Activist
boats allowed into Gaza despite Israeli blockade
23-08-2008
GAZA
CITY (AFP) — Two boats from Cyprus carrying 44
pro-Palestinian activists docked in the Gaza Strip on
Saturday after Israel allowed them through its tight
blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.
The
boats set sail on Friday from the east Mediterranean
island carrying activists from 17 countries, including
Israel, determined to highlight the blockade of Gaza
where the Islamist Hamas movement has ruled since June
2007.
The
boats sailed through choppy grey seas and into Gaza
City's main port, where they were greeted by thousands
of people waving Palestinian flags, many of them
motoring around the harbour in boats.
Crowds
lining the shore chanted "God is great!" and "No, no, to
the siege!" as dozens of young men dived into the murky
waters of the harbour and swam towards the flag-decked
boats.
"This
is a great victory in breaking the siege and the
beginning of what we hope will be more and more boats,"
said Riad al-Faraj, the Gaza-based head of the
International Committee to Break the Siege, which helped
organise the trip.
Islam
Shahwan, a spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run security
forces, said 500 policemen had been deployed to protect
the activists.
"We
will provide protection for them and will take them to
visit Al-Shifa hospital and other parts of Gaza City,"
he said.
The
activists appeared tired from the voyage and at least
two were taken to Al-Shifa to be treated for exhaustion,
but all said they were happy to be in the impoverished
territory of 1.5 million people.
"I am
very happy to have arrived in Gaza," Edith Lutz, a
59-year-old activist from Germany said. "We came to help
the Palestinian people in Gaza to lift the siege."
Israel
had initially warned the activists to stay away from
Gaza's coastal waters, saying the voyage would support
"the regime of a terror organisation," but in the end
allowed them to pass through without incident.
"They
wanted provocation at sea but they won't get it. We know
who the passengers are and what they are bringing with
them and so we have no problem letting them through,"
foreign ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron told AFP.
Angela
Godfrey-Goldstein, a Jerusalem-based spokeswoman for the
so-called Free Gaza Movement which organised the event,
said the boats' communications systems had been attacked
by "electronic piracy" earlier in the day.
An
attempt by a third boat carrying reporters from the
Israeli port of Ashdod to meet the two vessels failed
because of the communications problems,
Godfrey-Goldstein said.
Earlier in the day around 20 Gaza fishing boats flying
Palestinian flags left Gaza City's main port in a bid to
welcome the two blockade runners, but were turned back
when Israeli gunships in the distance fired warning
shots.
Israel
has tightened its blockade of Gaza since Hamas seized
power in June 2007, sealing the territory off from all
but vital humanitarian aid in a bid to put pressure on
Palestinian militants who have fired hundreds of rockets
at southern Israel in the past year.
Abubakr Nofal, a senior Hamas member, said the voyage
was a "strong message to the Arab people and to Arab
leaders," and called on them to pressure the United
States and Israel to lift the blockade.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called delegation
member Huwaida Arraf and told her he hoped this was "a
first step for the international community to end the
suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza," his office
said.
The
boats, Liberty and Free Gaza, had embarked on the
370-kilometre (230-mile) voyage from Larnaca port on
Cyprus's south coast and carried 200 hearing aids for
Gaza children and 5,000 balloons.
The
activists were between aged 22 and 81, organisers said,
and among them were students, lawyers, doctors,
journalists and an online poker player.
Mostly
American and British, they include Lauren Booth,
sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair who
is now an international Middle East peace envoy.
Many
of the activists said they had received death threats
before they set sail, and some demonstrators dropped
out.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ir4MkWxDJw7K5gkvNID5iP-q9ypg
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