Email |  Print | RSS | Comment |  

 Email |  Print

Wed, Nov 10, 2010 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Logo of the French campaign to purchase a boat (CCIPPP website, November 9, 2010)

Pro-Palestinian French Organize to Purchase a Ship

Preparations continue for the so-called Freedom Fleet 2 flotilla. The Palestinian media reported that approximately 60 organizations were collecting donations to send a French ship to the flotilla. According to Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, coordinator of the La Campagne Civile Internationale pour la Protection du Peuple Palestinien (International Civilian Campaign for the Protection of the Palestinian People, CCIPPP), whose center of activity is in France, participating in the purchase of the ship are “three leftist parties, three workers’ organizations and a number of human rights organizations.” He said that a number of French Parliament members had already expressed their willingness to join the flotilla (Al-Jazeera TV, November 4, 2010; Al-Ayam, November 5, 2010).

Statement Made at a Ceremony Attended by a Yemeni Parliamentarian

During the Viva Palestina convoy’s visit to the Gaza Strip, a member of the Yemeni Parliament who had been aboard the Mavi Marmara presented Ismail Haniya, head of the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, with a dagger similar to the one he had with his on board the ship. The presentation was made at a festive ceremony. The master of ceremonies said that it was similar to the one taken by force by IDF soldiers after it had “wounded two of them” (Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV, November 7, 2010).

Greek commandos board Gaza-bound ship

Greek commandos boarded a Gaza-bound aid ship — whose mission went awry and turned into a hostage situation after a dispute with the ship’s captain — in a harbor off the country’s coast Friday, an official with the activist organization sponsoring the vessel said. The people on board, who had been described as hostages by the charity group that sponsored the voyage, were safe and uninjured, but still awaiting word from Greek authorities on their legal status, said Ellie Merton, a representative of the Road to Hope organization in London, England. Greece’s merchant marine ministry said the ship, Strofades IV, had docked in the Greek port city of Pireaus.

“Everyone was astounded. Nobody could have scripted this. It’s just bizarre. The matter is a serious breach of every maritime law possible. We have asked all relevant embassies to supply urgent, immediate, consular assistance. We are extremely concerned for the safety of all the nationals on board.” [CNN, Nov 12, 2010; Read more…]

Activists working to break Israel's siege of Gaza aboard the Strofades IV after their ship was taken over in Libya, November 11