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Israel vowed Friday to keep an Irish aid ship from breaching its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip, appealing to pro-Palestinian activists to dock at an Israeli port and avoid another showdown at sea.
The new effort to break the blockade will test Israel's resolve as it faces a wave of international outrage over its deadly naval raid of another aid ship earlier this week.
Activists on board the Irish boat, including a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, insisted they would not resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel. They said they expected the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie to reach Gaza by late Saturday morning.
Diplomatic fallout and protests across Europe and the Muslim world have increased pressure to end the embargo Israel imposed after the Islamic militant Hamas group seized power in Gaza three years ago. The blockade has plunged the territory's 1.5 million residents deeper into poverty and sharply raised Mideast tensions as the U.S. makes a new push for regional peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Thursday the Irish boat would not be allowed to reach Gaza. On Friday, Israel's foreign minister said the policy had not changed. "We have made it clear to the Irish and others, no ship will reach Gaza without a security inspection," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Channel 1 TV.
The Cambodian-flagged Rachel Corrie - named for an American college student who was crushed to death by a bulldozer in 2003 while protesting Israeli house demolitions in Gaza - was carrying hundreds of tons of aid, including wheelchairs, medical supplies
and cement.
