGZUkNY7Rl8&pos=8
While the Free Gaza Movement, the group behind the shipments, has “wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, they are engaging in political propaganda and not in pro-Palestinian aid,†Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said today in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.
The eight vessels, carrying 10,000 tons of cargo and some 550 pro-Palestinian activists through the Mediterranean Sea, will probably reach the coastal waters of Gaza by May 28 or 29, Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, said by satellite phone from aboard the Swedish-Greek ship Sofia.
Israel has restricted entry of people and goods into Gaza since it was taken over by the militant Hamas movement in 2007, allowing in only a limited range of supplies including food, clothing and medicine in truck convoys. Israeli Navy ships have stopped three previous efforts by the Free Gaza Movement, an international group formed in 2008 to deliver aid, to reach the territory by sea.
The ships set sail from Ireland, Sweden, Turkey and Greece, Feiler said. Some are carrying television crews that plan to broadcast live any confrontation between Israeli forces and the activists.
“This is not going to look good on television,†said 58-year-old Feiler, an Israeli-born resident of Sweden. “We’re on a peaceful mission to help end the misery of the people in Gaza and it’s going to be very ugly if Israeli soldiers try to take over our ships.â€
Gaza War
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and European Union. Israel fought a three-week war in Gaza starting in December 2008 that it said was meant to stop Hamas and other militant groups from firing rockets into its territory. It has been negotiating a prisoner swap with Hamas to exchange a captive Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for about 1,000 jailed Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s decision to stop the ships.
“This is part of the Israeli policy of suffocating Gaza’s population of 1.5 million people by tightening the blockade,†spokesman Ghassan Khatib said in a telephone interview from Ramallah in the West Bank.
Along with medical and school supplies, the ships this time are carrying cement, iron rods and other construction material that Israel has banned from entering Gaza, and that are needed to rebuild homes and other buildings destroyed in the war, Feiler said.
Making Bombs
Such materials are used by Hamas “for developing its arsenal, building bunkers and launching sites, and making rockets and mortars,†according to a statement e-mailed by the Israeli army.
The ships can unload their cargo at Ashdod port, north of Gaza, and Israel will determine which supplies can be trucked in, Shlomo Dror, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anGZUkNY7Rl8&pos=8