Israel navy intercepts activists trying to break Gaza blockade

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel’s navy on Sunday intercepted a Norwegian-flagged activist boat trying to break its more than decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, authorities and activists said.

“The activity ended without exceptional events,” an Israeli occupation authorities statement said. “At this time the ship is being transferred to the port of Ashdod”, along the coast of central Israel.

An activist group affiliated with the boat, Al Awda (the return), said 22 people and a cargo of medical supplies were onboard.

A second boat that is part of the same group, the Swedish-flagged Freedom, is expected to arrive in the same area in the next couple days, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Four boats left from Scandinavia in mid-May and stopped in some 28 ports along the way, the coalition said. Two boats remained behind after a recent stop in Palermo.

Shortly before Al Awda, a fishing boat, was intercepted, the coalition released a statement saying the Israeli navy was issuing warnings to it.

“The Israeli navy claims our ship is breaking international law and threatens that they will use ‘any measures necessary’ to stop us,” it said.

“In fact, the only ‘necessary measures’ would be to end the blockade of Gaza and restore freedom of movement for all Palestinians.”

It said afterwards on Twitter that the boat had been “hijacked by Israeli forces”.

Israel claims the blockade is necessary to keep them from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes.

‘Jailing of a child’

Israeli authorities appeared keen to avoid media coverage of the release as much as possible, and conflicting information meant supporters and journalists scrambled to arrive on time at the correct location.

Tamimi and her mother were driven early on Sunday from Israel’s Sharon prison into the occupied West Bank, authorities said.

But the location of the checkpoint where they were to cross into the territory was changed three times before it was finally announced they were being taken to a crossing at Rantis, about an hour’s drive from the initial location.

Family members and supporters gathered at the checkpoint to greet them, but the military vehicles driving them did not stop, instead continuing towards Nabi Saleh.

There had been slight tension at the checkpoint before Tamimi’s arrival as a few men with Israeli flags approached supporters holding Palestinian flags. Words were exchanged but there was no violence.

In a sign of the sensitivity of the case, Israeli authorities on Saturday arrested two Italians and a Palestinian for painting Tamimi’s now-familiar image on the Israeli separation wall cutting off the West Bank.

Both Tamimi and her mother were sentenced to eight months in an Israeli military court following a plea deal over the December incident, which the family said took place in their garden in Nabi Saleh.

They were released some three weeks early, a common practice by Israeli authorities due to overcrowded prisons, Tamimi’s lawyer Gaby Lasky said.

Video of the December incident went viral, leading Palestinians to view her as a hero standing up to Israel’s occupation.

But for Israelis, Tamimi is being used by her activist family as a pawn in staged provocations.

They point to a series of previous such incidents involving Tamimi, including older pictures of her confronting Israeli occupation troops widely shared online.

Human rights activists condemned Tamimi’s jailing.

Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch Tweeted on Sunday that “Israel’s jailing of a child for 8 months — for calling for protests & slapping a soldier — reflects endemic discrimination, absence of due process & ill-treatment of kids.”

“Ahed Tamimi is free, but 100s of Palestinian children remain locked up with little attention on their cases,” he said.

Embassy protests 

Tamimi was arrested in the early hours of December 19, four days after the incident in the video. She was 16 at the time.

Her mother Nariman was also arrested, as was her cousin Nour, who was freed in March.

Israel’s occupation force said their members had been in the area on the day of the incident to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones at Israeli motorists.

The video shows the cousins approaching two occupation soldiers and telling them to leave, before shoving, kicking and slapping them.

The heavily armed Israelis do not respond in the face of what appears to be an attempt to provoke rather than seriously harm them.

They then move backwards after Nariman Tamimi becomes involved.

The scuffle took place amid clashes and protests against US President Donald Trump’s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Relatives say that a member of the Tamimi family was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet fired during those protests.