BICOM

What boats are planning to come and when?

• At present two further flotillas are being planned, one from Iran and another from Lebanon.
• The organisers of the Lebanon flotilla are being deliberately vague about the expected date of departure, but two boats are likely to take part. The first boat, the Nagi al-Ali 1, is expected to carry 100 people, among them 25 European activists (including some parliamentarians, according to the organisers) and 50 correspondents. The Second ship, the Maryam, is expected to set sail with humanitarian aid aboard and 50-60 women from Lebanon, Japan, China, the United States, and European and Arab countries, a number of nuns are also reported to be participating.
• After numerous delays, Iranian Red Crescent Spokesman Abdul Rauf Adibzadeh announced Tuesday that the group’s aid ship, ‘Children of Gaza’, will set sail from Iran on Sunday. According to the group, the vessel will be carrying 1,100 tons of equipment including 500 tons of medicine and food supplies along with five reporters and five Red Crescent aid staffers.

Who are the organisers? 

•  Two relatively small organisations, ‘Journalists without Bounds’ and the ‘Free Gaza Movement’ are involved in the the Nagi al-Ali 1. Fronting the operation is Yasser Qashlaq, a businessman born in Syria whose family originate from Safed in northern Israel. Speaking on the Hezbollah run Al-Manar TV channel on the 19 June Qashlaq made the following anti-Semitic remark:  ‘A day will come when the ships will carry the remainder of the European garbage which came to my homeland [i.e., Israel] and return them to their homelands. Gilad Shalit will go back to Paris and those murderers [the leaders of Israel] will go back to Poland. And after they go back we will chase after them to the end of the world in order to bring them to justice for those massacres from Dir Yasin till today’.
• Behind the other vessel sailing from Lebanon is Samar Hajj – husband of Ali Hajj who was one of four generals detained for nearly four years in connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. Mrs. Hajj has previously stated that all the logistics for the Maryam have been handled by the Free Palestine Movement.
• Whilst Hezbollah deny involvement, there are suspicions that the organisation and Syrian support is behind both ships. The Lebanese government originally resisted cooperating with the ship organisers before allowing them to make passage to Cyprus.
• The Iranian ship is being organised by the Iranian Red Crescent. According to Red Crescent director for international affairs Abdolrauf Adibzadeh, speaking to the IRNA news agency, the decision to send the ships was taken after a meeting with the foreign ministry.

What is Israel going to do?

• Israel is expected to prevent any ship reaching Gaza. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said on 22 June that Israel must not allow Gaza to become an Iranian port. ‘We have a natural right to examine and prevent the inflow of weapons into Gaza’, Ashkenazi said. The army chief also said that anyone interested in bringing humanitarian supplies to Gaza is welcome to dock at the port of Ashdod where Israel will examine the content before allowing it into Gaza.