Irish activists determined to return to Gaza
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, June 7, IRNA -- Five Irish activists on board an aid ship carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza said Monday they are determined to go back despite being forcefully prevented by Israeli forces.
Nobel peace laureate, Mairead Corrigan Maguire said that the purpose of the MV Rachel Corrie was to break the three-year siege of Gaza but that they had been “kidnapped by the Israeli navy and taken to Ashdod.”
"We were very sad, for the people that have lost their lives and the people of Gaza. We had lifted their hopes and then they were dashed, but we will be back," Maguire said after landing at Dublin airport with the other Irish deportees.
Former UN assistant secretary-general Denis Halliday, ship captain Derek Graham and his wife Jenny, and film-maker Fiona Thompson along with the 66-year old peace laureate were applauded by supporters amid chants of ‘Boycott Israel’ as they arrived.
On Sunday, Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin paid tribute to those on board the Rachel Corrie, for “demonstrating the capacity of people to engage in political protest to make their point peacefully.”
“That is something I hope the Israeli government will take on board and not be branding people like this as being on a ‘voyage of hate’ as one [Israeli] minister did last week,” Martin said.
“Very clearly people have great conviction [regarding] the humanitarian importance of getting aid to Gaza but also the broader issue of lifting the blockade on Gaza to facilitate reconstruction,” he told Ireland’s RTE radio.
He described Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as “absolutely unacceptable” and said “the international community need to have clear red lines in terms of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.”
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