Arab league and Lebanon Protest to UN Against Israel”s Seizure of brotherhood Boat
The Arab League and Lebanon on Thursday condemned as "an act of piracy" the interception by Israel of a Gaza-bound Lebanese aid ship and sought UN help to get the freighter and its crew released.
Yahya Mahmassani, the League”s permanent observer to the UN, said he conveyed to UN chief Ban Ki-moon "a strong protest and condemnation at the act of piracy committed by Israel regarding the Lebanese aid ship" on behalf of the 22-member body.
Lebanon”s representative to the UN also lodged a complaint with the international organization asking it be circulated to general assembly and security council members.
The Lebanese freighter was intercepted at sea by the Israeli navy and taken under escort to the Israeli port of Ashdod after it tried to deliver aid to Gaza in defiance of a blockade.
Israeli authorities said the Togolese-flagged "Tali" was intercepted as it tried to enter Gaza”s territorial waters.
"We demand that the UN uses its good offices and take whatever measures it can to make sure that the ship and its crew are returned safely to Lebanon," Mahmassani told AFP.
"We consider this an act of piracy that should be condemned by the international community. We demand that the ship return to Lebanon immediately," he added.
One of the organizers of the shipment claimed the Israeli navy had fired on the boat, an allegation denied by the Jewish state.
"We were informed by the crew that Israeli forces boarded the ship after firing shots at it," Maen Bashur told AFP.
In response, an Israeli military statement said "no gunshots were fired on board during the boarding and capture of the cargo boat."
Bashur confirmed that the freighter had tried to reach Gaza through Egyptian territorial waters despite being warned off by Israel earlier.
Among the eight people on board was the former Greek Catholic archbishop of Jerusalem, Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who left Jerusalem in the 1970s after serving time in an Israeli jail for membership in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The Tali had earlier stopped over at the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus where authorities inspected the cargo before continuing its voyage towards Gaza.