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Appalled by Israeli seizure of aid boat

Saturday, 4 July 2009

I am appalled at the seizure of a humanitarian aid shipment by Israeli gunboats in international water and the forcible detention of 21 peace activists, including Nobel Prize winner, Mairead Maguire.

I have recently returned from Gaza where I witnessed at first hand the terrible suffering being inflicted on innocent people by this Israeli-imposed siege and the death and suffering caused by the blockade of medicines and medical equipment.

At the time of my visit I was informed that some 320 patients had died as a direct result of the refusal of Israel to allow either medical equipment into Gaza or patients to leave to receive treatment elsewhere.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has just issued a report in which they state ‘the stringent Israeli military restrictions on movements of persons and goods in and out of Gaza over the last two years is one of the main causes of the crisis’.

It is disgraceful that a whole community is being punished by the Israeli regime because of the choice they made in a free and open election. The international community must speak out now and demand that Israel lifts this blockade immediately and releases these urgently needed medical supplies for innocent men, women and children in the Gaza Strip.

Councillor Gerry MacLochlainn

Derry

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Patrick You seem to forget or maybe you dont know? That Judea was renamed Palestine after the bar Kokba revolt and jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. To many people think Israel only started in the 1940s You should look up the history of Masada ad 73 a long time before the 1940s or even 1960s

Posted by Terry | 14.07.09, 18:58 GMT

Yes Patrick, those towns "used to be" Araab towns. They are now israeli towns in the soovereign State o Israel (recgnized as such by the UN). All this bleating about what happened in 1947 will not change that fact. Israel is entitled to defend her citizens against terrorists.

Posted by Centaur | 07.07.09, 13:11 GMT

RS? The " Israeli towns" that you write about used to be Palestinian towns until they were terrorised ( the Palestinians ) out. of them by Ergun Israeli terrorists, the same ones who had blown up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and murdered eighty British soldiers in 1947. Not know your plantation history? Both here and in Palestine?

Posted by Patrick | 06.07.09, 17:16 GMT

If aid workers want to bring aid into Gaza, they should do so by legal means. There have been arms shipments brought into Gaza for years via the sea. Israel has a right to protect its people and borders and should be able to check the aid comming in.

Also, Israel gives more aid to the Palastinians than any other Nation.

Did you also manage to visit the Israeli towns that Gazans have attacked for years with rockets and sucide bombers?

Posted by RS | 06.07.09, 09:44 GMT

typical one sided reporting by the belfast telegraph and other contributors. why is it that israel is singled out for criticism? egypt has a border with gaza which it too has closed for the same reasons as israel - because hamas would exploit the movement of goods to bring even more arms and explosives into the strip. is hamas was really concerned about the welfare of the civilian population they would be smuggling aid through the tunnels instead of explosives.

Posted by andrew shaw | 06.07.09, 08:10 GMT

I've known of so called aid shipments to also contain weapons. Perhaps the Israeli's were looking for Katusha rockets and other armaments which Gerry, you may find unbelievable, have been and are used to attack Israeli's. I bet you don't believe it!

Posted by robbo | 04.07.09, 22:22 GMT

Israel gets a lot of sympathy because of the Holocaust, now they carry out the same policy on others. You wouldn't do the things on a dog that the Israelis are doing on the people of Gaza - and some!

Posted by Patrick | 04.07.09, 19:50 GMT

Umm...Keetz....see the box above with 'Related articles' written above it? Try that.

Posted by Dave G, London | 04.07.09, 16:08 GMT

Where is the thoughtful, informative story on this very newsworthy piece of news BT? Or do you need the space for those great humanitarian articles like "Susan Boyle's got talent, but she's also got a subtle makeover"?

Posted by Keetz | 04.07.09, 14:33 GMT