Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

After Israel objects, Qatar gives up plan for aid shipment to Gaza

McClatchy (and me) | 09.12.2008 02:43 | Anti-racism | World

Israel is getting worried, because the successes of this group highlight the illegality and illegitimacy of Israel's blockade, as well as how easy it is to break their seige.

It also highlights the shameful and cowardly inaction and silence of the International Community, in the face of such a crime ...

After Israel objects, Qatar gives up plan for aid shipment to Gaza
By DION NISSENBAUM
McClatchy Newspapers

Israel is taking unusual new steps to discourage Arab and Muslim nations from challenging its prolonged economic siege of the Hamas-led Gaza Strip by sending aid ships to ease the desperate circumstances of the 1.5 million Gaza Palestinians.

In recent days, Israel prodded Qatar, a friendly Persian Gulf nation, into calling off a delegation preparing to transport aid from Cyprus to Gaza, according to officials briefed on what they said were high-level talks.

Hours before a Qatar aid group was scheduled to board a boat Thursday with $2 million in cancer medication, they abruptly canceled the trip.

The Qatar charity would have been the first such Arab aid group to challenge Israel's ban on international boats traveling to Gaza.

Instead, Israel urged Qatar officials to send any Gaza-bound aid via Israel, Israeli government officials said.

"The message was delivered, not only to them, but to anybody else that wanted to transfer aid to Gaza, that there is a mechanism on how to do it," said Andy David, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry. "We will not change our policy, which gives us the option on how to do it, while not allowing unauthorized boats to reach Gaza."

Last week, according to Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the Qatar government asked Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for permission to send aid to Gaza.

The government quickly rejected the request.

"We have no intention of setting up a shipping line to Gaza," a source in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office told Yedioth Ahronoth. "Israel's policy is to maintain the siege placed on Hamas government in Gaza, and there is no reason to give in to provocations."

But Palestinian supporters have been looking for alternate routes to get aid to Gaza because Israel is letting in drastically reduced amounts of aid.

Among Arab nations, Qatar has a relatively open relationship with Israel. The two countries established trade relations in 1996 and Israel maintains a small trade office in Doha.

Earlier this year, Livni made a rare visit to Qatar to attend a pro-democracy forum. Her attendance prompted a boycott by some Arab participants.

Qatar was not the only recipient of Israel's get-tough message.

On Sunday, Israeli authorities thwarted a group of Arab-Israeli (and non-Arab) leaders and activists making their latest attempt to challenge the Gaza restrictions.

The delegation planned to send a small aid boat to Gaza from Israel's port at Jaffa. Israeli police arrested three people bringing aid to the boat and warned the Israeli boat owner that he would be breaking the law if he went to Gaza.

Last week, the Israeli Navy turned away a Libyan ship carrying 3,000 tons of aid - which would have been biggest outside supply shipment to reach Gaza.

Other groups and nations are still making plans to challenge Israeli policies.

On Tuesday, the Free Gaza Movement plans to send its fourth boat from Cyprus to Gaza. The group had planned to transport the Qatar delegation on its 66-foot yacht, but now expects to carry a smaller aid cargo, along with a delegation of humanitarian workers, human rights activists and academics.

Israeli officials said they let Free Gaza boats in because the boats pose no security threat and they did not want to create an unnecessary international incident.

Israeli officials say they will allow supplies to enter Gaza if and when Hamas once again prevents Palestinian militants from firing rockets and mortars into southern Israel.

(However, if you follow the timeline of the Siege, it was imposed not because of rockets, but as a belligerent response to the democratic election of Hamas. Israel's own defense staff warned that taking such actions - which its own Attorney General said was a War Crime under international law - would PROVOKE a violent response, in the form of rocket attacks. Israel is defending its actions by citing the response it knew it was provoking.

And the media is letting them get away with it ...)

The sea route gained attention last month when Israel began blocking all but essential humanitarian aid from going into Gaza. The restrictions are part of Israel's attempt to undermine Hamas, the hardline Islamist group that seized military control of Gaza in June 2007 by routing Palestinian Authority forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas.

(This, as well, is an area where the media is acting in bad faith. What actually occured was the US and Israel orchestrated a coup attempt, using corrupt elements of Fatah loyal to strongman, Mohammed Dahlan as proxies. This was coordinated under Elliot Abrams, and approved by Condoleeza Rice.
‘I Like This Violence’
Censoring the U.S. role in Gaza’s civil war
 http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3184 )

Israel also barred international diplomats and journalists from entering Gaza, an unofficial policy currently being challenged in Israel's highest court by the Foreign Press Association, of which McClatchy Newspapers is a part. Israel lifted the ban for one day last week and then reimposed it.

Since early November, little aid has reached Gaza, which is facing shortages of everything from fuel to milk.

Following on the success of the Free Gaza boats, groups from Turkey and Jordan are also reportedly planning to send ships with aid to Gaza.

 http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/926542.html

McClatchy (and me)

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Dont forget the Libyan aid ship — Tourists4Palestine

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech