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http://www.bloomberg.com Israeli Navy Intercepts Gaza-Bound Jewish Aid Ship Israel intercepted a boat carrying Jewish activists and aid to the Gaza Strip, halting the vessel without violence four months after naval commandos killed nine Turks on an aid ship trying to breach its blockade of Gaza. The U.K.-flagged ship Irene was stopped inside the 20-mile area of the Mediterranean Sea off Hamas-controlled Gaza that Israel has declared off-limits to international maritime traffic, Israeli army spokesman Barak Raz said. The boat is being taken to Israel’s Ashdod port, he said. “Prior to boarding the yacht, the Israeli naval ships transmitted two warnings,” Raz said by telephone from Jerusalem. “These warnings were ignored by the captain of the yacht and its passengers, who sailed further into the area under naval blockade.” An Israeli commando operation on May 31, which violently stopped the Turkish aid ship and provoked international condemnation, is under investigation by Israel, Turkey and the United Nations. The pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which was behind the May ships, said in Athens yesterday that it is planning a second attempt to break the blockade. Five other ships that were part of that flotilla were stopped without violence. Since the incident with the Turkish ship, two other boats have tried to breach the blockade, include an Irish ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, that was intercepted without violence on June 5. A Libyan aid ship was persuaded to dock in the Egyptian port of El Arish July 14 after being promised its cargo of 2,000 tons of food and medicine would be transported to Gaza. No Violence Raz and the Irene’s media coordinator in London, Yosh Kosminsky, said today no violence took place from either side during the takeover. Israeli officials said yesterday they wouldn’t allow the aid boat, which is carrying toys, textbooks and prosthetic limbs, to break Israel’s maritime blockade against Gaza. The boat was sponsored by the London-based Jews for Justice for Palestinians and other Jewish groups in Germany, Australia and the U.S. Its aim was to “challenge the continuing blockade of Gaza” and assert that “Israel’s policies are not supported by all Jews,” according to its website. The UN Human Rights Council said in a Sept. 22 report Israel’s assault on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara constituted “grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.” ‘One-sided’ Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which refused to cooperate with the inquiry, called the report “biased and one-sided.” Israel says that on May 31 its soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs and seven were wounded, including by gunfire after people aboard the Mavi Marmara managed to grab Israeli firearms. Activists have said they threw the weapons into the sea and that the Israelis instigated the violence. Israel says the blockade is legal because it is in “a state of armed conflict” with Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and Israel. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, ending a partnership government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. Israel started a military operation in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 that it said was meant to stop the firing of rockets into its territory. More than 1,000 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the conflict. Since the end of the three-week operation, more than 400 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, killing one foreign worker last March, the Israeli army said. |
