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Boat breaks Gaza blockade

GAZA CITY: A boat carrying 27 international activists sailed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, braving stormy seas and defying an Israeli naval blockade to bring attention to Israeli sanctions on the Hamas-controlled territory.

Israel had threatened to block the boat. But Navy ships did not interfere, and the boat sailed unhindered into a Gaza harbour, where it was greeted by Hamas policemen and a small group of Palestinian activists.

The 20-metre yacht Dignity took off from the nearby island of Cyprus on Tuesday with a shipment of humanitarian supplies. The passengers included Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. “The government of Israel cannot cut off Gaza forever. We will come again and again,” said Ms. Maguire. The activists — who also include Italians, Israelis, Palestinians and Americans — are scheduled to remain in Gaza for four days.

The Dignity was chartered by the U.S.-based Free Gaza group, which sailed two similar boats into Gaza in August. Israel let those boats through, saying at the time that ignoring them would deny the protesters the publicity they were seeking.

Israel said it would not allow this boat to dock, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the decision was changed late on Tuesday.

Israel imposed a blockade of Gaza after the Islamic group Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2007, and later tightened the sanctions because of daily rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli towns. Egypt has also kept its border crossing with the territory closed.

Israel and Hamas are currently observing a truce, and the flow of goods into Gaza has slightly increased. — AP

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