Flotilla II's departure time set

A Palestinian elderly woman (L) waits to receive her share of food aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at the refugee camp of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 25, 2010.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155516.html


International activists are to reach Gaza next year under the banner of Freedom Flotilla II after a first such fleet came under a deadly Israeli attack.

The seaborne convoy is to sail to the beleaguered coastal sliver in spring 2011, carrying humanitarian and medical supplies, the Palestinian-run International Middle East Media Center reported on Tuesday.

Enjoying Turkish support, the first Flotilla sailed for the Gaza Strip earlier this year, similarly intending to break Tel Aviv's siege of the enclave -- in place since mid-June 2007. The fleet was carrying approximately 750 human rights activists and around 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies.

Israel's military attacked the convoy in international waters on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring about 50 others. The activists were subsequently expelled and the cargos transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod in the south of Tel Aviv.

Organizers, however, attended a press conference in Rome on Monday, stating that the next mission is to be joined by activists from twenty, mainly European, countries.

One coordinator, Germano Monte, underlined the importance of Italy's support for the bid to ensure the safety of the human rights campaigners and prevent the previous disaster.

Israeli MP urges UN probe of Tel Aviv

Arab Israel lawmaker Hanin Zuabi


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140702.html


An Israeli lawmaker says she plans to demand a probe of Israeli leaders by the UN Human Rights Council over the deadly takeover of a Gaza-bound aid convoy.

Arab Israeli deputy Hanin Zuabi announced Monday her intent to ask the UN body to investigate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's Ynet news website reported.

On May 31, Israeli navy commandos attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine Turkish nationals onboard the aid convoy and leaving dozens injured.

Zuabi, who was accompanying Gaza Freedom Flotilla when it was attacked, charges the three Israeli leaders with bearing personal responsibility for the "criminal and pirate takeover" which claimed the lives of activists onboard the civilian fleet.

The MP is due to testify on Tuesday before the UN Human Rights Council's commission of inquiry into Israel's deadly onslaught on the Turkish-flagged aid vessel Mavi Marmara.

She has also demanded that Tel Aviv allows UN investigators to probe into actions by Israeli soldiers that took part in the Flotilla attack. She also called on the Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch to allow Palestinian senior cleric Sheikh Raed Salah, who was also onboard the Flotilla, to testify before the UN body.

Zuabi also plans to ask the Human Rights Council to extend the jurisdiction of its fact-finding commission to investigate "Israel's violations of international law in imposing a blockade on Gaza, war crimes, and crimes against humanity being committed in the Gaza Strip for four years."