Israel calls Gaza blockade-busting ships a provocation

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Israel calls Gaza blockade-busting ships a provocation

By Moser (AFP) – 2 hours ago

JERUSALEM — Israel claimed on Wednesday that a flotilla of pro-Palestinian

activists seeking to bust the Gaza blockade is a provocation and that the aid it

is carrying is " unnecessary. "

" I don't see the need for any ship with these materials. We allow these

materials into Gaza, " Colonel Moshe Levy told reporters at the Kerem Shalom

crossing in reference to the 10,000 tonnes of building materials and other

supplies the activists say are aboard a flotilla headed towards Gaza.

" The sail is a provocative act that is unnecessary in light of the figures,

which indicate that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is good and stable, " said

Levy, who heads the Gaza coordination and liaison office.

Pointing to pallets stacked with cement bound for UN projects, as well as stacks

of xerox paper, toilet paper and tea, Levy stressed that Israel allows the

transfer of many products to the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.

" There are some things that are not permitted because Hamas exploits the

humanitarian situation to improve its military capabilities instead of easing

the hardship in Gaza, " he said.

Humanitarian agencies say the embargo, imposed since Hamas seized power in Gaza

in 2007, amounts to collective punishment of the 1.5 million residents of the

overcrowded sliver of land that still bears the scars of a devastating Israeli

offensive in January 2009.

Israel has said it will prevent the ships from reaching the Gaza Strip, and

authorities have prepared facilities to detain the hundreds of activists aboard

the vessels, according to media.

Huwaida Arraf of Free Gaza, one of the groups taking part in the flotilla, said

" we will non-violently resist Israeli attempts to seize our boats. Thousands of

people have contributed to making this flotilla a reality, and the people of

Gaza are expecting us. "

Greta Berlin, another of the organisers, said the boats would seek to evade

capture. " We intend to stay at sea and have supplies on board for two months. "

Asked if she feared Israel might arrest all the participants, she said: " you

might want to ask the Israelis what they intend to do with 750 civilians. "

Three cargo vessels left from Ireland, Greece and Turkey in recent days and plan

to rendezvous with six smaller passenger boats off the coast of Cyprus before

steaming on to Gaza where organisers hope to arrive by Saturday.

Last June the Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying journalists and

activists, including Irish Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire, from Cyprus to Gaza

and towed it into the southern Israeli port of Ashdod.

The crew and passengers were returned home after being questioned by police.

Israel claims the activists are playing into the hands of Hamas, the Islamist

movement that rules Gaza and which the West blacklists as a terrorist

organisation.

" While they have wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, they are engaging

in political propaganda and not in pro-Palestinian aid, " said foreign ministry

spokesman Yigal Palmor.

Israel allows humanitarian and basic supplies into Gaza, but aid agencies say

the quantities fall far short of what is needed in the enclave, which relies

largely on smuggling tunnels under the generally sealed border with Egypt.

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