The Free Gaza media team reported today that “The SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty will leave Gaza for Cyprus on Thursday morning at 9:00 am. Several Palestinian students who have been denied exit visas by Israel will travel to Cyprus on the boats”.
The Free Gaza expedition also reported, separately, that Jeff Halper — the only Israeli (American-born) on board, was “detained” in the Sderot police station after he was readmitted to Israel through the Erez crossing. Haaretz reported that “Police on Tuesday detained an Israeli activist who had sailed to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to challenge Israel ‘s blockade of the coastal region. They accused Jeff Halper, who also holds United States citizenship, of violating a ban on Israelis entering Gaza”.
The full Haaretz report can be viewed in full here .
In the Muqata’a today, where U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met today, and then held a press conference, there was no mention of the Free Gaza expedition.
The five journalists who composed the U.S. “travelling press corps” who accompanied Rice on her 25-hour visit to the region felt it was more important to ask about North Korea and Georgia. They also wanted details about the current negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, despite the fact that the parties (Israel, in particular) have said repeatedly that they have agreed on strict silence.
When asked if it might not be interesting to ask also about the Free Gaza expedition, one news agency reporter travelling with Rice asked, “What’s that?”. Even when it was explained that the Free Gaza group has announced plans to return to Cyprus by boat, taking with them the Palestinian Fulbright scholars who cannot get out of the Gaza Strip to pursue their studies, the American journalist said, “Hmm, she (Rice) was very upset about that (at first)”.
But two of the senior men in the group ruled it out, saying that Russia+Georgia, North Korea, etc. are more important.
Abbas, however, with Rice at his side, did tell journalists after their meeting in the Palestinian presidential compound in the Muqata’a that they had discussed “Gaza and the urgent need to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians, and to open doors for people and goods so life can continue”.
Abbas added that “the situation in the Gaza Strip is unbearable”.