Freedom Flotilla 2 Starts Forming with 3 New Ship Loads, Says ECESG

European campaign: We received funding for three ships of Freedom Flotilla 2

[ 02/06/2010 - 01:28 PM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)--

The European campaign to end siege announced Wednesday that it obtained the funding of the first three ships of the new aid convoy to the besieged Gaza Strip, which will be named "Freedom Flotilla 2.”

Head of the campaign Arafat Madi said in a statement that there are extensive calls to launch a new convoy to Gaza involving many ships and carrying on board more aid and more peace activists than the current Freedom Flotilla, which was carrying 10, 000 tons of aid and hundreds of passengers from more than 40 countries around the world.

Madi added that following the massacre committed by Israel against the civilian passengers on board the ships in international waters, Arab, Islamic, European and Western calls increased demanding the formation of a convoy larger than the one captured by Israel.

For its part, the Arab international committee for the reconstruction of Gaza said that it started to receive hundreds of requests from different people and parties around the world asking for participating in and providing support for Freedom Flotilla 2, which will sail for Gaza in the next few weeks.

The committee added that Israel’s assault on the current convoy augmented the enthusiasm of the world’s free people to help in sending more convoys to Gaza.

In another context, the European campaign to end the siege said that the Israeli side asked the Freedom Flotilla coalition to hand over a list of the aid items aboard the ships at the pretext of sorting them out, although the Israeli side has seized ships and everything on board.

The campaign warned that Israel is trying to mislead the world when declaring its intention to sort the aid, affirming that based on what the convoy carried, Israel will not let in more than 10 percent of the aid materials at the pretext they are banned materials.

It called for pressuring Israel to let in all humanitarian aid, for it is urgently needed by the Palestinians in Gaza.

For his part, head of the society for peace movement Abu Jarah Sultani said there are preparations for organizing an aid convoy by land from Algeria to Gaza.

His remarks came during a massive gathering organized by the Algerian coalition parties to follow up the developments of Israel’s military attack on Freedom Flotilla.

Sultani noted that the organizers of the convoy coordinated with the Egyptian side to facilitate its travel to Gaza.

ECESG: “We Have Donations To Prepare First Three Ships of Freedom Flotilla 2”

Wednesday June 02, 2010 11:18 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) reported that it has enough donations to prepare the first three solidarity ships of "Freedom Flotilla 2," a second humanitarian convoy for Gaza in the spirit of the flotilla that was raided and seized by the Israeli terrorist forces on Monday.

Preparations are already underway to launch the second flotilla, said Dr. Arafat Madhi, the head of the ECESG .

He added that this flotilla would carry a larger cargo of humanitarian supplies than the first one.

Dr. Madhi feels the new flotilla will have international support, because “after the massacre carried out by the Israeli terrorist forces against the activists in international waters, more Arab, Islamic and European countries started calling for another flotilla, much bigger than the first one.”

He added that activists and human rights supporters will not be discouraged by Israeli violence, and that “despite the massacre carried out against them, and the Israeli arrogance, they will sail to Gaza again.”

The Brussels-based ECESG announced that Freedom Flotilla 2 is expected to sail in the coming weeks. The Campaign says that the flotilla manifests a “real international will to break this unjust and illegal Israeli siege on Gaza”.

Dr. Madhi said that senior Turkish government officials will likely be sailing with the Flotilla.

Israel violently attacked the Freedom Flotilla carrying 750 activists from 40 countries, including 44 European and Arab figures and parliamentarians. Dozens were killed and wounded in the attack.

Several activists reported that the Israeli army used live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, clubs, and tasers.

The Flotilla carried more than 10.000 tons of medical and humanitarian supplies, wood and construction materials and school supplies. T also carried 100 mobile homes and 500 power chairs.

The European campaign is one of the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.