RACHEL CORRIE AID SHIP TO REACH GAZA SATURDAY

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (Bernama) -- Rachel Corrie, a ship carrying aid to
Gaza, with six Malaysian volunteers among those on board, is expected to reach
the waters of the blockaded settlement Saturday.

The aid mission is sponsored by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation
(PGPO).

A PGPO spokesman said the ship was believed to be about 100 nautical miles
from Gaza and was expected to reach Gaza waters tomorrow afternoon.

A PGPO representative aboard the vessel, Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal, had said
earlier that Rachel Corrie was determined to continue with the mission despite
the Israeli raid on other vessels, including the Mavi Marmara, during which at
least nine activists were killed.

Meanwhile, PGPO patron Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the PGPO would continue
to sponsor humanitarian aid missions by Malaysians to Gaza despite facing the
risk of attacks by the Israeli regime which blocks the route to Gaza.



If the missions were discontinued, he said, the Tel Aviv regime would
arbitrarily violate human rights and international law.

"If we are forced to turn back, we will try again. This is a humanitarian
struggle which we cannot discontinue just because we face obstacles. We will do
whatever we can until Israel is forced to allow supplies to reach Gaza," he said
in an interview on the "Malaysia Hari Ini (MHI)" programme over TV3 Friday.

Dr Mahathir said Israel's raid on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara on Monday
and the killing of at least nine activists had heightened the awareness and
sympathy of the Malaysian people towards the struggle to help Palestine.

He expressed confidence that more Malaysians of various races and religions
would join the struggle to champion the plight of the Palestinian people.

-- BERNAMA



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