Update: This was sent to us by a reader without any comment. After publishing the article we were made aware that this news is from 2008. Still interesting. Then it was possible? Today?
Two vessels carrying 46 international human rights activists have reached the Gaza Strip, despite Israel’s strict 14-month siege of the Palestinian territory.
The end of the mission to symbolically break the siege came after Israel backed down from an earlier warning to the ‘Free Gaza’ protest group not to breach the blockade.
Al Jazeera’s Ashraf Amritti in Gaza said: “The arrival of these two boats is a very symbolic gesture for the Palestinian cause, to end the siege, end the occupation.
In fact, those phrases are written across the peace boats which carry flags from more than 70 nationalities.”
The boats set sail on Friday on a 370km voyage from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus carrying activists from 17 countries, including Israel, with the aim of drawing attention to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and its affect on the people there.
The boats sailed through choppy waters into Gaza City’s main port on Saturday, where they were greeted by thousands of people waving Palestinian flags, many of them sailing around the harbour in boats.
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- David Cameron: Israeli blockade has turned Gaza Strip into a ‘prison camp’
- Phantom Iranian Ship sails for Gaza
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is dated 2008, why post it now?! Its misleading and i made a fool of myself by tweeting it!
Thanks for pointing this out. It wasn’t made clear by the member who submitted it. We’ve added a notice to it now.