BEIRUT: A boat carrying international peace activists and medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip sailed into a Lebanese port yesterday - after being turned back and damaged by the Israeli Navy, organizers of the trip said.
A small crowd on the docks in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, including fishermen, cheered welcoming the vessel, called SS Dignity, and some flashed the victory sign.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the boat had ignored an Israeli radio order to turn back early yesterday. Palmor said the boat tried to outmaneuver an Israeli Navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels. The navy then escorted the boat out into the territorial waters of Cyprus.
But passengers and crew aboard the SS Dignity disputed the Israeli account, saying their boat was rammed by Israeli Navy boats. “We were prevented from entering Gaza ... by Israeli patrol boats that tracked us for about 30 minutes. They shone their spotlight on us and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side,” said former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney who was aboard the boat.
“Communications from the Israelis indicated that we were involved in terrorist activities ... I presume that’s why they rammed our boat,” she added. The boat’s British captain, Denis Healey, said the Israeli action came “without any warning, or any provocation.” The boat, which set off from Cyprus on Monday seeking to make a statement and deliver medical supplies to Gaza, bore clear damage marks near its front.
