Friday 11 June 2010

Salah: Israel failed to deter siege-breaking ships


[ 11/06/2010 - 03:35 PM ]

UM AL-FAHAM, (PIC)-- Sheikh Raed Salah, the prominent Muslim leader in the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands said on Thursday that the Israeli occupation authorities failed to stop international supporters and siege-breaking ships from coming to Gaza Strip.

He also pointed out that preparations were underway for sailing the "Freedom Flotilla 2" towards the besieged Strip, adding that the IOA bloody raid on the Freedom Flotilla tried to frighten and deter international supporters from sailing again to Gaza but failed to do so as thousands more expressed their willingness to participate in the new convoy.

In an interview with the PIC, Salah said that the Isreali navy attack on the peaceful ships last May was, by all standards, an "international war crime" as it resulted in the killing and wounding of many peaceful activists coming to help the besieged Gaza Strip, as well as the kidnapping of more than 700 activists coming from 35 countries who were on board of those ships.

"Three weeks form now, another Freedom flotilla would sail to the Gaza Strip, and there would be another ship carrying Turkish Prime Minister Tayyeb Recep Erdogan and a number of state presidents accompanying him to break the siege on Gaza", Salah said.

He added that the blood shed by the Israeli navy on the ships has shaken the barrier of silence and embarrassed many countries participating in the siege as evident with the Egyptian government decision to open the Rafah crossing "till further notice".

When asked on why the Israelis attempted to assassinate him but, instead, killed a Turkish supporter who looked like him, Salah replied, "The Israeli occupation doesn’t want to kill me for my person, but rather for the idea and the position we are adopting to defend our country and our holy shrines and the Palestinian people national constants".

The Sheikh also criticized the Arab and Muslim countries for keeping silent on the Israeli siege on their Muslim brothers in Gaza Strip over the past four years, stressing that it was about time for the Arabs and Muslims to stand up for the support of Palestinian people, Jerusalem, and the Aqsa Mosque.

He also vowed not to relax his efforts and activities in support of the Aqsa Mosque and the Muslim holy shrines in occupied Palestine despite the Israeli measures taken against him limiting his movements and putting him under surveillance.

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