The Greek coast guard has stopped an attempt by a Canadian ship chartered by pro-Palestinian activists to sail to Gaza. Activists attempted to escape from the Agios Nikolaos port on the island of Crete, where their ship, the ‘Tahrir, had been anchoring following a ban by Greece for it to leave the port. The attempt to defy the Greek government was thwarted on Monday when armed coast guard officials caught up with the vessel and forced it back to shore. "We have left port [and] are full steam ahead – coastguard boat about 5-10 [minutes] behind us," announced passengers on the ship's ‘Twitter’ feed as they raced toward international waters. But the faster coastguard boat caught up with the ‘Tahrir’ and prevented it from going any further.
A spokeswoman of Greece’s Embassy in Tel Aviv told the ‘Jerusalem Post’ that Greek commandos had boarded the vessel just as they did last Friday when an American boat that was trying to leave for Gaza. When the passengers on Monday refused to identify the captain of the ship, all 50 of them were taken into custody, she said.
Last week, Greek authorities published an order barring the departure of all ships flying either Greek or foreign flags to “the maritime area of Gaza.” The Greek government explained that the move was taken because “certain groups of Greek and foreign citizens, without having received the necessary permission required according to the rules of safety, insisted to go through with the enterprise.”
"Our boat has just been illegally boarded by armed members of the Greek coastguard and commandeered against our will," Dylan Penner, a member of the ship’s steering committee, told the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ over the telephone. "This is conclusive evidence that Israel's unlawful siege on Gaza has now been extended to Greece." Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked his Greek counterpart George Papandreou for helping to stamp out what he called an "anti-Israeli provocation".
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced support for a Greek government initiative to use its vessels to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through existing channels, i.e. Israeli ports, and in consultation with the UN. On Sunday, Ban spoke with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis, who briefed him on the details of the initiative, and Ban said the initiative "could help to reduce tensions in the region and ensure much-needed aid is delivered to those who need it in Gaza."
The flotilla activists promptly rejected the Greek initiative.
