AMMAN/ OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/ GAZA: Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists detained in the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla have arrived in Jordan after being deported from neighboring Israel, which started early Wednesday in deporting about 250 people detained.
Jordanian Government spokesman Nabil al-Sharif said there were 30 Jordanians in the group.
Jordan is one of two Arab nations with a signed peace treaty with Israel.
The bridge’s Jordanian chief, Brig. Mahmoud Abu Jumaa, said Jordan will help repatriate the activists – who include lawmakers and journalists – to their respective countries in coordination with their governments.
Kuwaiti ambassador Sheikh Faisal al-Sabah said there were 16 Kuwaitis aboard the buses. “They will be flown home aboard a Kuwaiti government-chartered plane later Wednesday,” al-Sabah said.
He said the other activists came from Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Yemen, Oman and Bahrain.
Dozens of other activists remain in Israeli detention, but most are expected to be deported in the coming days.
Israeli army radio, meanwhile, said that 60 Turks were at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, awaiting special flights home.
Another 70 Turkish citizens were on their way from prison to the airport, the radio said.
Worldwide condemnation
Worldwide condemnation has poured on Israel since its naval commandos halted the aid flotilla in international waters overnight Monday, setting off a melee that left nine activists dead and dozens wounded.
Turkey, an unofficial backer of the flotilla, has led the criticism, accusing Israel of committing a “massacre,” and the U.N. Security Council demanded an impartial investigation.
Egypt on Tuesday said it was freely opening its border with Gaza for the first time in more than a year to allow in humanitarian aid, setting off a mad rush to the crossing by thousands of residents, while an Israeli official said there is an “ongoing dialogue” with the international community on how to expand the amount of goods entering the area.
Israel pledged to halt a new attempt by pro-Palestinian groups to sail more ships into Gaza, and claimed some of the arrested activists carried weapons and large quantities of cash, raising questions about whether they were mercenaries.
The flotilla was meant to draw attention to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, imposed three years ago after Hamas violently seized power. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into the Jewish state, from building up its arsenal. Critics note the closure has failed to hurt Hamas, while damaging Gaza’s already weak economy.
Late Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected world criticism, telling top security officials that Israel must prevent Gaza’s armed Hamas rulers from rearming.
“In Gaza, there is a terrorist state under Iranian sponsorship,” he said. “Opening a sea route to Gaza would present a grave danger to our citizens. Therefore we are maintaining our policy of a naval blockade.”
A new confrontation appeared to be brewing.
Israel orders families of diplomats out of Turkey
Israel is repatriating the families of its embassy staff in Ankara after its raid on a Gaza-bound aid convoy, in which at least four Turkish nationals died, Israeli public radio reported Wednesday, as the Turkish government was expected to hold an emergency meeting later on the day over the flotilla attack repercussions.
Around 50 people related to Israeli consulate and embassy staff in Ankara were heading home, a senior official told the station, speaking on condition of anonymity.
But a break in diplomatic relations was not for the moment on the agenda, the official added.
The news came as Israel began deporting Turkish passengers on six aid ships captured by Israeli commandos in bloody clashes Monday in which nine activists were killed.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the international community to punish Israel for what he called its “bloody massacre,” in a passionate speech to parliament Tuesday that was warmly received by deputies.
Ankara has already recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv for consultations and scrapped war games with Israel, as tens of thousands of Turks took to the streets across the country to protest the Israeli raid.
Israel, for its part, has advised its citizens not to travel to Turkey.
Egypt opens Gaza border after Israel ship clash
Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, letting Palestinians cross until further notice amid a storm of international criticism of Israel’s blockade of the enclave, officials in Egypt and Gaza said.
The move, urged by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against whom the embargo has been directed, prompted dozens of people to race to the crossing point in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, though the gates appeared still to be closed.
It is the only point on Gaza’s borders that is not fully controlled by Israel. Cairo, coordinating with Israel, has opened it only sparingly since Hamas Islamists, who are allied to Egypt’s opposition, seized control of Gaza three years ago.
A permanent opening of the crossing, which lies above a stretch of desert frontier riddled by hundreds of smuggling tunnels, would be a major boost for Hamas and a blow to efforts by Israel and its Western allies to cripple the Islamists.
The Interior Ministry run by Hamas since it seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007 said in a statement: “Rafah crossing is open every day from 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) to 7 p.m.” Since Hamas took over, Egypt has opened the crossing only sporadically and with restrictions.
An Egyptian security source told Reuters: “Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to allow humanitarian and medical aid to enter the Strip.
“The border will remain open for an unlimited time,” the source said, letting Palestinians enter and leave Egypt.
Aid convoys, to which Egypt has in the past allowed only limited access, would be allowed to use the crossing, subject to following Cairo’s limitation that only food and medical supplies be transported.
“Hard materials” — apparently including concrete and steel which Gazans want to repair damage from last year’s Israeli offensive — would have to go via Israel, the Egyptian source said. Israel has made clear since it halted a Turkish-backed aid convoy at sea on Monday that it will not ease its embargo.
Source: Agencies
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