ALGERIA: Activists from Gaza-bound flotilla return home after being released from detention in Israel

Record ID: 573708

  • Title: ALGERIA: Activists from Gaza-bound flotilla return home after being released from detention in Israel
  • Date: 4th June 2010
  • Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWDS STANDING OUTSIDE HOUARI BOUMEDIENE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AWAITING ARRIVAL OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION CROWD INSIDE AIRPORT'S ARRIVAL TERMINAL WOMAN HOLDING WELCOME POSTER WRITTEN IN ARABIC, READING: "WELCOME TO THE BRAVE PEOPLE. YOU HAVE MADE US PROUD AND LIFTED OUR SHAME" VARIOUS ALGERIAN DELEGATION BEING WELCOMED BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY UPON THEIR ARRIVAL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) VICE PRESIDENT OF PARLIAMENT, MAHMOUD GHERBI, SAYING: "With the Will of God, we will be, God Willing, the force behind lifting the blockade on Gaza. [Reporter asking how it felt to confront Israeli forces?] My feeling is that Israel, God Willing, is going to perish, whether they like it or not." MEMBERS OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) VICE PRESIDENT OF POLITICAL PARTY MSP AND CHIEF OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION, ABDERREZAK MOKRI, SAYING: "Today my brothers, this is not only a step towards lifting the blockade on Gaza, but because of its outcome, it has become a step towards the liberation of Palestine." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) VICE PRESIDENT OF POLITICAL PARTY MSP AND CHIEF OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION, ABDERREZAK MOKRI, SAYING: "Thank God, we have made a huge achievement, which revealed the fragility of the Zionist entity and has convinced everyone to realise this entity poses a threat to humankind in general and not just a danger to Palestine and Arabs." MEMBER OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION, SOLTANI NEDJMA, SURROUNDED BY CROWD UPON HER ARRIVAL AT AIRPORT NEDJMA HOLDING ALGERIAN FLAG / SURROUNDED BY GROUP OF WOMEN AND BEING GREETED BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION AND WIFE OF LEADER OF POLITICAL PARTY MSP, SOLTANI NEDJMA, SAYING: "We have made a promise to liberate Gaza, to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine and every single inch of Palestine, God Willing. And we shall return, God Willing, because the next caravan is being organised for next week, God Willing." VARIOUS OF CROWDS CHANTING OUTSIDE AIRPORT, SAYING: "WE WILL SACRIFICE OUR BLOOD AND SOUL FOR AL-AQSA" CROWDS HOLDING MOKRI ON THEIR SHOULDERS WHILE HE GIVES SPEECH TO PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE AIRPORT VARIOUS OF CROWDS CHANTING OUTSIDE AIRPORT WOMAN STANDING OUTSIDE AIRPORT WEARING VEST WITH ALGERIAN AND PALESTINIAN FLAG, READING: "FREEDOM FLOTILLA" GIRLS CHANTING AND WAVING PALESTINIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF CROWDS OUTSIDE AIRPORT / MEMBERS OF ALGERIAN DELEGATION AMONG CROWD
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVARTRIOSBGC4AL2KX3CV8OZ0JN
  • Story Text: Algerian activists who were on board an aid ship bound for Gaza returned home on Wednesday (June 2) to a hero's welcome at Algeria's Houari Boumediene International Airport. The activists had been detained in Israel and were deported.
    Thirty-one of the 32-member Algerian delegation returned home with the exception of one, who was undergoing treatment in Jordan for an eye injury. A national Air Algeria aircraft was dispatched on Wednesday morning to the Jordanian capital, Amman, to repatriate the Algerian activists, who included five women, members of parliament, journalists and doctors. Israel had deported the Algerian activists to Amman.
    The activists were aboard a Turkish aid ship and used sticks to defend themselves against a raid by Israeli commandos but were eventually forced to surrender and were tied up, one of the activists said on Wednesday.
    An Algerian member aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, where most of the violence took place, said they were humiliated by Israeli troops during the attack.
    Mahmoud Gherb, vice president of Algeria's parliament, was among the returning activists.
    "With the Will of God, we will be, God Willing, the force behind lifting the blockade on Gaza. My feeling is that Israel, God Willing, is going to perish, whether they like it or not," said Gherb upon his return to a warm reception in the capital, Algiers.
    Nine activists were killed in the raid, prompting an international outcry and increasing pressure on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza.
    Israel said marines who rappelled onto the Mavi Marmara fired in self-defence after activists clubbed and stabbed them and used two pistols snatched from the boarding party to shoot and wound several of them.
    Abderrezak Mokri, the vice president of the Algerian political party MSP, was the chief of the Algerian delegation on the flotilla.
    "Today my brothers, this is not only a step towards lifting the blockade on Gaza, but because of its outcome, it has become a step towards the liberation of Palestine," said Mokri.
    "Thank God, we have made a huge achievement, which revealed the fragility of the Zionist entity and has convinced everyone to realise this entity poses a threat to humankind in general and not just a danger to Palestine and Arabs," Mokri added.
    Some eye witnesses said they saw Israeli commandos firing rubber bullets but there were non confirmed reports they also used live rounds. Activists were later taken off the ship at the port of Ashdod in Israel and put in a detention centre.
    "We have made a promise to liberate Gaza, to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine and every single inch of Palestine, God Willing. And we shall return, God Willing, because the next caravan is being organised for next week, God Willing," said Soltani Nedjma, member of the Algerian delegation and wife of the leader of the political party MSP.
    In an appeal echoed by Washington, the United Nations (UN) Security Council has since called for an impartial investigation of the deaths of the activists.
    Some 700 activists were processed in and around Israel's port of Ashdod, where the six ships of the blockade-running convoy had been escorted. Among the activists were many Turks but they also included Israelis and Palestinians as well as Americans and many Europeans.
    The Israeli Interior Ministry said 682 activists were ordered deported, and that 45 left on Tuesday (June 1), while others were jailed as they challenged the orders, or in hospital being treated for injuries.
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