Jordan Islamists to send ship to break Gaza siege

Nov 30, 2008, 15:16 GMT

Amman - The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, on Sunday disclosed plans to send a ship to the Gaza Strip with a view to 'breaking the unjust siege' imposed by Israel on the Palestinian territory.

'We have rented a ship which is due to sail from the port of Aqaba,' said IAF Deputy Secretary General Rhayyel Gharaibeh said, without giving a date.

Gharaibeh said his party, the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement, had also 'written to (Jordanian) Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and asked him to facilitate our humanitarian mission.'

The idea of sending a ship to Gaza is designed to turn the public effort which has expressed itself in a series of demonstrations across the Kingdom into 'a tangible action that sets an example to be followed by other Arab countries,' he added.

The IAF official accused certain Arab parties of 'colluding with the United States and Israel to annihilate the will of the Palestinian people by keeping the blockade on in the Gaza Strip.'

He also charged that certain Arab countries were 'foiling reconciliation' between the feuding Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah by 'siding with one side against the other.'