Posted on 07/01/2011 6:07:59 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Greece has banned Gaza Strip-bound ships from leaving Greek ports, and a vessel carrying several dozen US activists seeking to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory was asked to return after departing without permission.
Greece on Friday banned ships heading to the Gaza Strip from leaving Greek ports, and a vessel carrying several dozen Americans which left port without permission was asked to return.
A flotilla of nine Greek and foreign-flagged vessels and several hundred activists have said they want to break Israel’s sea blockade and deliver aid to the Palestinian territory.
Greece’s Civil Protection Ministry said coast guard authorities had been ordered to take “all appropriate measures” to implement the ban. It also said the “broader maritime area of the eastern Mediterranean will be continuously monitored by electronic means for tracking, where applicable, the movements of the ships allegedly participating” in the flotilla.
Witnesses said one of the boats, dubbed the Audacity of Freedom and carrying several dozen Americans, had left port Friday afternoon. Activists said on their Twitter feed that they had been intercepted by the Greek coast guard.
A Greek government official said the boat had set sail without the permission required of all boats to leave port, and that the Coast Guard had asked it to return. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation was still evolving.
Israel has said it will thwart any effort to breach the sea blockade of Gaza, which was imposed on the Palestinian territory after Hamas militants overran it in 2007.
An Israeli raid on a similar flotilla last year killed nine activists on a Turkish ship and each side blamed the other for the violence.
On Thursday, an Irish ship, the MV Saoirse at the Turkish coastal town of Gocek, said it had to abandon plans to set sail because of what it called Israeli sabotage.
Earlier this week, activists said Israeli agents damaged the propeller of a Swedish ship in the Greek port. Israel has refused AP requests for comment on the allegations.
Torpedo the ba**ards!!!
Sighted Ships,
Screwed Same
>An Israeli raid on a similar flotilla last year killed nine activists on a Turkish ship and each side blamed the other for the violence.
No, Israel boarded the ship legally to inspect its cargo and the typical palitrash attacked the inspectors with weapons. Israel did what
it had to do to defend themselves. So a few attackers got their due reward. I foresee a shortage of 72 virgins on the horizon.
They normally indulge the pro-Pallys. Some hardball pressure must have been applied on the Greeks. All the more considering their country is in low-grade civil war at the moment.
But I doubt this is over. I wonder if the Greeks can still hold back the boats if the flotilla file papers routing themselves toward say Cypress. Then at sea they simply change course to Gaza.
Solution if they continue, Israel should disable the ships, tow them far out and sink them.
God’s timing, and the hand of evil has been stayed on this attempt.
Thanks bruinbirdman.
HOORAY Greece! AGITATORS ALERT!
(Good news...thanks for posting ‘birdman!)
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