| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Leb aid ship will not head for Gaza on Sunday |
| 2010-08-22 |
| A ship carrying women activists and aid will no longer head to Gaza via Cyprus from Lebanon on Sunday, the organisers said, after Nicosia announced it would not allow the vessel to sail from its ports. "We will not embark tomorrow," Samar al-Hajj told Reuters. "We are working to find another place (port to sail from). There are obstacles, difficulties. We won't give up easily," she said. Women activists had planned to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza aboard their vessel, the Mariam, which was due to set sail from Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli for Cyprus on Sunday. Israel has warned that it will not allow ships to reach Gaza, controlled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas since 2007. Cypriot police said on Friday the arrival and departure of ships to or from Gaza through Cyprus ports was prohibited, prompting the Lebanese transport minister to revoke permission for the ship to sail there, according to the organisers. Ghazi Aridi told New TV on Friday the ship would not sail as long as Cypriot authorities have refused to receive it. He added Lebanon would not give permission for sail to an unknown party. |
| Posted by:Fred |