Ship leaving Doha Qatar Friday to challenge Gaza blockade

Qatari charity seeks to defy Gaza blockade Agence France-Presse - 02 December, 2008

A Qatari charity said on Monday it plans to ship one tonne of medical aid to the Gaza Strip this week in a bid to defy an Israeli blockade on the tiny Palestinian territory.

"We intend to send a boat in a symbolic gesture, carrying a tonne of medcine to our brothers in Gaza," said Abdallah al-Nimaa, vice president of the pro-Islamist Qatar Charity Organisation.

Nimaa told AFP the ship is to sail from Doha on Friday although he expects the Israeli authorities to stop the vessel from reaching Gaza, where most of its 1.5 million people depend on foreign aid.

"We expect Israeli warships to bar the Qatari aid ship, however we are determined," he said, adding that the organisation did not request an Israeli permit.

The announcement came as Israeli warships barred a Libyan ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza, forcing it to divert towards Egypt.

Israel sealed off its crossings with Gaza -- the impoverished territory's main gateway for food and humanitarian aid -- as well as its maritime borders after the Islamist movement Hamas violently seized power there in June 2007.

IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, was founded in 1992, by Drs. Aaron and Joseph Lerner, as an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations. Awarded credentials by the Government of Israel as a news organization, IMRA provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events.

The site includes:

• Israeli public opinion polls performed by Gallup
  
• Palestinian public opinion surveys conducted by the Palestinian research centers
  
• Summaries of news reports from the Israeli and Arab press and Arab broadcast media
  
• Official Israeli and PNA statements
  
• English translations of government reports and memoranda
  
• Translations of important unofficial documents
  
• Analysis of treaties and agreements
  
• Reprints of IMRA's Op-Ed columns

This is originally posted at http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=41638 and IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis is responsible for the content.

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