Freedom Flotilla Update: Tahrir Pulls Out; Two Ships Defiantly Remain

Source

Athens - PNN - The Canadian ship the Tahrir pulled out of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Two over the weekend, as only French ship the Dignity El Karameh and the Swedish-Norwegian-Greek ship Juliano remain to break the blockade of Gaza.

According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the activists on board the Tahrir finally gave up after Greek Port officials asked the activists to provide new documents that had never previously been mentioned nor required.

The French Ship has been currently waiting at sea for the past two weeks patiently waiting for other vessels to join it; the Juliano left Athens port on Wednesday.

On the Freedom Flotillas official website on Sunday a statement from the Juliano reiterated the activists desire to reach Gaza and show solidarity with the Palestinian people; describing their ship as a ‘nutshell’ sailing in the Mediterranean ocean between “democratic” Greece and Zionist Israel.

The statement continued ‘Every day that we are passing on the Mediterranean we get more and more convinced that you have the power, but we have the right and that the obstacles you impose will never discourage us from the pursuit of our just cause. Don' t forget that history in the long run always has punished those who have allied themselves with the oppressors’

For three weeks a series of setbacks because of diplomatic and bureaucratic obstacles and ship sabotage has plagued the Flotilla, forcing eight of the ten ships participating to turn back for home. The Tahrir the most recent dropout had already reduced crew numbers, as many activists needed to return home and to their jobs as the personal financial drain of the Flotilla began to take its toll.

In Haaretz, David Heap a professor at the University of Western Ontario who was a participant on the Tahrir, read out a letter he received from a fellow academic from the Al Aqsa University in Gaza: ‘Even if physically you did not manage to reach us, your voice - and the voices of all those in solidarity who mobilized to support you - have been heard and your message of peace for the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been received.’

Two ships still hope to reach Gaza and break Israel's blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.