Thursday 22 July 2010

Libyan aid ship vows to break Israeli blockade of Gaza

Vervolgend op Schieten op hulpgoederenvoorzieners


Daily Telegraph 11 Jul 2010 A new confrontation was looming off the coast of Gaza on Sunday night as a Libyan-backed ship pledged to break through the Israeli blockade on the territory.

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent, and Samer al-Atrush in Cairo The Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation said its ship, which left port in Greece on Saturday, was aiming to reach Palestinian land with its cargo of 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies.

"Our goal is not to provoke a clash, but we intend to go to Gaza," said Yusef Sawani, director of the charity, which is under the control of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son and heir apparent of the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

"This is a humanitarian operation - it has no political objective.  Our ship is carrying food aid, not fighters," he told the Daily Telegraph.

Israel has said it is maintaining its sea blockade of Gaza, while easing restrictions at its land border.  It says the blockade remains necessary to prevent arms being delivered to the militant group Hamas, which controls the territory.

It has offered to allow delivery of the aid items at its own port of Ashdod, but also says it has been assured the boat will avoid confrontation by heading for the Egyptian port of El-Arish.

But Mr Sawani said Israel's claims that an agreement had been reached for the ship to be diverted to Egypt had been denied to him.

"Our trusted sources in the Greek government have denied any agreement," he said.

The boat, the Amalthea, which has 12 crew and 15 activists on board, is Moldovan-registered and set sail from the port of Lavrio in Greece.  The compromise to allow it to head for Egypt was said to have been agreed between the Greek and Egyptian authorities.

"The goods can be transferred to the Gaza Strip through Ashdod port after being checked," a statement from the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, said.

"However, we will not allow the entry of arms, weapons or anything which will support fighting into Gaza.  We recommend that the organisers either let the ship be escorted by navy vessels to Ashdod port or that is sails directly to the port of El-Arish."

The Israeli authorities are keen to avoid a repeat of the international condemnation which followed the clash between its navy and an aid ship chartered by a Turkish group in which nine activists were killed six weeks ago.

The Libyan charity plays a key political role in promoting the younger Mr Gaddafi's attempts to modernise Libya without losing his father's reputation for Arab nationalism.

It was prominent in the arrangements surrounding the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, from prison in Scotland and his return to Libya a year ago.

Mr Sawani said he did not want to "provoke" Israel.  However, the El-Arish port authorities said on Sunday night they had received no request from the ship to dock there.

4 comments:

  1. MGB-LIB:100713:(13-JUL10):IDF shadowing Libyan ship nearing Gaza coast

    Int Christian Emb Jer. 13-07-10

    The captain of the ship Amalthea which is carrying a Libyan aid cargo to Gaza told the IDF late Tuesday that he will heed their warnings earlier today and sail for the Egyptian port of El-Arish, rather than try to break Israel's naval blockade. Israeli forces have been shadowing the ship since making radio contact this morning, urging the vessel to change course for the Sinai port rather than risk an IDF boarding. But the ship has repeatedly given mixed messages over its intent. The ship is owned by Greek businessmen, but the sponsor of the voyage is a charity headed by the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi. Earlier Tuesday, one of the Greek owners said that the 12-man crew would unload its humanitarian goods in el-Arish if refused permission to reach Gaza. But later, it insisted on steaming on towards Gaza with its 15 pro-Palestinian activists and 2,000 tons of food and medicine. The IDF will have to monitor the ship overnight and it is expected to pass near the Gaza coast by Wednesday morning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MGB-LIB:100715:(16-JUL-10):Libyan ship docks in Egypt
    BICOM 15-07-10

    The crisis over a Libyan-chartered aid ship, which had been heading for Gaza, concluded peacefully yesterday, when the ship's captain agreed to alter its course and dock in the Egyptian port of El Arish. The ship was warned by Israel's navy that it would be boarded if it continued its course toward Gaza. According to Egyptian officials quoted in the Israeli media, the Amalthea - which had been renamed the 'Amal' ('hope') by activists - arrived in El-Arish in the evening hours yesterday and began unloading its cargo. Egyptian officials stressed that all humanitarian aid on the ship would make its way to the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian Red Crescent would take responsibility for the transport of the materials via the Rafah Crossing. Rafah, which is the southern entry and exit point into Gaza, is fully controlled by the Egyptians.
    According to media reports, the Hamas authorities in Gaza had urged the ship to stay on course, presumably out of awareness that confrontation of this type serves the movement's cause. Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-ruled Strip, called yesterday on 'Islamic nations' to help the movement 'lift the blockade.' Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor stressed yesterday that further non-dangerous materials could be brought into Gaza, following inspection at the port of Ashdod or at El Arish.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Libyan Gaza aid ship is part of succession intrigue in Tripoli
    Debka 13-07-10

    13 July: Since Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi, 68, picked Moatassem-Billah, son number four, as his successor, his eldest son, Seif al-Islam, has schemed tirelessly to stay in the limelight and avoid being passed over as future potentate of this oil- and gas-rich nation. Seif's latest dodge is the privately-launched Al-Amal (MV Amatheia) for breaking Israel's naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. It was sponsored by the Qaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, Seif's personal lobby for promoting his ambitions to succeed his father when he retires in 2013.
    Reflecting Muammar's disapproval, an official spokesman in Tripoli denounced the venture as "an adventure and a risk."
    The same foundation, backed by British and Russian business interests, promoted the release last year on false pretenses from a Scottish jail of the former Libyan secret agent Mohamed Al-Megrahi, who was serving a life term for his role in the hijack of Pan Am Flight 103, which crashed over the Scottish town village of Lockerbie in December 1988 killing 261 people. Seif used Megrahi to ride home from the exile to which his father had condemned him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gaza ship prompts US senators demand to probe BPs Libyan links

    14 July: Muammar Qaddafi's son Seif al Islam may have made too much of a splash by consigning the MV Almathea (Al Amal) to challenge Israel's Gaza blockade: As Israeli warships encircled the ship Wednesday, July 14, a group of US Democratic senators' interest was drawn to his International Charity and Development Foundation which commissioned the expedition and called for its links with the oil giant BP to be investigated.
    Following debkafile's tie-in of the ship with Seif al-Islam's claim to succeed his father and the same British and Russian business interests which helped him secure the release of the Pan-Am bomber, US Senator Frank Lautenberg said Wednesday, July 14: "It is shocking to even contemplate that BP is profiting from the release of a terrorist with the blood of 189 Americans on his hands."
    The Libyan ship eventually obeyed the Israel Navy and avoided being boarded by turning away from the Gaza embargo waters and docking Thursday at the Egyptian port of El Arish. Seif al-Islam's fiasco was engineered in indirect negotiations between Jerusalem and Tripoli via Cairo.

    ReplyDelete