Ship hired by Jordan Islamists to sail to Gaza on December 20

Dec 2, 2008, 16:08 GMT

Amman - A group of Jordanian Islamists will set sail for the Gaza Strip from the Jordanian port of Aqaba on December 20 with the aim of breaking the seige of the Palestinian territory, the leader of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement announced Tuesday.

The decision was announced at a press conference attended by leaders of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF).

The Brotherhood's leader, Hammam Saeed, said that the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip were being exposed to 'a tragedy as represented by an appalling and inhuman blockade that had reached new proportions by preventing them from performing pilgrimage.'

Gazan Muslims have been prevented from performing their obligatory pilgrimage, or Hajj, duties due to the ongoing blockade of Gaza and infighting between Hamas and Fatah, the two rival Palestinian organizations.

Saeed urged Egypt to re-open the Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt in order to allow thousands of pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj rituals at the Grand Mosque of Mecca due to begin on Saturday.

The Brotherhood leader also unveiled a series of activities and demonstrations to be launched throughout the country in the run-up to the ship's sailing on December 20.

On Monday Israeli authorities turned back a Libyan ship carrying humanitarian aid that had been bound for Gaza.

Earlier this year several vessels with foreign pro-Palestinian activists on board succeeded in docking at Gaza's seaport.