Maryam sails to Gaza on Sunday despite Israeli threats

Maryam sails to Gaza on Sunday despite Israeli threats

TRIPOLI,  Organizers of the Lebanese humanitarian Maryam vessel have announced Thursday that the boat loaded with humanitarian aid to the besieged people in the Gaza Strip would set sail to the costal Strip on Sunday in clear defiance to the Israeli threats to block it.

The Gaza Strip had been under crippling US-Israeli siege for four years now in a bid to topple the democratically elected Palestinian government.

“The ship will sail from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli to Cyprus before proceeding to Gaza from there” said Samar Al-Haj, the coordinator of the ship in a press conference it held in this regard.

“You possess the weapons and power elements but we possess our faith in Allah and our faith in the just Palestinian cause, and thus, whatever you might do (to block the ship), Maryam will sail to Gaza,” Haj added in a message she sent to the Israelis during the conference.

She disclosed that organizers of the voyage were under tremendous pressure to persuade them not to go ahead with the trip, but, she said, all those who put pressure on us were convinced later on with the real message and goals of ship.

“You wait for the Maryams that would break the siege imposed on you”, Haj said in a message to the besieged people of Gaza Strip, condemning the international silence towards the Israeli carnage aboard the Freedom Flotilla three months ago.

Speaking legally, Haj confirmed that the ship obtained the approval of the concerned Lebanese authorities to sail, adding that around 70 women from different countries would participate in the voyage, and that the ship carries only medicine for cancer patients, children’s needs, and other humanitarian aid.