MOVEMENT URGES UAE TO SEND BOAT FOR NEXT FLOTILLA TO GAZA

By Muin Abdul Majid

DUBAI, July 8 (Bernama) -- The Free Gaza Movement has expressed hope that a
boat from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will join the next aid flotilla to
Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip.

The group is in the process of raising funds and organising a bigger
flotilla to the coastal enclave, The National daily cited Huwaida Arraf, a key
member of the movement, as saying.

"I'd love to see a boat from the UAE next time," she said, adding that the
movement would like to see more involvement from the Gulf region.

An announcement on the next flotilla would be made in due course, "but for
sure it's going to be an escalation," said the American lawyer of Palestinian
roots.

Gaza, home to some 1.5 million Palestinians, has been under a debilitating
Israeli blockade for the past few years.

An attempt to break the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza in May ended in a
bloodbath when the aid ship Mavi Marmara was stormed by Israeli troops in
international waters, killing nine Turkish activists.

Twelve Malaysian volunteers along with hundreds of others onboard the
Gaza-bound convoy of ships dubbed the "Freedom Flotilla" were captured and
subsequently released by Israel.
The newspaper quoted Arraf as saying that it was all about "ending this
deliberate strangulation of Gaza".
-- BERNAMA