Amalthea’s thriller – Greece drawn into Mideast dispute tagged: , , , , , ,

Amalthea’s thriller – Greece drawn into Mideast dispute

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Ship to Gaza, World GR

Thriller with Amalthea

Amalthea, the aid ship to Gaza, has disappeared from my PC screen this morning. I used to check occasionally at Marine Traffic. com to see its sailing route. This morning there is no AMALTHEA in southeast Mediterranean Sea.

According to latest reports, the ship has engine troubles and is hobbled in international waters, some 80 miles from Gaza and probably some 40 miles away from El-Arish,  the port in Egypt where Amalthea was supposed to dock.

Youssef Sawani, director of the Gadhafi  Charity and Development Foundation that chartered the vessel told Al-Jazeera TV that communications with the boat had been jammed. ”Eight Israeli warships are surrounding the Libyan aid ship for Gaza and preventing the continuation of its journey” Sawani said.

While the Libyan Foundation insists of breaking the Israeli blockade to Gaza and deliver directly the 2,000 tons humanitarian aid to Palestinians, Israel has offered Amalthea the alternative to dock to port of Ashdod. 

The Moldova-flagged ship, chartered by a Foundation belonging to one of the sons of Libyan leader Muamma Gadhafi  left Greece Lavrion port on Saturday with official destination El Arish port in Egypt. The vessel loaded donated food and medical supplies in Crete on Sunday.

There no Greek activists on the ship this time. But there were on Turkish Mavi Marmara and other ships of Gaza flotilla that were raided by Israeli Navy Commandos in May, killing 9 and injuring many.  Also in case of AmaltheaIsraeli Foreign Ministry had diplomatic talks with Greece concerning the destination of the ship.

Hurriyet daily: Greece drawn into Mideast dispute with Libyan Gaza ship

I found this interesting analysis on Turkish HurriyetDailyNews.com predicting a leading role for Greece in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I quite doubt this prediction a) for reasons mentioned already (and contradictory enough) by analyst Karathanos himself  b) because I don’t believe Greek diplomacy is strong and self-confident enough  to adopt such a role c) I wouldn’t be so sure about a persistant damaged future in Israel-Turkey relations and c) where Muslim and American friendly Turkey failed to mediate how can Greece succeed?

Read excerpts:

 With Israel reiterating  a vow to prevent a Libyan ship from delivering aid to blockaded Gaza, Greece could begin to play a greater role in the Middle East in the near future, according to a Lesbos-based academic.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said it had been informed by the organizers that the aid ship was heading to Egypt and not to Gaza, where Israel vowed to prevent any run on its blockade on the besieged strip.

Greece-Israel relations have been rocky in the past, especially because both Greece and its society have typically been long-running supporters of the Palestinians. Moreover, the ruling Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, has traditionally had good relations with Arab states and economic relations with Libya.

Nonetheless, Greece could soon play a greater role in fostering peace in the region, according to one expert.

“Turkey is not a favorable broker any more for the Israelis because of the rising tensions between two countries,” Triantafilos Karatrantos, an international relations and security researcher at the University of the Aegean recently told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.  

Greece could now play “a new role with a realistic stance in the region especially in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said.

“But, we have to wait before any permanent conclusions, because even if the Greek government wants closer ties with Israel, public opinion in Greece is mixed with anti-Americanism as a strong counter to those kind of policies,” said Karatrantos.

Read full story: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=greece-enters-gazan-territorial-waters-2010-07-13