Israeli Military Boards Gaza Aid Ship
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ASHDOD, Israel -- Israel prevented a new attempt to break its blockade of Gaza on Saturday when its naval commandos boarded an Irish-owned vessel carrying humanitarian supplies and prominent activists and steered it to this Israeli port.
There were no attempts at resistance or reports of violence, the Israeli military said.
The interception, 23 miles off the coast, took place less than a week after an Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish ship turned violent, leaving nine Turkish activists dead and creating an international crisis that severely damaged Israeli-Turkish relations.
On Friday, the Israeli and Irish governments reached an agreement to unload the vessel's cargo in Ashdod, in southern Israel, and transport it to Gaza, but the group sponsoring both this ship and the Turkish flotilla, the Free Gaza Movement, rejected the deal.
The 11 activists and 8 crew members on board the 1,200-ton cargo ship had made clear at the outset that they would not resist and that they had no weapons. The passengers included Mairead Maguire, an Irish Nobel Peace laureate; Denis Halliday, a former United Nations assistant secretary general from Ireland; and Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria, a member of the Malaysia's Parliament.
It was not possible to reach the boat because communications were jammed, but an Israeli journalist embedded with the navy filed an account of the takeover that confirmed the military's report of the events.
The journalist, Ron Ben-Yishai of Ynet News, said the takeover, shortly before 12:30 p.m., took five minutes and involved two missile boats carrying about 20 combat soldiers.
A spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement, Greta Berlin, said by telephone from Cyprus that boarding the boat was "just another violent act," and that "Israel needs to understand that we are not going to stop until they stop the blockade." She said four boats were already lined up for trips to Gaza.
Her group aims to end the three-year blockade of Gaza, which Israel says is intended to prevent the infiltration of weapons and militants into the Hamas-run territory.
First Published June 6, 2010 2:00 am
