UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on Turkey and other countries for activists to be discouraged from setting sail for Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are currently personally contacting their counterparts abroad and requesting that they prevent their nationals from boarding the vessels. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird "strongly" urged activists seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to the coastal enclave to do so via "established channels." Baird called attempts to breach the naval blockade imposed by Israel "provocative," saying they were not helpful to the residents of Gaza. A more "legitimate and constructive" way to help the people of Gaza, he suggested, was to donate to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed it was not within the authority of a democratic country to do so. "No democratic country can think that they have full control over these NGOs," he said. The killing of nine people aboard last year's flotilla caused a diplomatic storm and damaged Israel's ties with Ankara. Israel has tried to mend relations but insisted on keeping the sea blockade of the Gaza Strip to prevent weapons from entering the coastal territory, which is run by Hamas.
Davutoglu said in an interview that warnings about a second international Gaza flotilla should be directed at Israel, which needed to recognize the changing realities in the Middle East. "Nobody should expect from Turkey and from other (UN) member states to forget that nine civilians were killed last year," Davutoglu told the news agency ‘Reuters’.
Around 1,500 people from around 100 countries are planning to take part at the end of June in the second international flotilla attempting to break Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza, pro-Palestinian activists announced on Monday. “We will not allow Israel to set up open prisons and concentration camps,” Vangelis Pisias, the coordinator for the participating team from Greece, told a press conference (pictured on the left) organized by flotilla activists, adding that the group intended to show the world that problems could be solved peacefully. “Palestine is in our heart and could be the symbol of a new era in the region,” Pisias said.
The press conference was held on the Turkish ship ‘Mavi Marmara’, currently anchored in Istanbul. It was raided last year by IDF soldiers. In the ensuing battle with activists that were armed with clubs and knives, nine Turkish nationals were killed. The five other vessels that were part of the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla’ surrendered without resistance.
This year, 15 ships will sail toward Gaza in the last week of June. They will carry about twice as many activists than last year. The ‘Mavi Marmara’ will be among the 15 vessels, along with other ships departing from the United States, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Ireland. The endeavor will be called ‘Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human’. The organizers claimed that the ships will bring humanitarian aid to Gaza and said they would also be carrying 600 to 700 tons of cement, one of the goods that is not allowed to enter Gaza.
