_http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE67J1SX20100820
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus will not allow a ship carrying women activists and aid for the blockaded Palestinian territory of Gaza to sail from its ports, the island's police said Friday.
Women activists said they planned to take aid to Gaza next week and their vessel, the Mariam, would set sail from Lebanon for Cyprus Sunday.
Israel has said it will not allow ships to reach Gaza, controlled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas since 2007. Nine pro-Palestinian Turks were killed on May 31 when Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla of aid vessels heading for Gaza.
"Our position is clear. The arrival and departure of vessels to or from Gaza via Cyprus ports is prohibited and we will implement that decision," Cypriot police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos told Reuters.
Cyprus was used as a launch pad for activists to reach Gaza by sea from 2008 until mid-2009. Authorities introduced a ban last year, citing the island's national interests.
Yasser Qashlaq, an organiser of the Mariam expedition, was undeterred, saying the vessel would still leave Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli Sunday evening.
Qashlaq said Cyprus had no right to stop ships sailing to Gaza and would need to explain any ban in writing.
He said Thursday that Lebanese authorities had given permission for the Mariam to sail to Cyprus. Lebanon does not authorise ships to sail directly to Gaza because it is in a formal state of war with Israel, which controls Gaza waters.
Israel eased its Gaza blockade after an angry international backlash to its lethal seizure of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in May. It has said it has the right to use "all necessary means" to bar ships from reaching Gaza.
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus will not allow a ship carrying women activists and aid for the blockaded Palestinian territory of Gaza to sail from its ports, the island's police said Friday.
Women activists said they planned to take aid to Gaza next week and their vessel, the Mariam, would set sail from Lebanon for Cyprus Sunday.
Israel has said it will not allow ships to reach Gaza, controlled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas since 2007. Nine pro-Palestinian Turks were killed on May 31 when Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla of aid vessels heading for Gaza.
"Our position is clear. The arrival and departure of vessels to or from Gaza via Cyprus ports is prohibited and we will implement that decision," Cypriot police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos told Reuters.
Cyprus was used as a launch pad for activists to reach Gaza by sea from 2008 until mid-2009. Authorities introduced a ban last year, citing the island's national interests.
Yasser Qashlaq, an organiser of the Mariam expedition, was undeterred, saying the vessel would still leave Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli Sunday evening.
Qashlaq said Cyprus had no right to stop ships sailing to Gaza and would need to explain any ban in writing.
He said Thursday that Lebanese authorities had given permission for the Mariam to sail to Cyprus. Lebanon does not authorise ships to sail directly to Gaza because it is in a formal state of war with Israel, which controls Gaza waters.
Israel eased its Gaza blockade after an angry international backlash to its lethal seizure of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in May. It has said it has the right to use "all necessary means" to bar ships from reaching Gaza.
