St. Pancake returning to Gaza?
St. Pancake may be returning to Gaza. In spirit anyway. Also on Saturday, the Free Gaza Movement announced that it had purchased a massive 1,200-ton cargo ship that it plans to load with humanitarian supplies and send to the Strip next month.
The vessel was bought at auction in Dundalk, Ireland. Free Gaza has been behind a number of smaller ships that in some cases in recent years succeeded in breaking Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and docking there with international activists and supplies. The last two ships were stopped by the Israel Navy. The Free Gaza Movement owns four ships including three passenger vessels.
The cargo ship will head to Gaza as part of an international flotilla planning to set sail in May carrying 500 tons of cement, drugs, medical equipment and educational materials. Passenger and cargo ships, the movement said, were also being organized by the Turkish humanitarian organization I.H.H., and by groups in Greece, Sweden, Malaysia and Belgium.
“We have international law and the conscience of the people of the world on our side. We know the Irish people will not stand by and let the people of Gaza be starved and punished by Israel any longer,” said Derek Graham of the Free Gaza Movement.
The new cargo ship, called the MV Linda, will be renamed the MV Rachel Corrie, in memory of the 23-year-old International Solidarity Movement activist who was crushed to death by an IDF bulldozer in 2003 in Gaza.
Defense Ministry officials said that they were aware of the Free Gaza Movement’s plans and consult with the IDF and the Foreign Ministry over whether to intercept it or allow it to dock in Gaza. One official raised the possibility that the ship would be forced to dock in Ashdod, where the cargo would be unloaded and searched, and if found to be of a humanitarian nature, sent to Gaza via land crossings.
Israel Matzav: St. Pancake returning to Gaza?
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