Another Gaza aid ship planned

A group of pro-Palestinian activists are hoping to raise €100,000 to send an Irish ship on a second flotilla planned for Gaza this autumn.

The second freedom flotilla, as it has been called, is due to leave for Gaza at the end of October in another attempt to break the Israeli sea blockade of the territory.

A previous flotilla resulted in international outrage when Israeli paratroopers stormed the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ship and shot nine people dead. Several Irish activists were arrested on the Rachel Corrie, an Irish-owned vessel which followed on afterward.

Two Irish activists, Fiachra Ó Luain and Fintan Lane, who were on the first flotilla both claimed to have been tortured by Israeli police, and Mr Fiachra Ó Luain had his passport taken.

Mr Lane, the national co-ordinator of the Irish Ship to Gaza Campaign, said his experiences would not deter him from joining another flotilla.

"I'd hate to see a situation where Israeli intimidation works where people stop expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza," he said. Mr Lane said the plan was to hire a boat in the Mediterranean as it cost €70,000 in fuel costs alone to get the Rachel Corrie from Ireland to the Middle East.

The Rachel Corrie remains in an Israeli port waiting to be picked up by the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza which purchased it recently. It is hoped that the vessel will be used in the planned second flotilla.

Mr Lane said their proposal is to bring either 20 to 25 Irish volunteers on the second flotilla or between 30 and 50 depending on how well the fundraising goes.

Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews said he hoped to travel on the vessel having been refused an attempt to take part in the first flotilla by the Cypriot authorities.

Mr Andrews said the Irish people "cared hugely" about the number of young Palestinian people who had suffered as a result of the Israeli blockade. "They do want to do more, and this is an opportunity for those people to actually make a contribution not just financially, but in support for this particular campaign," he said.

He said conditions in Gazan hospitals were "horrendous" when he and other Irish parliamentarians visited it. "To think in this day of age that people would be subjected to that from another state which claimed to be democratic and law-abiding is just breathtaking," he said.

Artist Robert Ballagh said a print he made after the Israeli invasion of Gaza raised €56,000 which went to the creation of an operating theatre in the area. "From small things, great things can happen. That is why I would encourage individuals to get involved," he said.