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Sunday, May 23, 2010
ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires
The largest attempt by international aid groups to break the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip commenced Saturday, when the largest of nine ships traveling under the Freedom Flotilla banner set off from Istanbul.
The ships began their journey to Gaza despite warnings from Israel that they will be stopped for breaking Israeli law, the Qatar-based television network Al-Jazeera reported on its website Saturday. The vessels are carrying 5,000 tons of reconstruction materials, school supplies and medical equipment.
The largest of the nine ships set off from Istanbul, heading to the Mediterranean city of Antalya, where two other Turkish ships will be waiting to join the convoy. The three vessels will then travel into the waters off Athens and Crete to rendezvous with the other six before making the four-day journey to Gaza.
Turkey has high hopes for the flotilla as Gaza is an issue close to Turkish people’s hearts, said Al-Jazeera’s Anita McNaught, reporting from Istanbul.
“It has been a very emotional evening in Istanbul. The issue of Gaza moves Turks more than any other single issue,” McNaught said. “It has severely colored the government’s relationship with Israel, and many Turks feel a community spirit and sense of responsibility for the situation in Gaza.”
Mohammad Sawalha, vice president of the international committee to break the siege of Gaza and one of the organizers of the mission, told Al-Jazeera that a global movement is growing of people who want to send the message that the situation in Gaza is unacceptable.
“We are trying to send a message to everybody that the situation in Gaza will not go on,” Sawalha said. “No one can accept what is going on now in Gaza – preventing people from having the food and medicine they need. This is a crime.”
The convoy is from the U.K., Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey and is comprised of 800 people from 50 nationalities. It is made up of three cargo ships and five passenger boats.
Israeli objection
A senior Israeli official has warned the activists that their flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats will be stopped from entering Gaza. Naor Gilon, deputy director-general at the foreign ministry, said the action would be a “provocation and breach of Israeli law.”
A statement from Israel’s foreign ministry said it had “no intention of allowing the flotilla into Gaza” but did not elaborate on what measures might be used to stop the ships. Representatives from six organizations, including the European Campaign to End the Siege in Gaza, or ECESG, said they were determined to enter the area regardless of pressure from Israel.
“Israel should not be under any illusion whatsoever that their threats or intimidation will stop us or that even their violence against us will stop us,” said Huwaida Arraf of the Free Gaza Movement.
“If they [the Israelis] choose to resort to destruction and death, our mission is to try to open a window of hope for the people of Gaza,” said Kahel Mazen from ECESG.
Israel says the blockade aims to prevent Hamas, the political movement that controls Gaza, from acquiring weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes. For the majority of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million people, the result has been impoverished living conditions.
UN: Gaza blockade hinders reconstruction aid
Most of the property and infrastructure damaged in Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip was still unrepaired 12 months later and aid efforts have been largely ineffective, a UN report said Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported.
The survey, published by the U.N. Development Programme, said that much of the repair work that has been carried out has used materials smuggled in through tunnels from neighbouring Egypt to circumvent Israeli and Egyptian blockades.
"Many members of the international community, including the United Nations, have refrained, thus far, from utilizing materials identified as coming through the tunnels, subsequently limiting their role in reconstruction," it said. "While some recovery is taking place, the realities on the ground show that the international community is, by and large, rendered ineffective in addressing the needs of people in Gaza."
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=gaza-aid-convoy-sets-off-from-turkey-2010-05-22
ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires
The largest attempt by international aid groups to break the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip commenced Saturday, when the largest of nine ships traveling under the Freedom Flotilla banner set off from Istanbul.
The ships began their journey to Gaza despite warnings from Israel that they will be stopped for breaking Israeli law, the Qatar-based television network Al-Jazeera reported on its website Saturday. The vessels are carrying 5,000 tons of reconstruction materials, school supplies and medical equipment.
The largest of the nine ships set off from Istanbul, heading to the Mediterranean city of Antalya, where two other Turkish ships will be waiting to join the convoy. The three vessels will then travel into the waters off Athens and Crete to rendezvous with the other six before making the four-day journey to Gaza.
Turkey has high hopes for the flotilla as Gaza is an issue close to Turkish people’s hearts, said Al-Jazeera’s Anita McNaught, reporting from Istanbul.
“It has been a very emotional evening in Istanbul. The issue of Gaza moves Turks more than any other single issue,” McNaught said. “It has severely colored the government’s relationship with Israel, and many Turks feel a community spirit and sense of responsibility for the situation in Gaza.”
Mohammad Sawalha, vice president of the international committee to break the siege of Gaza and one of the organizers of the mission, told Al-Jazeera that a global movement is growing of people who want to send the message that the situation in Gaza is unacceptable.
“We are trying to send a message to everybody that the situation in Gaza will not go on,” Sawalha said. “No one can accept what is going on now in Gaza – preventing people from having the food and medicine they need. This is a crime.”
The convoy is from the U.K., Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey and is comprised of 800 people from 50 nationalities. It is made up of three cargo ships and five passenger boats.
Israeli objection
A senior Israeli official has warned the activists that their flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats will be stopped from entering Gaza. Naor Gilon, deputy director-general at the foreign ministry, said the action would be a “provocation and breach of Israeli law.”
A statement from Israel’s foreign ministry said it had “no intention of allowing the flotilla into Gaza” but did not elaborate on what measures might be used to stop the ships. Representatives from six organizations, including the European Campaign to End the Siege in Gaza, or ECESG, said they were determined to enter the area regardless of pressure from Israel.
“Israel should not be under any illusion whatsoever that their threats or intimidation will stop us or that even their violence against us will stop us,” said Huwaida Arraf of the Free Gaza Movement.
“If they [the Israelis] choose to resort to destruction and death, our mission is to try to open a window of hope for the people of Gaza,” said Kahel Mazen from ECESG.
Israel says the blockade aims to prevent Hamas, the political movement that controls Gaza, from acquiring weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes. For the majority of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million people, the result has been impoverished living conditions.
UN: Gaza blockade hinders reconstruction aid
Most of the property and infrastructure damaged in Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip was still unrepaired 12 months later and aid efforts have been largely ineffective, a UN report said Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported.
The survey, published by the U.N. Development Programme, said that much of the repair work that has been carried out has used materials smuggled in through tunnels from neighbouring Egypt to circumvent Israeli and Egyptian blockades.
"Many members of the international community, including the United Nations, have refrained, thus far, from utilizing materials identified as coming through the tunnels, subsequently limiting their role in reconstruction," it said. "While some recovery is taking place, the realities on the ground show that the international community is, by and large, rendered ineffective in addressing the needs of people in Gaza."
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=gaza-aid-convoy-sets-off-from-turkey-2010-05-22
