Israeli boat rams aid ship off Gaza

TYRE: An Israeli naval vessel collided yesterday with a boat carrying activists and medical supplies that was trying to break the blockade of Gaza, forcing it to divert to a port in Lebanon. Passengers on board the 20-metre Dignity said the Israeli patrol boat rammed their vessel causing extensive damage, but Israel insisted the two boats collided as the Israeli navy was trying to contact its captain. Television pictures of the boat entering the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre showed a large gash in th
e bow of the boat on the port side, with pieces of wood and broken glass covering the deck.

The boat was struck a "massive" blow, said Australian passenger Renee Bowyer. "The glass shattered over top us. I was thrown across the room. The tables and benches broke around me," Bowyer said. "We were all pretty sure we were being shot at and that we'd sink," she added. Another activist on the Gaza-bound boat, former American congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, said the Israeli actions had been deliberate. "Our mission of solidarity and humanitarian relief was deterred by the Israelis purposefully to keep
us from delivering the medical supplies to Gaza," former American congresswomen Cynthia McKinney said.

She described the experience as "absolutely harrowing." No one was injured in the collision between the patrol boat and Dignity-operated by the Free Gaza Movement-which was trying to take three tons of medical supplies into Gaza on day four of Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that the naval vessel tried to contact the aid boat by radio for identification and to inform it that it could not enter Gaza. "After the boat did not answer the ra
dio, it sharply veered and the two vessels collided, causing only light damage," Palmor said.

However, the boat's captain, Briton Denis Healey, 54, said on arriving in Tyre that the Israeli navy had made "no contact" with the Dignity. "Two Israeli gunboats were on our port side distracting us with their bright lights when another Israeli gunboat with its lights turned off rammed us from the front. I think they were distracting us from the port side," Healey said. "The boat initially took in a lot of water," added Healey who said he was "a bit frazzled." The Israeli spokesman accused the internatio
nal activists of "seeking provocation more than ever." The Free Gaza Movement, which has run the blockade six times since August to take humanitarian supplies into Gaza, said the vessel could still sail after the ramming.

Paul Larudee, one of the group's founders, said the Dignity had been "surrounded" in international waters about 70 kilometers off the Israeli coast and 135 kilometers from Gaza. "It was surrounded by 11 Israeli naval vessels," he said. "They ordered the boat to stop, and we didn't. They began firing over our boat and into the waters next to the boat. When the boat wouldn't turn back, one of the naval vessels rammed the boat, but not enough to disable the boat." On its website, the Free Gaza Movement said t
he Dignity was on a "mission of mercy" carrying three tons of medical supplies "donated by the people of Cyprus," from where it set off on Monday.

The Dignity was given a rousing welcome when it arrived in Tyre, with hundreds of residents riding aboard fishing boats to greet the activists with cheers and a colorful display of Lebanese flags as well as flags of the Shiite Hezbollah and Amal movements. As it docked, several hundred flag-waving Palestinians from refugee camps in Tyre gathered to welcome the activists. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman had earlier said in a statement that the boat was welcome to dock in any Lebanese port and that an esc
ort would be provided once it reached territorial waters.