GAZA CITY (AFP) — Pro-Palestinian activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip in symbolic defiance of an Israeli blockade headed back to Cyprus on Thursday with seven residents of the besieged territory on board their two boats.
The wooden fishing boats "Free Gaza" and "SS Liberty", which arrived on Saturday with 44 activists on board, set sail for the 370-kilometre (230-mile) return voyage on Thursday afternoon.
Among the Palestinians on board was Saed Mosleh, 12, who lost his leg to an Israeli tank shell, as well as students who had been prevented by the Israeli embargo from studying abroad.
"I can't believe we're finally able to leave for medical treatment," said Khaled Mosleh, the boy's father who was also among the passengers. "This is a miracle of God."
On their journey to Gaza the activists had expected to be stopped by the Israelis who had warned them to stay out of the territory's coastal waters but eventually decided to allow them through in order to avoid a public standoff.
"The Israeli threats of intercepting the boats don't scare me," said Mosleh. "We will smash the blockade so my son can get a prosthesis," he told AFP.
There was media speculation that the authorities might stop the vessels to check the Palestinian passengers' identities.
"Why is it that the only people in the Mediterranean without access to their own waters are the Palestinians?" asked Vaggelis Pissias, one of the organisers.
Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Hamas government in Gaza, bid the activists farewell at the port and, in a symbolic gesture, gave them Palestinian diplomatic passports.
"Your coming to Gaza rewards the endurance of the Palestinian population in the face of the occupation," he said.
Nine of the activists remained in Gaza to conduct "human rights monitoring," while another, Bill Dienst of Omak, Washington, planned to try to cross over into Israel through the Erez crossing.
Jeff Halper, the only Israeli in the group, returned to Israel on Tuesday and was promptly detained by police who held him for about 24 hours for entering Gaza illegally.
The activists delivered 200 hearing aids to Gaza, but said the main aim of the symbolic blockade-busting action was to publicise the plight of the 1.5 million people trapped in the impoverished territory.
"By coming to Gaza, we realised the extent of the suffering of its population," said Huwaida Arraf. "It is truly a war crime," she added.
Israel sealed off the tiny coastal territory to all but very limited humanitarian supplies after Hamas, an Islamist movement it blacklists as a terror group, violently seized power in Gaza after routing forces loyal to US-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Israeli authorities say the sanctions aim at putting pressure on Palestinian militants who fired rockets at southern Israel almost daily before a truce took effect on June 19.
Mostly American and British, the activists who sailed to Gaza include Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair who is now an international Middle East peace envoy.
The "Free Gaza" group said it would soon return to the Palestinian territory and urged the United Nations, the Arab League and the international community to organise "similar human rights and humanitarian efforts."
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