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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Israel warns UN over Lebanese Gaza aid bid |
| 2010-06-20 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] As women activists in Lebanon prepare a blockade-busting voyage to Israel its UN envoy has warned the world body that the Jewish state is entitled to use "all necessary force" to stop them. In a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon quoted by Israeli radio stations and Internet news sites on Saturday, Ambassador Gabriella Shalev said Israel suspected that organizers might be linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah. "Israel reserves its right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from violating the existing naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip," the website of newspaper Haaretz quoted her as writing. It appears that a small number of ships plan to depart from Lebanon and sail to the Gaza Strip which is under the control of the Hamas terrorist regime," she added. "While those who organize this action claim that they wish to break the blockade on Gaza and to bring humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, the true nature of the actions remains dubious." An international furor erupted after the Israeli navy stormed a six-ship aid flotilla heading for Gaza on May 31, killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American on board. Israel said its commandos acted in self-defense after being attacked. Following the outcry, Israel said on Thursday it was easing its land blockade of the Gaza Strip, which for the past three years has been controlled by Palestinian Hamas militants. But it said the sea blockade would continue. A group of dozens of Lebanese women activists is planning to set sail for Gaza on a ship loaded with medical supplies in a new bid to break Israel's four-year blockade of the Palestinian territory. The women have not yet announced a departure date but on Thursday they gathered near a shrine to the Virgin Mary in south Lebanon to pray she bless their vessel, christened "Mariam" in her honor. "The participants are committed to making progress and our only weapons are faith in the Virgin Mary and in humanity," spokeswoman Rima Farah told AFP. Deny Hezbollah involvement Dozens of Christian and Muslim women gathered in prayer in a cave near Our Lady of Mantara in the town of Maghdushe, where Mary was said to have waited for Jesus while he was preaching nearby some 2,000 years ago. The women deny Hezbollah involvement in their planned trip and the militant group itself said on Friday that it was not backing the voyage of the Mariam, because it did not want to give Israel a pretext to attack the activists. Preparations are also underway by other pro-Palestinian activists to send an aid ship carrying educational supplies and journalists from Lebanon to Gaza. Israel fought a deadly war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The battles destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers. Israel came under international censure over its May 31 seizure of a six-ship aid fleet bound for Gaza, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos in clashes on the lead boat. It says the blockade is essential to stop arms reaching Gaza's Hamas rulers. The group has fired thousands of rockets and mortar rounds into Israel and killed nearly 300 Israeli civilians in suicide bombings since 2000. Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday warned the Beirut government that it would bear responsibility for any "violent and dangerous confrontation" with any vessel sailing to Gaza from Lebanese shores. "You are responsible for the boats leaving your ports, which have the clear and stated intention of trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza," he said in a statement. Last year, a Lebanese freighter which tried to deliver aid to Gaza was intercepted by Israeli warships. |
| Posted by:Fred |