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GAZA

French boat to Gaza blocked in Crete

A journalist onboard a French yacht carrying activists hoping to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza says protests will take place in Paris or Athens unless the boat is permitted to resume its journey.

The vessel was blocked in Crete on Thursday by the Greek coast guard when it stopped to refuel.

“People are fluctuating between moments of great hope and very low morale, particularly when we were stopped,” Quentin Girard, a reporter for French daily Liberation, told The Local by telephone.

“If we don’t depart again there will be protests, either at the Greek embassy in Paris or the French embassy in Athens.”

Girard was on board the Dignite/Al Karama when it was taken to Sitia in Crete by the Greek coast guard, which cited administrative reasons for preventing the vessel from sailing on towards Gaza.

The boat, which is carrying 12 pro-Palestinian activists, had sneaked out of a Greek port early on Tuesday in defiance of a ban on any ships setting sail from Greece in an attempt to run the Israeli blockade.

Girard, whose fellow crew members include far-left politician Olivier Besancenot, said there was “no tension whatsoever” between the activists and the authorities in Sitia.

“The fact that there are several well-known individuals on board means everything is going well,” he said. “The main problem is the wait, which is long.”

All the other boats which had been expected to participate in a 10-vessel international aid flotilla to Gaza are currently being blocked from leaving ports in Greece, while an Irish boat, which organisers say was sabotaged, is undergoing repairs in Turkey.

The flotilla had been due to set sail last week but was hit by a wave of administrative obstacles which organisers have blamed on political pressure coming from Israel.

Officials in Athens say they imposed the ban for the “safety” of the activists on board in the wake of last year’s bloody showdown when Israeli commandos raided a six-ship flotilla in a confrontation that left nine Turkish activists dead.

More than 300 activists from 22 countries had signed up to participate in this year’s flotilla, among them dozens of middle-aged and elderly Americans and Europeans.

Israel has made no secret of its determination to prevent the Freedom Flotilla II from reaching Gaza, which has been under a blockade since 2006 after militants there snatched an Israeli soldier who is still being held at a secret location.

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ISRAEL

Israel intercepts Swedish Gaza-bound activist boat

The Israeli navy intercepted a Swedish-flagged activist boat bent on breaching its more than decade-long blockade of Gaza, the second in less than a week, the military said on Saturday.

Israel intercepts Swedish Gaza-bound activist boat
Photo: TT

“The ship was monitored and was intercepted in accordance with international law,” the military said in a statement, before the vessel, named Freedom for Gaza and carrying 12 people, was taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

“The (military) clarified to the ship’s passengers that they are violating the legal naval blockade and that any humanitarian merchandise can be transferred to Gaza through the Port of Ashdod,” the statement said.

The people on board were taken for “further inquiry.”

The organisers of the flotilla said the boat, which was carrying medical supplies, was intercepted in international waters.

“The demands of Ship to Gaza are that the ship with its crew and cargo will be returned to the site of the boarding, and that they will be allowed to go in peace through international and Palestinian waters in accordance to international law,” they said in a statement.

“This is a demand that the eleven years-long illegal and destructive blockade on Gaza will be lifted at last.”

Freedom was the second boat of the “Freedom Flotilla” to be intercepted en route to “break the blockade” on Gaza, organisers said.

Four boats left from Scandinavia in mid-May and stopped in some 28 ports along the way, with two remaining behind after a recent stop in the Italian port of Palermo.

On Sunday, the Israeli navy intercepted a Norwegian-flagged activist boat that was part of the flotilla.

Israel has fought three wars with Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2008 and says the blockade is necessary to keep them from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes.

UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas where 80 percent of the two million population are dependent on aid.

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