- Title: GAZA: 'Free Gaza' boat arrives at shores of the Hamas-run territory
- Date: 29th October 2008
- Summary: (W2) GAZA CITY, GAZA (OCTOBER 29, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 'FREE GAZA' BOAT COMING FROM CYPRUS CARRYING 27 PASSENGERS INCLUDING ISRAELI LAWMAKER AND A WINNER OF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE MORE OF 'FREE GAZA' BOAT APPROACHING SHORE PASSENGERS GETTING OFF BOAT WELL WISHER GREETING BOAT PASSENGER
- Embargoed: 13th November 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAESWRYOU7TTK291DRTU02PEJ8E
- Story Text: 'Free Gaza' boat, carrying some 27 passengers including Israeli lawmakers and Nobel Prize for peace winner, arrives at shores of the Hamas-run territory.
International activists including a peace laureate arrived in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday (October 29) after sailing from Cyprus to break Israel's naval blockade on the Hamas-run territory, defying Israeli authorities who said they would block them.
Twenty seven people from 13 countries sailed from Larnaca on Tuesday (October 28), pledging to reach the shores of Gaza by Wednesday with a tonne of medical supplies.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel would not allow members of the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement to anchor in Gaza, home to
5 million Palestinians.
"The message is that people around the world do care for Gaza. We are concerned what's happening here in Gaza and we hope that the blocking of Gaza will be lifted. And that there will be the end of the occupation of Gaza and peace," said Mairead Maguire, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work in Northern Ireland, as she reached Gaza.
Palestinian politician, Dr. Mustafa Bargouti, told Reuters "this is a great day in the life of the Palestinian people, a great victory for the Palestinian people. Today the siege on Gaza was broken. The Israeli occupation divides the Palestinians and the Palestinian non-violence resistance reunites Palestinians associated with strong international solidarity."
Israeli peace activist, Gideon Spiro who also joined the 'Free Gaza' cause told Reuters "A lot of Israeli's oppose the siege because it is a collective punishment against women and children and elderly people who did not do anything wrong. And we think that's not the way to handle it and we think we should to talk to Hamas. Because when you talk you don't shoot."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said last week that virtually no medical supplies were reaching the Gaza Strip, putting the lives of several hundred patients at risk. Passengers aboard 'Free Gaza' delivered boxes of medical supplies including heart medicine to the Gaza strip.
The ICRC blamed the crisis on lack of cooperation between Palestinian authorities in the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway, and Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June 2007.
It was the second time a "Free Gaza" movement sails to Gaza, after 46 activists on two boats sailed there without interference from Israeli authorities in August.
Israel pulled its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but still patrols waters off the territory. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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