WarSclerotic

A Moldavian-flagged ship carrying aid from Libya which had intended to sail to the Gaza Strip will instead dock in Egypt’s el-Arish on the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, foreign ministry officials said Saturday.

The change in destination, agreed by the ship’s captain, followed talks between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Greek and Moldavian counterparts, the report said.

	Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
	Photo by: AP

The ship – named the “Amalthia” – is due to depart from the Greek port of Lavrio, with 12 crew and 15 activists and supporters on board, and about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid supplied by the Gadhafi International Charity and Development Association, which is headed by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the second-born son of the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

On Friday, Israel launched a diplomatic move at the United Nations in efforts to enlist the international community to help prevent a Libyan aid ship from sailing to Gaza, in violation of Israel’s naval blockade.

In an official letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev wrote that “Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip.”

Shalev’s letter to Ban went on to clarify that “Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.”

Workers load supplies on to a cargo ship at the Lavrio port, about 60 kilometers southeast of Athens, Greece, on Friday, July 9, 2010.AP

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// Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza in 2007 following a bloody Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. Israel recently eased the terms of the land blockade on the territory, following a deadly raid of a Turkish aid ship, but the naval blockade has so far remained in place.

In the letter, Shalev further urged the international community “to discourage their nationals from taking part in such action,” adding that Israel “expects the international community to ensure that this ship does not sail.”

“The declared intentions of this mission are even more questionable and provocative given the recent measures taken by Israel to ensure the increase of humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip,” the letter went on to say, adding that Israel has taken upon itself the responsibility of ensuring the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

Copies of the letter were also submitted to the current president of the UN Security Council as well as the president of the General Assembly, a Libyan national who previously served as Libya’s foreign minister.