The head of Miles of Smiles convoy, Dr. Issam Youssef, said that the flotilla would set sail to Gaza via Vienna despite Israeli threats to obstruct the peace convoy, the website said.
Youssef urged the international community to take responsibility and protect the flotilla against any Israeli attacks.
Tunisia's former president Dr. Mohamed al-Moncef al-Marzouki and a number of Arab and European activists have arrived in Greece to join the convoy.
Since 2007, Israel has imposed a strict naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. The 1.8 million inhabitants of the Palestinian city have been deprived of many of their most basic needs under the near decade-long blockade.
The first “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” expedition in May 2010 ended in tragedy after Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin in a raid on the flotilla ship, Mavi Marmara. Another person died in a Turkish hospital in 2014 after being in coma for almost four years.
The second freedom flotilla set sail in 2012, but it too was turned back.
In July and August of 2014, more than 2,100 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were killed and 11,000 injured -- mostly women and children -- during Israel's 51-day Operation Protective Edge.
www.aa.com.tr
22/6/17
------------------------
- Israel's Foreign Ministry director-general Dori Gold Monday sent a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warning of the potential conflict that may arise from the incoming flotilla expected to attempt to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip next week.
"This attempt to challenge Israel's naval blockade of Gaza holds the potential for dangerous consequences. The flotilla's sole purpose is to create provocations that pose security risks, and constitute a breach of international law," Gold wrote.
Gold also defended Israel's policy of imposing its blockade of the coastal Palestinian enclave, iterating that "The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law."
"It [the blockade] was designed as one way to prevent weapons reaching Gaza by sea and to prevent such attacks to be launched from land," he added.
Gold concluded the letter by stating that the incoming flotilla was an unnecessary and inappropriate platform to deliver assistance for the people of Gaza, stating "There is no humanitarian need for this flotilla... As is widely known, there are established mechanisms by which humanitarian assistance can be delivered to the Gaza Strip, including through Israel."
[jpost.com]
22/6/15
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
No comments:
Post a Comment
Only News