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Israeli blockade of Gaza unsustainable: White House

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 4, 2010 7:44pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip was unsustainable and urged a Gaza aid vessel sent by pro-Palestinian activists to divert to an Israeli port to reduce the risk of violence.

"We are working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and other international partners to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistance to Gaza," said Mike Hammer, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

"The current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed. For now, we call on all parties to join us in encouraging responsible decisions by all sides to avoid any unnecessary confrontations," Hammer said in a statement.

Israel was preparing to intercept the Irish-owned ship the Rachel Corrie, bound for Gaza with aid and activists, after its naval operation on Monday in which nine Turkish activists were killed on another ship when it was boarded by Israeli forces.

"It remains a U.S. priority to provide assistance to the people of Gaza," Hammer said.

"In the interest of the safety of all involved, and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza, we strongly encourage those on board the Rachel Corrie and other vessels to sail to Ashdod to deliver their materials to Gaza," he said, referring to the Israeli port.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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Comments (69)
GodisRight wrote:
A flotilla tried to deliver supplies for half-million Jews imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto but were denied entry, they were trapped and all killed. The flotilla also tried to prevent Armenian exterminations but the mere mention of that resulted in beatings in Turkish jails, and helping Kurdistan not allowed. The Chinese government doesn’t allow activists anywhere near Tibet or they could be imprisoned and their organs harvested. Sailing to stop apartheid, where Europeans were taking land and water for settlements while professing to seek peace, the flotilla arrived late but a South African Judge said they might find a similar situation in the Holy Land, lucky for him there’s no death fatwah in the Jewish religion unless you’re on Mossad’s assassination list. Hearing of Gaza Strip, an outdoor prison population with no building supplies or educational materials allowed in to rebuild the terrorist infrastructure, they asked why Jews were imprisoning populations, had they forgotten the Warsaw ghetto? They were also amazed that Israel and Egypt could cooperate so well on something, even if it was keeping the prison firmly shut. But the flotilla was not permitted to reach Gaza, and then Hamas refused the aid anyway and was adamant about the destruction of what they called the Zionist Entity. Putin and Chavez offered help with strengthening democratic institutions, Ahmajinedad offered vote-counting expertise and peaceful nuclear weapons. The USA continued its role as impartial mediator and gave the partners for peace another chance to accept the Netanyahu/AIPAC terms in the same railway car as the 1918 Versailles treaty to end all wars, but the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to have their own Bantustan. So in the end we were forced to give Israel more phosphorous and cluster bombs for defense against dangerous civilian populations, forgetting about their own Irgun terrorists and prime ministers, apparently the war on terror hadn’t started back then. It seems there are hypocrites on many sides.

Jun 04, 2010 7:56pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Cryos wrote:
IE the Obama administration silently supports ended the blockade. Gee why am I not surprised.

Jun 04, 2010 8:00pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
XMarine wrote:
This is sad what I am going to say. This is a sad time for caring Jews.

Israel will cease to exist. Not because of violence. It will cease to exist because people will not care anymore what happens. Enough is enough.

If you are American and a Christian who follow Christ you should care.

Jun 04, 2010 8:03pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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