Israel Having Some Success In Thwarting #Flotilla2

According to Babylon and Beyond, Israel has had some success in preventing ships from joining Flotilla2:

The ships are supposed to rendevous in the Mediterranean and then sail to Gaza but some of the likely candidates in the region are dropping out. Cyprus has announced it will not let the ships in, Greece will let them in but is stalling them with red tape at Israel's request, activists complain. Greece has its own issues this week and will have limited energy to spend on this, one way or the other.


Elsewhere in Europe, delegations met with problems as insurance companies were reluctant to issue policies for the ships and their passengers, after an Israeli legal group, Shurat Hadin, sent letters to the world's leading marine insurance companies advising them they could be held accountable for damages and complicit to violating the law. Other initiatives seek to block satellite communications services to the ships.

The Turkey-based IHH was to be the biggest contingent of the flotilla, its massive passenger ship the largest by far of the dozens of vessels originally slated to sail. Last week the organization announced the ship was staying home.

Those boats that are still coming are claiming that the fact that Israel has been allowing more aid into Gaza proves that the flotillas work.

That of course would explain why they sail against a democracy like Israel instead of helping out protesters in a place like Syria.

After all, what is the point of getting the media coverage if you disappear into a Syrian prison.

And Gaza ain't so bad--especially for those humanitarian aid activists:

While the vast majority of ex-pats living here genuinely believe in the cause of liberation, it is far from the only reason for our mass invasion. Since the International Solidarity Movement was established in 2001, over 200 NGOs have sprung up in the West Bank and Gaza.

Their presence is proof of how favourable Palestinian conditions have become.

“Palestine is the best-kept secret in the aid industry,” I am told by Emily Williams, an American project manager at a medical NGO. “People need field experience and Palestine sounds cool and dangerous because it can be described as a war zone, but in reality it’s quite safe and has all the comforts that internationals want. Quality of life here is so much higher than somewhere like Afghanistan, but we don’t tell anyone so that we are not replaced or reassigned.

Maybe that's the real reason the Flotilla wants to go to Gaza instead of Syria.

Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and Flotilla2 and Hamas and Gaza.