[ 20/08/2010 - 06:12 PM ]TRIPOLI, (PIC)-- Organizers of the Lebanese humanitarian Maryam vessel have announced Thursday that the boat loaded with humanitarian aid to the besieged people in the Gaza Strip would set sail to the costal Strip on Sunday in clear defiance to the Israeli threats to block it.
The Gaza Strip had been under crippling US-Israeli siege for four years now in a bid to topple the democratically elected Palestinian government.
"The ship will sail from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli to Cyprus before proceeding to Gaza from there" said Samar Al-Haj, the coordinator of the ship in a press conference it held in this regard.
"You possess the weapons and power elements but we possess our faith in Allah and our faith in the just Palestinian cause, and thus, whatever you might do (to block the ship), Maryam will sail to Gaza," Haj added in a message she sent to the Israelis during the conference.
She disclosed that organizers of the voyage were under tremendous pressure to persuade them not to go ahead with the trip, but, she said, all those who put pressure on us were convinced later on with the real message and goals of ship.
"You wait for the Maryams that would break the siege imposed on you", Haj said in a message to the besieged people of Gaza Strip, condemning the international silence towards the Israeli carnage aboard the Freedom Flotilla three months ago.
Speaking legally, Haj confirmed that the ship obtained the approval of the concerned Lebanese authorities to sail, adding that around 70 women from different countries would participate in the voyage, and that the ship carries only medicine for cancer patients, children's needs, and other humanitarian aid.
20/08/2010
Two days before the ship carrying women activists and aid for the blockaded Palestinian territory of Gaza starts its trip, Israel rushed to threaten Lebanon and warn of the move’s negative repercussions.
According to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the ship “is a provocation intended to aid a terror organization.”
“The ship that is preparing to sail from Lebanon has nothing to do with humanitarianism,” Barak claimed, adding that this activity is intended to aid a terror organization whose goal is to “kill Israeli civilians.”
Barak called on the Lebanese government to prevent the ship from leaving its ports. He also reached out to international officials who may have some sway in Lebanon, and asked them to press the government to prevent the ship from departing for Gaza.
“If the ship insists on arriving, in opposition to the current blockade, Israel will be forced to stop it and bring it to the port of Ashdod,” Barak warned.
The ship cannot travel directly to Gaza from Lebanon because Beirut is still at war with Israel, forcing the vessel to pass through a third country - in this case, Cyprus - before heading for the blockaded Palestinian territory.
But on Thursday, the Cypriot ambassador to Lebanon told The Associated Press that the boat, the Mariam, will be turned back when it reaches Cyprus. “We decided that such a ship will not be allowed to enter Cyprus and if such a Gaza-bound ship docks in a Cypriot port the crew and the passengers will be deported to their country of origin,” Kyriacos Kouros said. Kouros said Cyprus has a moral and legal responsibility to those allowed into its waters, and that a blockade-busting ship could endanger lives along with regional peace and stability.
For his part, Cypriot police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos confirmed that Cyprus will not allow the ship to sail from its ports. "Our position is clear. The arrival and departure of vessels to or from Gaza via Cyprus ports is prohibited and we will implement that decision," Katsounotos told Reuters.
"We are not children who can be told to stay home," al-Hajj told the AP after a chaotic news conference outside the port in Tripoli, where security forces prevented the group from speaking to the media from the ship.
He said Thursday that Lebanese authorities had given permission for the Mariam to sail to Cyprus. Lebanon does not authorize ships to sail directly to Gaza because it is in a state of war with the Israeli enemy, which controls Gaza waters.
20/08/2010 Cyprus will not allow a ship carrying women activists and aid for the blockaded Palestinian territory of Gaza to sail from its ports, the island's police said Friday.
Women activists said they planned to take aid to Gaza next week and their vessel, the Mariam, would set sail from Lebanon for Cyprus Sunday.
"Our position is clear. The arrival and departure of vessels to or from Gaza via Cyprus ports is prohibited and we will implement that decision," Cypriot police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos told Reuters.
Cyprus was used as a launch pad for activists to reach Gaza by sea from 2008 until mid-2009. Authorities introduced a ban last year, citing the island's national interests.
Yasser Qashlaq, an organizer of the Mariam expedition, was undeterred, saying the vessel would still leave Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli Sunday evening.
Qashlaq said Cyprus had no right to stop ships sailing to Gaza and would need to explain any ban in writing.
He said Thursday that Lebanese authorities had given permission for the Mariam to sail to Cyprus. Lebanon does not authorize ships to sail directly to Gaza because it is in a state of war with Israel, which controls Gaza waters.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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