May God Bless and watch out over these wonderful and brave people.
(I am in tears as I am typing this; thank God for people like this)
Also see: Protest Boats Reach Gaza
"TERRORISTS" Defy Blockade
Palestinian Aid Boats Sail for Cyprus
"MK Zahalka, preparing to board Gaza protest boat, calls Israeli siege 'a crime'
by The Associated Press, and Haaretz Service
Balad faction chairman MK Jamal Zahalka called Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip "a crime" Tuesday, while preparing to join a group of protesters setting sail to the coastal strip from Cyprus.
Zahalka told Haaretz his Balad faction supports breaking the siege and that he hopes a direct line for sea traffic will be established between Cyprus and Gaza.
"This siege is a crime against hundreds of thousands of people, and I am here in order to fight this crime," he said, before adding that his actions are political and granted immunity by law.
Earlier, protesters who defied Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip to bring aid to Palestinians last month announced they would be making their return voyage on Wednesday. Free Gaza organizer Greta Berlin said about 20 protesters will sail from Cyprus aboard a boat named Hope for the 20-hour trip to the Palestinian territory.
Berlin says Irish Nobel peace prize winner Mairead McGuire and an Italian opera tenor will be among the passengers. She said Tuesday protesters will deliver a consignment of medicine and ferry Palestinians back to the east Mediterranean island on the return trip.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel had not decided whether or not to allow the boat into Gaza. Palmor said he didn't know when a decision would be made, but that it was unlikely any decision would be announced in advance. Protesters sailed to Gaza last month to protest Israel's year-long blockade of Gaza.
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