The Irish Rachel Corrie is reportedly still on course for Gaza, the results of a Malaysian Irish partnership.   Israel's navy said it was braced to intercept this humanitarian aid ship, as well. It is expected to reach Gazan waters later on Tuesday or on Wednesday.

The Irish nationals on board the Rachel Corrie include Nobel laureate Maireád Corrigan-Maguire, Former UN Assistant Secretary General and Human Rights Coordinator in Iraq, Denis Halliday, and husband and wife, Derek and Jenny Graham, and Malaysian officials.

brianakira.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/iris...

www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SN...

tabulagaza.blogspot.com/2010/06/irish-bo...

What will be the fate for this ship and her brave passengers? They know full well the risks they face, and they know what they strive for and that it is a worthwhile goal to place their lives at risk for, to break the illegal siege of Gaza, to free the 1.5 million human beings trapped in Gaza from the crippling, and deadly years long Israeli siege and blockade of Gaza. Freedom is a right all human beings should have, freedom from sieges, freedom from occupations, freedom from day in and day out Israeli military strikes on homes and schools and mosques and farms and infrastructure, freedom to fully live the lives we were created to live. 

Sherri

Sherri

The ship should either be turned away or sunk.

Sherri, I suppose you missed the news. This morning two armed Palestinians crossed the border from Gaza into Israel. In a firefight with IDF forces they were both killed. This is the second pair to meet the same fate in the last couple of weeks. My guess is that the Hamas are working up to some big effort and these are just probes to see how the IDF reacts. I suggest that you add this into your list of daily Israeli attacks against Palestinians.

Habesor

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPEAT OF MY POST IN HOT TOPICS FORUM (more or less)

The "aid" flotillla was not designed to bring aid to  Gaza. Such aid is unnecessary as there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza  (An average of 10,000 tons  of  aid are imported into the Gaza Strip weekly in coordination with   international organizations through the land crossings from Israel. I am  not sure how much aid is delivered through Egypt) and the flotilla was  offered the opportunity to land in Asdod and offload its cargo for  delivery to Gaza. 

The  purpose of the flotilla organizers was to instigate violence. This is  why they attacked the Israeli sailors (who were armed with paint guns)  as they landed on the Mari. (The other boats were boarded without  incident - so you know who was on which boats) The attacks by the people  on the Mari were met with force. What else would anyone expect?

In any event, such aid as was carried on the boats  has been delivered through Israel into Gaza.

Humanitarian aid  from flotilla transferred  into Gaza

Everyone should now be happy.(  Except for the Israelis who, as usual, are being pilloried for trying to  protect themselves from terrorists bent on their destruction.)

Just one day after Israeli commandos stormed civilian boats that were bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, leaving nine dead, a group of Nobel Peace prize winners put out a statement condemning the attack. South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose lives have been indelibly shaped by a cruel apartheid system, were joined by other Nobel laureates, including former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former Finnish president Martti  Ahtisaari, former US president Jimmy Carter and detained Burmese leader Aung  San Suu Kyi. They called Israel's three-year blockade of Gaza illegal under international law and "one of the world's greatest human rights violations."

Conspicuously absent from the Nobel Peace prize signees was President Barack Obama. Instead of expressing outrage at an attack on civilian ships in international waters, Obama issued a tepid statement saying he "deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained."

www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/01-10