No violence reported
THE ISRAELI navy intercepted and boarded a ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip yesterday in defiance of an Israeli blockade. The boat left Larnaca port on Monday morning.
Israeli forces have apprehended 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including a Noble laureate and former US Congresswoman. In an email, the group’s representatives reported the passengers and crew “are being forcibly dragged toward Israel”.
There are six British citizens on board the boat, including the captain, Dennis Healey.
“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” said former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
“President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”
“No shots were fired during the boarding of the boat,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding the vessel was being taken to the Israeli Mediterranean port of Ashdod. “The boat crew will be handed over to the appropriate authorities.”
The small ferry had set off from Cyprus with activists from the US-based Free Gaza movement and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, territory ruled by Hamas Islamists.
“Yesterday evening the Israeli navy contacted the boat while at sea clarifying that it would not be permitted to enter Gaza coastal waters because of security risks in the area, and the existing naval blockade,” the military said.
“Disregarding all warnings given, the cargo boat entered Gazan coastal waters,” the statement said, promising that humanitarian goods found on board would be transferred to the Gaza Strip “subject to authorisation”.
Just before being taken, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated: “No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel.
“We carry medical and reconstruction supplies and children’s toys. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters.”
Arraf continued, “Israel’s deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release.”
On its website, the Free Gaza movement said among the activists on the vessel, which it dubbed the Spirit of Humanity, were Irish Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and Cynthia McKinney.
“We are outraged, they just stole our boat and kidnapped our people,” said Greta Berlin, a representative of the movement in Cyprus.
“The last we heard from them was ‘they are surrounding us, they are surrounding us’, and then the phone line went dead.”
Israel tightened its Gaza blockade in 2007 after Hamas took control of the enclave, home to some 1.5 million people.
International calls for an end to the blockade mounted after a 22-day Israeli offensive last December and January deepened hardship in the territory. Israel launched the operation with the declared aim of ending cross-border rocket attacks.
The Israeli navy has intercepted Free Gaza activists sailing into Gaza on two previous occasions. (R)
