[CML 004623] ガザ支援レバノン女性の声

[maeda akira]

前田　朗です。

６月２１日

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100615/wl_mideast_afp/israelconflictgazalebanonwomen

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jFKuTYgMzCfFq9mosMLRaO5bCHRQ

LEBANON-GAZA: LEBANESE WOMENORGANIZE AID SHIP TO GAZA

June15, 2009

Beirut, Lebanon (AFP) - An aid ship transporting medical supplies to
Gaza is to leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women
activists on board, one of the organisers told AFP on Tuesday.

"We are all independent women who believe in breaking the (Israeli)
siege on Gaza," said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.

But Israel warned that it will not allow the boat to pass or for
Lebanon's Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah to use it to transport
arms to the Gaza Strip.

"We will not let Iran or an organisation like Hezbollah bring weapons
and rockets into Gaza which could kill Israelis," a senior Israeli
government source told AFP, insisting the boat would not be allowed to
reach Gaza.

And a senior defence official, quoted by Israel's army radio, said
Israel would hold the Lebanese government accountable if Hezbollah was
involved in the aid shipment.

Hajj, meanwhile, stressed that the women were not affiliated with
Hezbollah or any other political organisation.

"This has nothing to do with Hezbollah even though it is an honour for
us to be supporters of the resistance," said Hajj, whose husband Ali
Hajj was one of four generals detained for nearly four years in
connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed former Lebanese premier
Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.

Ali Hajj, who was domestic security chief, was released from prison in
April 2009 after a UN-backed tribunal said there was insufficient
evidence against the generals.

Hajj's wife said so far 50 women -- Muslim, Christian and secular -- had
signed up for the trip on board the cargo ship "Mariam." Among them were
30 Lebanese and 20 foreigners, including several European nationals.

She said all the logistics for the trip had been handled by the Free
Palestine Movement, a non-governmental organisation.

"We are going there because it is our duty," she said.

"The ship will be leaving very soon," she added, without giving an exact
date.

Preparations are also underway by other pro-Palestinian activists to
send an aid ship carrying educational supplies and journalists from
Lebanon to Gaza.

The planned trips come following Israel's raid on May 31 on a Gaza-bound
aid flotilla that left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead and sparked
international outrage.

Last year, a Lebanese freighter which tried to deliver aid to Gaza in
defiance of the blockade was intercepted at sea by the Israeli navy.