Barghouti. 'Vote in memory of Arafat'
Photo: AFP
Hamas campaign balloons reach Israel
Two Hamas campaign balloons drift from Gaza sea to Israel's shores, environment inspector picks them up at sea. 'It seems Hamas invested much in its campaign,' he says; meanwhile jailed Fatah leader Barghouti calls all Palestinians to vote in elections
Hamas campaign crosses borders: Two helium balloons carrying Hamas flags and the movement's slogans have drifted to sea and reached the shores of the southern town of Ashkelon Sunday.
Itzik Kodovitzky, a sea-pollution inspector at the Ministry of the Environment discovered the balloons during a routine clean-up operation off the beaches south of Ashkelon.
The balloons in Ashkelon (Photo: Tsafrir Avayov)
"The balloons had a Hamas flag attached to them and a slogan in Arabic, which I figured was a campaign slogan," he said.
"The balloons apparently fell to sea over Gaza and drifted toward Ashkelon. We managed to pick up one of the balloons. The distance between here and the Palestinian Authority is very small, and the storm at sea and the strong current washed the balloons to this part of the coast," he explained.
According to Kodovitzky, the balloon was of top quality, and "it appears that they have out quite a lot of money in this campaign, which is rather creative. I don't see any of the other organizations putting in such efforts, at least not according to what we can pick up at sea."
The inspector further estimated that in the next few days, more objects and fuselage will be drifted off from Gaza, as a result of the stormy weather.
Security officials are also expected to show interest in these balloons, which found their way from Gaza to Israel with surprising ease.
Barghouti calls on Palestinians to vote
Meanwhile, in an interview with Qatar-based television channel al-Jazeera and the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news channel on Sunday, jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti called on all Palestinians to go out and vote on Election Day.
The interview was held with special permission from Israel.
"I call from my prison cell to all members of the great Palestinian people to take part in these elections… the elections are a symbol of loyalty to our former leader Yasser Arafat, to Ahmed Yassin and other martyrs," Barghouti said.
Ali Waked contributed to the report
