Jewish aid boat sets sail to Gaza

Jewish aid boat sets sail to Gaza

 

FAMAGOSTA, An aid ship organized by Jewish activists left the northern Cypriot port of Famagosta on Sunday heading to the Gaza Strip in a bid to break the siege imposed on one and a half million Palestinians for the fifth year running.

The boat named Irene is flying the British flag and is theoretically supposed to arrive at Gaza port within 36 hours.

Reuven Moskovitch, an 82-year-old holocaust survivor, described his trip aboard the boat in a statement to the AFP as a "sacred duty" in his capacity as a holocaust survivor who should protest oppression and siege of this number of people including 800,000 children.

The boat is carrying 10 passengers and crew, including Jews from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Israel along with symbolic aid shipment of children toys, musical instruments, textbooks, fishing nets, and prosthetic limbs.

"The boat will attempt to reach the coast of Gaza and unload its aid cargo in a nonviolent, symbolic act of solidarity and protest — and call for the siege to be lifted to enable free passage of goods and people to and from the Gaza Strip," organizers said in a statement.