ID :
127501
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 14:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/127501
The shortlink copeid
Iran thanks captain of Irish aid ship to Gaza
DUBLIN, June 12 (MNA) – Iran has thanked the captain of Rachel Corrie, the Irish-owned cargo vessel for delivering humanitarian aid to Gazans, the Mehr News Agency correspondent reported from Dublin.
In a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the ship’s captain Derek Graham in Dublin on Wednesday, Mottaki expressed thanks to Graham for efforts he and his partners had made to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Graham also thanked Iran for its support of Gazans and expressed hope that their next meeting be held in Gaza.
According to Belfast Telegraph, Rachel Corrie, was seized by the Israeli navy last Saturday.
The ship, named after an American woman killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, was intercepted in international waters, about 20 miles from Gaza's shore and was being escorted to the nearby Israeli port of Ashdod for its civilian goods to go through security check before being delivered to Gaza.
The MV Rachel Corrie, carrying some 750 tons of aid including medical and school supplies, was meant to have travelled with the original convoy but was delayed by mechanical trouble, which activists say they suspect the sabotage was carried out by Israel.
Activists on the vessel, including Belfast-born Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday, insisted they would not resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel.
This latest attempt to breach the blockade differs significantly from the flotilla the Israeli troops intercepted on May 31, killing eight Turks and an American after being set upon by a group of activists. Nearly 700 activists had joined that operation, most of them aboard the lead boat from Turkey that was the scene of the violence. That boat, the Mavi Marmara, was sponsored by an aid group from Turkey, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief.
In a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the ship’s captain Derek Graham in Dublin on Wednesday, Mottaki expressed thanks to Graham for efforts he and his partners had made to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Graham also thanked Iran for its support of Gazans and expressed hope that their next meeting be held in Gaza.
According to Belfast Telegraph, Rachel Corrie, was seized by the Israeli navy last Saturday.
The ship, named after an American woman killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, was intercepted in international waters, about 20 miles from Gaza's shore and was being escorted to the nearby Israeli port of Ashdod for its civilian goods to go through security check before being delivered to Gaza.
The MV Rachel Corrie, carrying some 750 tons of aid including medical and school supplies, was meant to have travelled with the original convoy but was delayed by mechanical trouble, which activists say they suspect the sabotage was carried out by Israel.
Activists on the vessel, including Belfast-born Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday, insisted they would not resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel.
This latest attempt to breach the blockade differs significantly from the flotilla the Israeli troops intercepted on May 31, killing eight Turks and an American after being set upon by a group of activists. Nearly 700 activists had joined that operation, most of them aboard the lead boat from Turkey that was the scene of the violence. That boat, the Mavi Marmara, was sponsored by an aid group from Turkey, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief.
