Libyan Aid Ship Won't Change Course-- Heading For Gaza Now

Foreign Ministry announced earlier that organizers of Gaza-bound ship agreed to dock in Egypt rather than violate Gaza naval blockade.

A Libyan aid ship will head to Gaza's port in the coming hours and will not be diverted, Palestinian Legislative Council member Jamal Al-Khudari and Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi told the Palestinian news agency Ma'an on Saturday.

Al-Khudari, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, told Ma'an that he had been in constant contact with the organizers of the ship, who are expected to bring 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza despite an Israeli naval blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory.

Earlier Saturday, Israel's Foreign Ministry said that the Moldavian-flagged ship would not dock in Gaza, but would instead dock in Egypt's el-Arish on the coast of the Sinai Peninsula.

According to the ministry, the change in destination was agreed to by the ship's captain. It reportedly followed talks between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Greek and Moldavian counterparts.

The ship - named the "Amalthia" – departed Saturday from the Greek port of Lavrio with 12 crew and 15 activists and supporters on board, and about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid supplied by the Gadhafi International Charity and Development Association, headed by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the second-born son of the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

On Friday, Israel launched a diplomatic move at the United Nations in efforts to enlist the international community to help prevent the Libyan aid ship from sailing to Gaza.

In an official letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev wrote that "Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip."

Shalev's letter to Ban went on to clarify that "Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip."

Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza in 2007 following a bloody Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. Israel recently eased the terms of the land blockade on the territory, following a deadly raid of a Turkish aid ship, but the naval blockade has so far remained in place.

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