Comments (0)Activist Boat Heading for Gaza
July 1, 2009Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
A boat carrying medical supplies and peace activists left Cyprus for Gaza.
It is the first boat sponsored by the Free Gaza Movement that has attempted to break the naval blockade since Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
The boat, which left Monday, is carrying 21 activists, including former U.S. Rep. Cynthia Ann McKinney (D-Ga.) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, Ynet reported. It was scheduled to reach Gaza the following afternoon.
On June 25, Cyprus prevented two Free Gaza Movement boats filled with aid and activists from leaving for Gaza.
Since last August, the group has made seven aid voyages to Gaza. Free Gaza is planning three trips to the coastal strip this summer.
Red Cross Report: Gazans ‘In Despair’
Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has left “1.5 million people in despair,” a Red Cross report said.
The report, released Monday by the International Committee of the Red Cross, says the blockade of the coastal strip is preventing Gaza from rebuilding six months after Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Many homes were damaged or destroyed in the operation.
“Gaza neighborhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicenter of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction,” the report said.
It called on Israel to “lift import restrictions on spare parts, water pipes and building materials such as cement and steel so that homes can be rebuilt and vital infrastructure maintained and upgraded.”
The report also criticized the blockade for denying appropriate access to health care for Gazans.
“Health issues in Gaza are often politicized and patients find themselves caught up in a bureaucratic maze,” it said. “The procedures for requesting permission to leave the territory are complicated and involve both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities.”
The report rapped Israel for stopping Red Cross-facilitated visits with their relatives in Israeli prisons, though it made no mention of the fact that Hamas has refused to allow any contact between captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and either the Red Cross or his family. Shalit has been held in Gaza for three years since being abducted in a cross-border raid.
According to the report, “People in Gaza are trapped. Because Israel has shut the crossing points, Gazans have scant opportunity for contact with relatives abroad or for further education or professional training.”
Mayor Threatened Over Lot’s Sabbath Opening
New riots broke out over the Sabbath opening of a Jerusalem parking lot, as the city’s mayor received e-mailed death threats.
Some 57 fervently Orthodox protesters were arrested Sunday for their participation in riots Saturday against the opening of the Karta lot, near the Old City’s Jaffa Gate. Following the arrests, demonstrators began blocking city streets, as well as setting fire to garbage dumpsters.
Also Sunday, police began an investigation into death threats received by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and one of his deputies, Ha’aretz reported. Security at Barkat’s office and home was increased.
A 20-year-old haredi man was seriously wounded in protests Saturday as the demonstrators threw rotten fruit, rocks and soiled diapers at police in Jerusalem’s fervently Orthodox neighborhoods. Five police officers and a 6-year-old boy also were lightly injured in the rioting.
At least 1,000 counter-demonstrators who support Barkat’s decision to open the lot to Saturday visitors to Jerusalem protested nearby.
On June 25, the Jerusalem District Court agreed to a request by Jerusalem’s municipality to keep the city-run Safra parking garage closed on the Sabbath and instead open the nearby, privately owned Karta lot, which is in receivership.
Thousands of fervently Orthodox Jerusalemites had turned out for a protest on Friday night despite the ruling, which some cast as a compromise because it allowed the city-owned lot to remain closed.
Two weeks ago, haredi protesters and police clashed following the opening of the municipal lot near City Hall, with six policemen sustaining injuries from thrown objects.
Barkat announced at the time that the lot would be closed for two weeks so that a compromise could be forged.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.