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Israel: Bahraini officials make first historic visit
[ADN Kronos] Senior Bahraini officials have made an historic visit to Israel to meet a group of Bahraini detainees that were arrested with other activists this week when they tried to enter the Gaza Strip to deliver aid, the country's official news agency BNA said on Friday.BNA said the detainees were freed by Israeli authorities after Bahrain's efforts to free them. "The efforts resulted in the approval of the Israeli authorities to hand over detainees to the representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain. As a result, the ministry of foreign affairs in cooperation with the ministry of interior sent a mission to Ben Gurion Airport to receive the Bahrainis detained," said BNA. According to official sources, the Bahrainis were met by the government delegation and are safe and in good health. Bahrain - despite being a staunch United States ally - does not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. The Bahraini detainees are part of an international group of activists, volunteers and politicians known as the Free Gaza Movement, an organisation that aims to deliver aid to the coastal strip by bypassing Israel's economic blockade of the war-torn territory. The activists were arrested in international waters this week by Israeli authorities and were awaiting deportation orders. The move prompted an independent United Nations human rights expert to denounce what he described as "the unlawful naval seizure" by an Israeli gunboat of a ship carrying medicine and reconstruction material for the people of the Gaza Strip. "Nonetheless, the 21 peace activists on the boat were arrested, held in captivity, and have been charged with 'illegal entry' to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel," said a media release by the office of Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. A former United States representative Cynthia McKinney, Irish peace activist and Nobel laureate, Mairead Corrigan Maguire were among those held. Israel said in a statement that the navy had previously contacted the activists' boat at sea and warned them that it would not be permitted to enter Gaza waters due to "security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade." Posted by: Fred 2009-07-04 |
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