Israel bereidt zich voor op nog groter konvooi naar Gazastrook

 

Ik heb weinig goede woorden over voor de aktivisten die weer een vloot naar Gaza willen leiden om de blokkade van de door Hamas bestuurde Gazastrook te doorbreken. Het lijkt hen geheel niet te interesseren dat ze daarmee de moslimextremisten in de kaart spelen tegen wie de Israelische blokkade is gericht. Door de blokkade ligt de economie van Gaza vrijwel op haar gat en moeten veel inwoners rondkomen van het bestaansminimum of nog minder, maar er zijn tal van gebieden in de wereld waar honger wordt geleden en mensen omkomen in ellende, en Gaza hoort daar niet bij. De burgers van de Gazastrook zuchten minstens zozeer onder de door hen democratisch gekozen 'islamitische verzetsbeweging' Hamas als onder de blokkade, maar de 'Free Gaza' aktivisten zullen deze fanatische terreurgroep die alle Joden de zee in wil drijven en vrouwen wil verbieden op een brommer te rijden (om maar iets te noemen) straks weer vriendelijk de hand schudden en met hen op de foto gaan.

 

Wouter

_____________

The Jerusalem Post
Israel gearing up for 'mother of all flotillas'
By YAAKOV KATZ
09/07/2010 05:35
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=187363


NGOs planning to sail up to 20 ships to Gaza in coming months; IDF closely tracking planned flotilla, preparing for wide-range of scenarios.

Israel is preparing for what is being described in the IDF as the "mother of all flotillas," which could include up to 20 different ships planning to set sail for the Gaza Strip in the coming months.

The flotilla is being organized by a coalition of NGOs from Europe and the United States, including a group calling itself European Jews for a Just Peace.

"We hope to have a broad coalition from European countries, and also maybe the United States," Dror Feiler, an Israeli-Swedish musician and artist who lives in Stockholm – and one of the organizers behind the flotilla – told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. "We would like it to be double the size of the last flotilla, with at least a dozen ships and more than thousand people."

The IDF is closely tracking the planned flotilla and is preparing for a wide-range of scenarios, including the possibility that due the large number of ships, it will need to stop the flotilla far from Israel's shores. Feiler said the large number of ships was due to the unprecedented number of people who wanted to sail to Gaza.

"The Israeli army can stop 12 or 50 ships if it wants," he said. "There are so many ships since so many people want to get together to stop the siege, which is a collective punishment of the people of Gaza and is unacceptable."

The last flotilla to Gaza was stopped by the navy at the end of May. During the operation, nine Turkish passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara passenger ship were killed in clashes with commandos from the navy's Flotilla 13.

The coalition behind the new blockade-busting effort includes the Turkish IHH and the Free Gaza Movement, both of which were involved in the May flotilla. It is demanding "an immediate and complete lifting of the closure, including a lifting of the travel ban as well as the ban on exports from Gaza."