A French boat belonging to this year’s Gaza-bound flotilla managed set sail from the Greek island of Kastelorizo on Saturday night.
The Dignité/Al Karama was originally part of a 10-ship international flotilla trying to break through the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
The boat sailed despite the Greek government’s ban on flotilla ships leaving Greek ports.
The mayor of the island of Kastelorizo, Paul Panigiris, was born in Gaza, and the boat’s website claimed that this helped the French boat leave without interference.
According to a press release by European flotilla organizers, another boat, the MV Juliano, which has Swedish, Norwegian, and Greek participants, is still stalled in Greece.
Greece heeded Israel’s wishes to refuse the flotilla permission to leave its ports and activists have refused Greece’s offer to deliver the flotilla’s humanitarian aid to the Gazans.
The crew of American ship, The Audacity of Hope, quit the voyage in early July and returned home.
The Dignité/Al Karama was originally part of a 10-ship international flotilla trying to break through the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
The boat sailed despite the Greek government’s ban on flotilla ships leaving Greek ports.
The mayor of the island of Kastelorizo, Paul Panigiris, was born in Gaza, and the boat’s website claimed that this helped the French boat leave without interference.
According to a press release by European flotilla organizers, another boat, the MV Juliano, which has Swedish, Norwegian, and Greek participants, is still stalled in Greece.
Greece heeded Israel’s wishes to refuse the flotilla permission to leave its ports and activists have refused Greece’s offer to deliver the flotilla’s humanitarian aid to the Gazans.
The crew of American ship, The Audacity of Hope, quit the voyage in early July and returned home.
