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McKinney relief ship, Israeli vessel collide
By Julia Malone, Bob Deans, Jeffry Scott
Cox Washington Bureau
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, standing beside a damaged yacht, Tuesday accused the Israeli navy of ramming the vessel to halt the delivery of medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip.
But Israeli authorities said the collision was accidental. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the boat tried to outmaneuver an Israeli navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels. The navy then escorted the boat out into the territorial waters of Cyprus.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Tuesday that U.S. diplomats had issued no protests to Israeli authorities. But the incident reverberated in Atlanta, McKinney’s hometown.
A protest was held Tuesday outside the Israeli Consulate on Spring Street by pro-Palestinian groups in the Atlanta area. Saba Khalid, a member of Emory Advocates For Justice In Palestine, said about 100 people protested against Israeli action in Gaza.
At an afternoon press conference in Atlanta, Israeli Ambassador Reda Mansour decried McKinney’s involvement.
“We think this is an irresponsible act by a political figure,” said Mansour.
McKinney, the recent Green Party candidate for U.S. president and frequent center of controversy, defended her action.
“Our mission was a peaceful mission,” McKinney told CNN after she and 15 others aboard the boat made it safely to the harbor in the Lebanese seaport of Tyre.
McKinney is the most prominent political figure to join the relief voyages sponsored by the Free Gaza Movement.
McKinney was slated to travel by car to Beirut where she was expected to conduct media interviews and meet with Lebanese government officials, said Paul Larudee, a co-founder of the California-based Free Gaza group. Larudee said the organization was determined to continue the relief mission.
“We’re going to get it repaired,” Larudee said of the “Dignity,” the 66-foot cabin cruiser that he said sustained damage to the hull, the bridge and the engine room.
Jonathan Peled, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said “the boat came very close, we called the ship to basically to turn around, we informed the ship that they wouldn’t be allowed to enter Gaza. The ship wasn’t rammed, that definitely wasn’t the idea.”
The Israeli naval craft did, however, prevent the aid ship from landing in Gaza, he said in a telephone interview.
The Dignity set off from Cyprus on Monday with almost 4 tons of Cypriot-donated medical supplies, including surgical equipment and antibiotics, as well as 16 passengers from the United States, Cyprus, Britain, Australia, Ireland and elsewhere, organizers said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.