An aid flotilla will set sail for the Gaza Strip in June, organisers announced on Monday after a meeting in France.
The Freedom Flotilla II will depart from ‘various European ports, including Marseilles,’ a statement from the organisers said.
The organisers are meeting with European Parliament members in Strasbourg ‘to discuss the details of the flotilla and their active support’.
‘From now until we sail, members of the flotilla will be meeting their government officials, the UN and other international organisations to gain support for this global civil society action,’ the statement said, vowing to end Israel’s ‘criminal blockade of Gaza’.
The last Freedom Flotilla of seven ships was intercepted by the Israeli military, which boarded the largest of the flotilla’s vessels, the Mavi Marmara, and attempted to take over the vessel.
Meeting resistance from the passengers, the commando force shot and killed nine passengers, all Turkish citizens and one dual US-Turkish national.
The aim of the flotillas of ships has been to break Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip, bringing supplies that remain barred from the coastal enclave, like cement and medical equipment.
Since 2006 Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, maintaining strict control over its border crossings, and patrolling its waters at intervals closer and closer to shore.
In 2006 the navy patrolled six nautical miles off shore, in 2009 that was unilaterally reduced to three nautical miles.
Ships have been barred from entering or exiting Gaza waters since that time.
Three ships have made the journey, but since 2009 Israel’s navy has blocked others.
Organisers of the newest flotilla say that despite positive signs of an end to the siege, with the prospects of the opening of the Egypt-Gaza border crossing, they will not stop until the full siege is lifted.
As Egyptians accepted nothing less than the regime’s departure, ‘so too we must accept nothing less than a full end of the illegal blockade of Gaza and all forms of the Israeli occupation of Palestine’.
Meanwhile, a newspaper has reported that during Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to France last week, French President Sarkozy offered to host peace talks in Paris.
France announced it would donate 10 million euros ($14.3 million) to the Palestinian Authority, in response to Israel’s decision to freeze tax revenue transfers as part of its attempt to foil the Fatah/Hamas unity agreement.
The report said that Sarkozy hopes to sign an agreement at the end of May, which would see the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders including Jerusalem and a land swap for some settlement blocs, and in return Palestinians would recognise Israel as a ‘Jewish state’, and give up the right of return to that state.
The report said Netanyahu was mulling the idea and would respond to the offer after he spoke in Washington on May 20.
Peace talks stalled last September when Israel refused to continue a settlement construction freeze on lands that would be a Palestinian state, despite intense pressure from Washington.
Palestinian efforts to gain international support for a UN-backed independent declaration of statehood in September have put a new urgency on efforts to restore talks, with sides saying a negotiated deal was preferable to a unilateral move.
Netanyahu, however, has recently said he will not negotiate with Palestinians, whose Fatah and Hamas movements have signed a unity deal, which will see the establishment of a government to oversee elections in the next year.
The PLO will retain the negotiations file under the deal.
Meanwhile, US President Obama will meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on May 17 to discuss events sweeping the Arab world, US officials said on Monday.
It will be the first meeting between the two since protests broke out in Jordan in January, and will precede a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, scheduled three days later.
‘The president looks forward to discussing with King Abdullah the latest regional developments, ways to cooperate on political and economic reform, and ways to deepen our partnership with Jordan on a wide variety of issues in the bilateral relationship,’ the White House said in a statement.
‘The president also welcomes continuing consultations with King Abdullah on the pursuit of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.’
Fatah’s governing body will evaluate party support and possible strategies including the September deadline for statehood and a possible bid at the UN, an official said on Monday night.
The party’s Revolutionary Council began meetings late on Monday evening, headed by president and party leader Mahmud Abbas at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.
The meetings had been delayed for two months as Abbas and Fatah officials worked to push forward the unity deal to reconcile the party with Hamas in an agreement to create a new Palestinian government ahead of elections.
Secretary-General of the Revolutionary Council, Amin Maqboul said that the meetings in Ramallah would discuss government plans in light of that unity deal.
Before parties unified, the Fatah-led PA was on a course seeking the establishment of all institutions necessary for a state, under the programme of the 13th government, ‘Ending the Occupation, Establishing a State.’
Officials had also announced that the Palestinian leadership would go to the UN seeking recognition of a state in September.
A unity agreement will see the establishment of a ‘technocrat government’, but international financing of that body appears in jeopardy, as Israel withholds Palestinian tax revenues, claiming the money could end up with Hamas.
US officials have also expressed reservations and say they will wait and see what the transitional government will look like.
Israel has slammed the decision to unify Palestinian factions and said it means an end to peace talks.
But US officials are expected to push a return to talks, which will be led by the PLO and not a new government, meaning Hamas would have no greater involvement than when Israeli settlement construction stalled the last round of talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected in Washington on May 20, three days after Jordan’s King Abdullah’s visit to the White House.
Fatah says the party is discussing the recent developments and the possibility of postponing local elections set for July, and re-evaluate decisions for September.
