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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Middle East: UN expert hails activists for breaching blockade |
| 2008-08-27 |
| (AKI) - An independent United Nations human rights expert has hailed the landing of two wooden boats in Gaza carrying 46 human rights activists as a key symbolic victory. The international activists from the Free Gaza Movement left the Greek island of Cyprus and sailed to the port city of Gaza on Saturday in breach of the Israeli blockade. Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories said the activists seek to draw attention to the plight of the area's 1.5 million residents who have been "under siege" for the past year. "That siege, the coast blockade, and the overflights by Israeli aircraft all bear witness to the fact that despite Israel's claimed 'disengagement' in 2005, these realities on the ground establish that Gaza remains under Israeli occupation," he said. "As a result Israel remains legally responsible for protecting the human rights of its civilian population." He called on the international community to take measures to ensure that human rights are respected in the Gaza Strip, calling the situation in the area one "that has been ignored, despite overwhelming evidence of deteriorating mental and physical health that has reached crisis proportions." Falk noted that Israel's willingness to allow the two ships to enter the port could be a sign of a change in the country's approach, possibly reflecting a greater respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Another sign of progress, he said, would be Israel allowing the Palestinian winners of Fulbright scholarships to travel to the United States unimpeded so they can study. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Especially since the Israelis knew that the cargo was mainly balloons. I'm sure if the blockade runners had included AK-47s and RPGs in the hold, they would be sitting at the bottom of the Mediterranean right now. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-08-27 20:45 |
| #3 Falk noted that Israel's willingness to allow the two ships to enter the port could be a sign of a change in the country's approach, possibly reflecting a greater respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. I'm sure the Israeli coast guard could have blown them to Mars in about a second, but weren't going to play into this media-ploy. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2008-08-27 15:51 |
| #2 Those 5,000 baloons will go a long way towards easing the suffering of the Paleostain people. |
| Posted by: Jumbo Shaique9016 2008-08-27 10:06 |
| #1 Ah, yes. Certainly sounds "independent" to me. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-08-27 09:18 |