Gaza volunteers postpone mercy mission until next month

THE FREE Gaza volunteers have had to postpone a second planned sailing to Gaza for several weeks, they said yesterday.

The international delegation of doctors, parliamentarians and human rights workers were due to set sail from Larnaca yesterday aboard the SS hope. Passengers on board were to include Jamal Zahalka, a member of the Israeli Knesset, Dr Mustafa Barghouti, the General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative and Mairead Maguire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work in Belfast.

However yesterday the group, which successfully accomplished a mission to Gaza in August, regretfully announced a delay in their plan to go back.

“Last month, 44 ordinary people challenged Israel’s stranglehold on the Gaza Strip, knowing that ordinary people can help create extraordinary change,” said press representative Greta Berlin. “People said that it could not be done; we did it.”

This week 22 more volunteers arrived in Cyprus to fulfil Free Gaza’s promise to return.

However because the two original boats were not suitable for the new trip, they decided lease or buy a sturdier boat.

“Unfortunately, every time we thought we reached an agreement with a boat owner, our agreement has fallen through, in part, we believe, due to outside pressure,” said Berlin.

“Though it is a very difficult decision to make, we have decided to temporarily delay our voyage.”

She said when the previous group left Gaza at the end of August, they had made promises to the people there.

“We will continue to tell the world that Israel still unjustly occupies Gaza; we will continue to support our friends in Gaza as they work to overcome the brutal policies of the occupation; and we will return to Gaza. These are promises we will keep,” Berlin added. “And, very soon, in the coming weeks, we will return to Gaza.

In the meantime, the group called on countries to live up to their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and to take action to challenge Israel’s collective punishment of 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.