MIDEAST: Gaza residents call on the United Nations to protect the international flotilla, as Israel says the organisers are preparing to attack soldiers

Record ID: 449767

  • Title: MIDEAST: Gaza residents call on the United Nations to protect the international flotilla, as Israel says the organisers are preparing to attack soldiers
  • Date: 29th June 2011
  • Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 27, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BOATS IN GAZA PORT TURKISH AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS BY GAZA PORT VARIOUS OF BOATS ON SHORE VARIOUS OF REPORTERS GATHERING AT PORT FOR NEWS CONFERENCE ON BEHALF OF THE END OF SIEGE COMMITTEE IN GAZA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESPERSON FOR THE END OF SIEGE COMMITTEE IN GAZA, IYAD AL-BUZM, SAYING: "We warn the Israeli occupation from attacking the Freedom Flotilla 2 and we ask the United Nations to protect the flotilla from the Israeli terrorism and piracy and we ask it to end the siege on Gaza, which violates international law and the human ethics."
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: At Sea, Jerusalem, Gaza, Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2JKUUTATIPZNALYJMABY70SOW
  • Story Text: The Israeli military said on Tuesday (June 28) that activists on board a Gaza-bound flotilla were planning to attack soldiers if they are confronted before reaching their destination.
    As residents of Gaza continued their preparations for the arrival of the maritime convoy, Iyad al-Buzm, a spokesman for the Gaza-based End of Siege Committee called on the United Nations to protect the flotilla from Israeli intervention.
    "We warn the Israeli occupation from attacking the Freedom Flotilla 2 and we ask the United Nations to protect the flotilla from the Israeli terrorism and piracy and we ask it to end the siege on Gaza, which violates international law and the human ethics," Buzm said.
    Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said participants in an aid flotilla planning to challenge an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip were seeking "confrontation and blood".
    Pro-Palestinian activists have said around a dozen ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by Hamas Islamists, could depart from European ports in the coming days.
    A year ago, nine Turkish activists, including a dual U.S.-Turkish national, were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers who raided a Gaza-bound convoy.
    Israel has said it will prevent the new flotilla from reaching the enclave, and Lieberman repeated its offer to the activists to deliver aid via the Israeli port of Ashdod or through Egypt or the United Nations.
    The Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had information that some activists were planning to attack soldiers with acid if they boarded the ships.
    "It has come to our attention recently that the organizers of the flotilla are more violent than it was first perceived. We know for a fact that the organizers of the flotilla are planning to use sulphuric acids against IDF soldiers," Avital Leibowitch said.
    Dror Feiler, an Israeli participant in the flotilla, denied the allegation in an interview with Israeli Army Radio and said all of the passengers had signed a pledge of non-violence.
    At a news conference in Jerusalem, Sara Weiss Maudi, a legal advisor and senior aide to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Israel's stance on the naval blockade.
    "Initial flotillas, were indeed you're correct that they were allowed in, that was before the naval blockade was imposed, again, once the naval blockade is imposed, no one can enter," Maudi said to the media.
    "There is no right to protest the blockade under international law there is no right of protest. When states come and will attempt to breach a blockade or vessels come and try to breach a blockade, they know the risks that they are taking because again it gives rise to a legal right to enforce the blockade," Maudi added.
    Israel says its blockade of the Gaza Strip is aimed at stopping weaponry from reaching Hamas, which is shunned by the West because of its refusal to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.
    Palestinians say the blockade is illegal and is helping to strangle Gaza's underdeveloped economy.
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