Boat owner: I didn't think we'd dock in Gaza
Police prevent Arab MKs from sailing to Strip to deliver humanitarian equipment. Owner of seized vessel tells Ynet, 'I viewed it as regular work; no one said anything about Gaza.' MK Zahalka: Israel must be put under siege as well
The owner of the vessel rented for the planned journey tried to shake off his responsibility, telling Ynet that "no one said anything about Gaza".
The man, Itzik Avneri, stressed that the organizers of the sail, who rented his services and boat, only told him that they wanted to "sail towards Gaza", despite the fact their clear statement from last week that they plan to reach the Strip's shores.
"I viewed it like any regular work," Avneri said Sunday morning. "If we had sailed and had been ordered to turn back, I would have turned back."
Avneri added that he had been summoned by the police several times in connection with the planned sail.
"Only yesterday I arrived at the police station. They warned me that there was information the whole business could get out of control and that the organizers may try to violate the ban and leave Israel's territorial waters," he said.
"I thought that by agreeing to their request not to enter the area it would end, but they didn't settle for that and confiscated the boat."
Police officials explained that they acted according to clause 24 in the "disengagement implementation law", which states that Israelis must not enter Gaza without a permit. The police boosted their forces in Jaffa for fear of riots.
'We’ll send out more ships'
The Knesset members and organizers of the sail were furious over the police's quick action. A press conference they convened in order to speak of the sail turned into an attack on the decision to stop their journey.
"It's true that we failed to get the boat into Gaza today, but we did manage to put an end to the conspiracy of silence over what is happening in Gaza, and I'm certain we'll be able to launch more boats from Cyprus, Europe and from the Arab world," MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) told Ynet at the end of the press conference.
"If the siege on Gaza exists because of the Qassams, a siege must be imposed on Israel as well, because it bombs much more," Zahalka added. "Putting a million and a half people in prison is something which has not been seen anywhere else in the world."
