Batoul Wehbe
02/06/2010 From the Lebanese border with the occupied Palestinian territories, Head of Hezbollah’s office of international relations MP Sayyed Nawaf Al-Moussawi told the “Freedom Flotilla” detainees, whose aim was to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, that no bars could be able to keep any resistance activist detained. “To our family and friends who went in the freedom ships, we came to express solidarity with you, and we’ll welcome you upon your release. We won’t leave you in prisons and there’re no bars able to keep you in.”
Israel has postponed the deportation of five Lebanese activists detained after its navy commandos seized a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in an assault that left nine people killed. But international red cross said Wednesday that Israel will release 4 Lebanese activists via the Naqoura border crossing point at 8:00pm Wednesday. The 4 detainees are: Dr. Hani Suleiman, Abbas Nasser, Andre Abi Khalil, and Hussein Shokr
Addressing the world countries and people who denounced the Israeli crime, Moussawi said: “If you want to be loyal to the martyrs, break Gaza siege unconditionally and not to a limited time caused by political pressure or with the aim to absorb the public opinion’s shock.”
“Anyway, I wish we were closer to Palestine and precisely, Gaza.”
Local media said UNIFIL informed the Lebanese army that Israel wants to delay the deportation of Dr. Hani Suleiman, head of the Lebanese mission to the Freedom Fleet, news reporter Abbas Nasser, photographer Andre Abi Khalil, and activists Hussein Shokr, whose family was martyred during the Israeli war launched against Lebanon in July 2006, as well as Nabil Hallak, coordinator of the national committee to break the siege on Gaza. Three of the activists – Nasser, Khalil and Shokr -- were set to be deported before daybreak Wednesday.
They were supposed to be handed over to UNIFIL at the Naqoura border crossing point.
WHAT FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF THE DETAINED LEBANESE SAY?
“World could not have been able to witness the Israeli crimes without the media. We are very proud in Abbas’s struggle and patience and we are very happy he’d come back safe,” the head of Al-Jazeera's Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, told Al-Manar TV.
Fatima Awada, Nasser’s wife, also speaks on her husband’s noble mission saying “his entry to Gaza was first as a news-mission and secondly it was out of a humanitarian feeling to reach and support Gaza in any way, even with his pen.”
For her part, Dr. Hani Suleiman’s wife, Jihan Suleiman, speaks to Al-Manar about her husbands’ struggle: “What had happened guarantees to ease Gaza blockade with no need for Hani to go back for a third time. But I’m sure that if the siege wasn’t broken, he’d go there because he is faithful in this rightful case.”
The daily As-Safir on Wednesday said Israel wanted to keep Dr. Suleiman under the excuse that he needs to stay at hospital after he was wounded in his leg during the attack. Suleiman, the newspaper said, has refused to be treated at an Israeli hospital.
“Earlier, my dad refused a drink of water from the Israelis. I doubt he’d accept that they medicate him”, Suleiman’s son, Adham, said.
Sleiman was injured during the Israeli attack on the Turkish ship. He was also among the passengers of the “Lebanese Brotherhood” vessel that tried to break the Israeli siege on Gaza in February 2009. The ship was withheld by the Israeli authorities and its passengers were deported to their countries.
“I am so proud of him,” Hallak’s wife, Yusra, tells Al-Manar. “Hani and the others were so keen to go to Gaza out of the humanitarian case with high morale. They realized all the possibilities but nevertheless they went.”
As for Hallak, Israel first denied any knowledge of his whereabouts, claiming he was not on the list of Lebanese detainees. When Israel was told Hallak carried an Irish passport, the Zionist entity said it wanted "some time" to determine his whereabouts.
As-Safir said Speaker Nabih Berri rejected Israel's decision to deport Lebanese activists via Jordan and demanded that they be handed over at Naqoura.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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