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Anastasia Balezdrova

The members of the "One ship to Gaza" rejected the Greek government proposal to transport by ships the humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, which is isolated from Israel. At the press conference regarding the ban on ships departing from the Greek ports, they defined the Greek government's decision as "unacceptable and disgraceful" and said it extended the isolation of the Gaza Strip to the territorial waters of Greece. The people of the initiative stressed that the peace flotilla that carries humanitarian aid to Palestinians involves 10 ships and over 350 activists from 22 countries.

The member of the Swedish initiative Mattias Gardel, who is professor of comparative religion at the University of Uppsala, said that the purpose of the flotilla is "to break the illegal siege of Gaza. We expect the Greek government to allow us to sail, because our struggle is not against it but against Israel and its methods."

"We learned from the media that Ban Ki-moon has recommended to George Papandreou to take the things we are carrying and bring them to the Israeli port of Azdod. I have already noted that this would be unlawful seizure, equal to theft. The ordinary Swedish citizens collected the money for the building materials, the medicines, the ambulance and all other things loaded on our ship and they should be submitted directly to the citizens of the civil society in the Gaza Strip. Instead of stealing hundreds of Swedish citizens we expect Ban Ki-moon and Papandreou to join forces and take concrete steps to open up sea lanes from Greece to Gaza to raise the illegal siege once and for all."

The press conference was attended by members of the Radical Left Coalition SYRIZA presented in the Greek Parliament and representatives of the Green Ecologists, who criticized the Greek government's position and expressed their hope that the ships would be able to sail.

"The fact that the government's decision provoked reactions not only in Greek society, but also at international level should make it change its position. We believe that our purpose is legitimate and humane. Even the government acknowledged in its release that it supports the raising of the blockade of Gaza, but did not tell us how this will happen," said the representative of the Greek initiative.

According to him, the French ship Dignity which departed from the island of Corsica on June 25 and is in contact with the French Foreign Ministry to be guaranteed state level support is close to Greece, but in international waters. "A famous human rights activist from Tunisia and a journalist of Liberation are on board."

Three Canadians who were on deck of the Canadian ship that departed and was brought back later were seized by the police in Agios Nikolaos in Crete. Today, Spaniards held a symbolic occupation of their country's embassy in Athens. According to a press release of the diplomatic mission, four people entered the building and requested the Spanish government to put pressure on Greece to allow the ship at different Greek ports and loaded with humanitarian aid for the people of the Gaza Strip to sail.

Meanwhile, the captain of the American ship The Audacity of Hope was released after the court rejected all the accusations against him.