Israel Deports Passengers After Reportedly Attacking Gaza Aid Ship
In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government has deported ten passengers aboard a Lebanese ship trying to deliver aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. The ship’s owner, Mohammed Yousseff, said Israeli forces opened fire on the passengers and assaulted them after coming aboard.
Mohammed Yousseff: “We contacted the ship, and we’ve been told by the captain what happened, that it was stopped by Israelis, and it was fired upon, and soldiers boarded the ship and attacked the captain, passengers and crew. I appeal to the United Nations and the European countries to protect the people on board the ship and the ship and also to send all the aid supplies on the ship to the people in Gaza. And we are calling on the people to help the Palestinians get rid of this blockade."
Another eighteen passengers are believed to still remain in Israeli custody. The Brotherhood ship was carrying sixty tons of supplies, including medical aid, food and books.
South African Dock Workers Boycott Israeli Ships
As Israel blocks aid ships from reaching Gaza, dock workers in South Africa are refusing to unload Israeli goods at their ports. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union says it will no longer unload Israeli ships in solidarity with Palestinians. Last year, South African dock workers refused to unload a Zimbabwe weapons shipment in protest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Clinton: Obama Admin Will Follow Bush Stance on Hamas Boycott
At the State Department Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated the Obama administration commitment to follow the Bush administration policy of boycotting Hamas.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “I would only add that our conditions respecting Hamas are very clear. We will not, in any way, negotiate with or recognize Hamas until they renounce violence, recognize Israel and agree to abide by, as the Foreign Minister said, the prior agreements entered into by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority."
The US position has been criticized in part because it refuses to impose the same conditions on Israel. Israel refuses to renounce violence, recognize a Palestinian state and abide by agreements, including a pledge to freeze settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
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