TEL AVIV, April 13, 2011 (WAFA) – Israel continues its efforts to prevent the Freedom Flotilla 2 from sailing to Gaza in mid-May, according to local sources.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told European ambassadors in Jerusalem on Monday: “this flotilla must be stopped,” urging Europe to do what it could to prevent its citizens from boarding the ship, according to Haaretz.
The Flotilla 2, organized by the international Free Gaza movement based in Cyprus, will comprise more than 15 ships and carry hundreds of peace activists and humanitarian supplies. It is scheduled to set sail at around the anniversary of last year's lethal interception by Israel of the 'Freedom Flotilla,' in which Israeli naval commandos shot dead nine civilian activists on the Turkish Mavi Marmara passenger ship that was heading to Gaza on May 31st, 2010.
'Flotilla partners insist that their governments take preemptive action to assure that Israel will not use force to interfere with this peaceful international effort to secure Palestinian human rights, human dignity and humanitarian assistance,' Free Gaza said in a press release on its website Monday.
F.J.
